To think my dd's nursery should care that they are staying open with no heating!

[yankey]

I arrived at my dd?s nursery this am to find the young girl who answered the door with a jumper on with sleeves pulled down over her hands. This nursery is always kept cooler then I personally would like (which I always mention) but to be fair I feel the cold more so then most. Today however there was a marked difference, when I asked the assistant manager she explained that the heating had broke and someone was coming out to check this out. I left my dear daughter reasonably happy as knew someone was coming out and that she was dressed warmly.

When I called at lunch to ensure the heating was back on I was amazed to hear that it wasn?t and that the engineer would have to come back tomorrow to try and fix it (parts etc I think). I asked whether they had alternative arrangements ? heaters brought in etc but they said no but the kids were being kept warm running about etc.

Now as far as I am concerned running about can definitely keep you warm for a while but all day! The poor kiddies will be exhausted. I was annoyed that I was not called as if I could not get the time off to look after her (which My dh did) then I would have popped out at lunch to take her some warmer clothing. All day in a house with no heating is not pleasant and the cold does set it. It?s okay when you can wear jumpers and have endless tea like the teachers but not for the little ones.

My hubby took half day to go and get her but I was amazed that the Assistant manager thought it surprising that I would not leave my daughter there. Am I being unreasonable to expect a bit of concern from the nursery about this calls to parents etc?

YANBU They should have closed the nursery until it was fixed. When heating goes in schools they always close.

I think they need to check that parents were happy to leave their children but I suspect that with no other form of childvcare parents would have had little choice but to use the nursery anyway. Am a bit surprised that they didn't bring in extra heaters though.

I don't think it would worry me - it depends how cold it was exactly. I assume they have thermometers? If it was less than 10 degrees or something then I would object but otherwise I'm sure the children don't even notice!

There is supposed to be a law about if the heating is off for a certain amount of time.
They did at my school.

Morningpaper you may be right as children can be kept more easily occupied however when dh popped by my office with dd in the back she had her coat over her legs and her hands were still cold! And the teachers all had their fleeces on in the morning while the kiddies just had their normal clothes. Unfortunately it looks like we will have to wait now to see if the heating will be fixed tomorrow. I think they definitely should have alternative heating ? surely someone could have nipped out and got a couple heaters that would be suitable for a nursery. It really has annoyed me and the attitude of the Assistant manager annoyed me too. When I said I was surprised they could remain open - she just went silent and then said - so we will be seeing you then? Aaarrgh!

Erm, YABU - I live in a house with no heating (and have done for the last 4.5 yrs) at all and we survive ok.

That said, they should have put more layers on the children or contacted you so you could take her an extra jumper or something.

YAB a teeny weeny bit U.

However I do think the nursery should have asked the parents what they preferred, to leave their children there with an extra layer of clothing or to pick them up.

I suspect that they were worried that parents would be asking for a refund on fees to cover the lost day of childcare though.

I personally would have left ds there and asked that they put an extra jumper on him. Children are hardier than they look and with warm drinks instead of cold, a hot lunch and plenty of running around it wouldn't harm them for a few hours and some children only do half-days at nursery anyway.

P.S. I grew up in a house where there was ice on the inside of the bedroom windows in the middle of winter and everyone was a bit chilly until the fire was lit in the kitchen when we got up in the morning

If anything like this happens (or indeed bank holidays/illness) we have the option of paying half fees or taking the time in leu - my dd usually has a couple of half days banked so when I've got something on or want to go shopping without taking both DCs then I can take it (as long as they're not at their max quota of children for the day).

But then again, DD's nursery has always been really good.

I've had no heating on here today and temp hasn't dropped below 17 degrees. If you've got a jumper on and are active (e.g doing chores, nothing strenuous) it doesn't feel cold, so on the basis that nursery children are never still, I doubt they have been cold. Probably worse for the staff than the children.

Would you think it's OK for them to play outside today? Mine do in all weathers, but maybe I'm odd.

It isn't THAT cold and, if they did shut down because of a heating malfunction, wouldn't that mean a lot of bother for a lot of parents? As long as they didn't have the children sitting around in pants and vests and made an effort to keep them active, I'd be impressed by their stoicism.