DC at nursery put in front of a laptop watching Peppa Pig, AIBU?

[Breathedeeper]

Went to collect my DC from nursery the other day and she was sat watching Peppa Pig on a laptop with 2 other toddlers in the baby room while the other babies and children were still asleep. 2 members of staff there, am I out of line for thinking this is not right and one of them should have taken them outside or to another room to play while the rest were asleep? Never seen this before but I walked in to collect DC rather than her being brought out to me as usually happens. I think the nursery owner was off that day so possibly something the staff have done without her knowing? Not sure whether to approach the owner about it or just let it slide…

I wouldn't send my child to a nursery that used Tablets. Guidance says no screen time under the age of 2 and every 30 minutes over 1 hour screen use can affect language snd communication.

It's incredibly lazy of the Nursery. Read to them. Expand their minds.

I have assumed my toddler doesn't watch tv at nursery and I don't think I'd be happy with this either unless it's a one off

God, I watched Peppa Pig as a child. Is it still going or are they repeats?!

I’d personally be complaining or at least querying if it was an emergency situation, i’m not anti screen time but our nursery is extortionate - i’d not expect them to be plonked in front of peppa pig! Surely they could be doing circle time with nursery rhymes or stories instead if it was a ratio issue and they had to be in the same room.

My concerns are primarily that I’ve not been told DC is having any screen time at all, and on the days when they’re in the baby room (they put toddlers in with the babies on the day when there are not many kids at the nursery), they’ve gone to get DC to bring to me which makes me wonder if they have been trying to keep this from me. Other days I just get her from the toddler room and she’s usually reading or playing quietly with other kids/staff and the rest of the toddlers are still sleeping right there.

Having had no clue they’ve had screen time I’ve not been factoring that into the amount they have at home. If DC only sleeps 30mins but the other babies/toddlers sleep 1h30, does that mean they’ve been sat there for an hour watching a screen until I’ve come to get them?

And am I really paying nursery fees for DC to be watching Peppa Pig when that’s something I can do for free at home (as others on this thread have mentioned)? DC doesn’t do a full day, just mornings, and is still having a nap at lunchtime albeit a shorter one than most there. So I’m not really swayed by the argument that they’re so pooped they need a bit of screen time to relax. DC is very content just with a book most of the time, why are they resorting to screens, and without checking with me first or telling me when they have?

If you have a routine of no TV in the mornings, then don't introduce it, especially not on school days.

One less distraction when you are trying to get them out the door.

Total over reaction.

@Breathedeeper a nursery's daily schedule will be very planned and organised and they will keep to a timetable.
If it's a scheduled nap time then the staff may use that time to do (pre planned) tidying up, some cleaning and admin work (all those photos parents expect to be on their child's online portal...).
If some children wake up during that time the cleaning/admin still needs to be done - so they will let the children have quiet time by watching a few pre school programmes.
If you want a more personalised and easily adapted schedule for your child then sorry but you need to hire 1 to 1 care like a nanny.

Spoiler - nursery staff cannot engage every child with an educational activity every minute of every day. Much the same as parenting.

There was probably a perfectly good reason for it and it was probably to do with ratios.
For example if the children were under two, the recommended ratio is 1-3 so fir four children, you need 2 members of staff.
You might think this means they can take two each but if one staff member is an apprentice who is not yet qualified, then the qualified member of staff needs to be present so they can't separate. This might also be the case if both are qualified but one is waiting for their DBS to clear, they can't be left alone.
Therefore they've settled one of the children down with a quiet activity so that they can be in the same room as the sleeping children without disturbing them.
If a member of staff is off then they are probably doing things they don't normally do in order to make sure they are following the rules, which are there for safety.
So I wouldn't worry.

And am I really paying nursery fees for DC to be watching Peppa Pig when that’s something I can do for free at home

no you're paying nursery fees to receive childcare.

There was probably a good reason for it and I couldn’t get worked up about it personally. however if you don’t like it just politely explain that you prefer your child not to have any screen time🤷‍♀️

100% raise it. You aren’t paying for that service. Huddled around a laptop isn’t great for their eyes too. They should be absolutely telling you if screen time is a part of their day. Such a lazy attitude of staff - get a car mat out/instruments etc not stick them in front of a load of crap like peppa bloody pig!

Nursery’s like to have a home environment feel, most parents let their 18month old watch 20mins of TV a day at home. it’s a quiet activity whilst two other children are asleep and it really won’t affect your child in the long term.

There’s no way of knowing it was just a few minutes. And dumping them in front of the tv is not what they’re being paid for.

@SquawkerTexasRanger I’d be pretty annoyed that I’m paying them to look after my children but they’re letting them watch cartoons which I could do at home myself free of charge.

this makes no sense. They are still doing what you are paying them to do - looking after your children.
You could read to them, play with them, Vange nappies, feed them etc at home for free too. Point is, someone else is taking responsibility so you are free to do other things. So you're getting what you pay for.

Oh yeah, get instruments out on a room of sleeping babies! Great idea 😂

If its quiet time and all the kids are napping then I'd have no issues with those who aren't asleep watching a cartoon.

Dd's nursery used to put a DVD on sometimes at the end of the day and gather different age groups together. Some would be watching, some wouldn't. They always looked quite cosy though. I was happy that the staff and the kids had a bit of a chill. They did plenty of other things with them during the day.

Even when I was little 50 years ago we had Andy Pandy and The Herbs and Mary, Mungo and Midge. Pipkins though 😮

I wouldn't be happy but I'd probably want to hear the nursery's side of the story to hear in what situations this happens.

My DC are 10 and 12 and their nursery would never have done this - they worked so hard to keep the little ones busy and happy - but I appreciate nurseries are going through tough times now and they may need to use screens for whatever reason. For that reason I'd go with an open mind.

Hilarious isn’t it!! You’re prob one of those idiots who think it’s okay to put the children in front of a screen at nursery

It's been on since 2004. How old are you?

Oh I'm an idiot? I didn't suggest giving toddlers a bunch of instruments in a room with sleeping babies.
Pretty sure that's complaint worthy if it's your child sleeping!

8-6 or more some of those people will be working. With babies and toddlers. You begrudge them 30 mins of TV time?