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…

Having worked in nurseries, this is commonplace. The awake children are allowed to watch some children's TV programmes whilst they are waiting for the other children to wake up. It's the only point in the day they do this and are playing/on the go for the other 7/8 or so hours in the day. Does your dc not watch any TV at home op? If that was all they did then you might have reason to complain but you saw a small window in the day.

Yeah this would really piss me off. But it's become so normalised.

@crostini watching TV in one form or another has been normal in schools/nurseries for decades.
Either specific educational programmes (ie the ones made by BBC Schools Programmes) or age appropriate ones for a bit of quiet time/wet play/special treat.
It's hardly a new concept.
BBC Schools Programmes began in 1957.

@Breathedeeper if you are able to collect your child early does this mean you don't actually need childcare?
Nursery under the age of 3 is not needed unless it's for childcare.
If you can collect her early then why not just keep her home with you?

@Needmorelego there is such a huge difference between a group of children in a primary setting watching bbc learning type programmes together in front of a proper monitor - often times related to what they're learning in class, vs effectively switching a 1 or 2 year old off in front of a small, close screen watching content such as peppa pig for no defined amount of time.

Things have changed since 20century tv viewing because now screens are everywhere and with 24/7 content. Small kids have tablets/smartphones nowadays and this is causing concern in terms of interaction. Even with adults there is screen addiction.

I've only read the OP's posts.

She says "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."

I think it would be entirely reasonable to ask about how much screen time the children get. Not in an accusatory way, but just in the same way you might ask about anything - how much time outside, how much free play etc.

It's not a good parent/nursery relationship if you have an element of doubt about them keeping things from you.

In my day (kids are 25 and 15 now) it was OK for parents to drop by at any time, and we could go right into the nursery. This always gave you a realistic view, and not the one at either end of the day. I think things might be different now with safe guarding and covid restrictions being retained. Oh and they had a telly but not any other sort of screen. Non napping children would get on with quite play.

@crostini this is the thing - nursery is not needed under the age of 3 unless it's for childcare purposes.
If the OP is so flexible that she can collect her child early then her child doesn't really need to be there.
She can then decide how she wants her child's day to be (ie no TV).
Nursery for childcare is usually a long day with the staff having so much to do and it's physically impossible for them to offer a 1 to 1 service. So sometimes a little bit of downtime watching an age appropriate TV programme is no big deal.
It really isn't.

Virtually everything they do at nursery you can do for free at home, maybe ban reading stories to them as you can do that for free at home, no going into the nursery garden to play on the swings, you can do that at home for free.

If people are anti screens or anti Peppa Pig they are entitled to their feelings but it seems so odd that it should be based on they can do it for free at home. As you say they are paying for childcare.

OP says her child goes to nursery in the morning, so maybe she works part time, or she is able to collect her and take her to another childcare setting (whether that be her own home/partner, child minder etc).

There are many people using nursery for sessions other than day long.

@Needmorelego see I think it is a big deal. I know many parents of toddlers who can say less than a handful of words at 2, who are given the tablet at an alarming rate and their parents wonder why. Children who won't/can't play because they point and whine for the the screen when it's taken away until their parents give in. This is across all demographics and not just a small minority. If these children then turn up to nursery and are then also being placated with screens, then I find that worrying.
It does turn children into zombies.
It does effect speech
It does effect behaviour
It is a break for adults, not a break for toddlers, let's not deceive ourselves

@crostini my daughter was a bit of a big telly watcher in her pre school days.
She was early to talk and early to read (due to subtitles on the screen). At primary school she was writing "fan fiction" based on favourite TV characters - so not all terrible in my view 🙂
Yes it's a break for the adults - that's the point.
The adults have tasks they need to do. They use nap time to do them. But if some of the children aren't napping then the adults still need to do those tasks.

I wouldn't be happy if my toddler was watching telly in nursery! In my daughters room when the kids are sleeping the non sleepers either go outside and play or do quiet play inside

@Needmorelego yes it's great that your child's development was as expected. But one child's experience does not negate a huge problem. And we know we he nature of screen time has changed a massive amount since your daughter was a child.

I imagine because they already have access to a pile of books via the book corner so unless it is a more structured story time, it isn’t going to grab their attention as much as peppa pig is because it will feel like a treat whilst the babies are sleeping.

I would ask, but do it by saying you are looking at all aspects of your child's life and development and just want to know the daily routine at the nursery so you don't duplicate or overdo things at home. E.g. what, how much and when they eat, sleep patterns and amount of time asleep/awake. What sort of play - active educational etc. So basically, an overview of all aspects of time spent there. I don't think anyone would or could object to giving you this sort of information when it is for the benefit of your child.

@VeryHappyBunny nursery staff really don't have time to do any more observations than the ones they already do.

And your point is?

@VeryHappyBunny I think @Unopenedpackofmenssocks comment was in relation to Peppa Pig being a programme full of shrieking noise - when it really isn't.
It's essentially an animated version of a picture book (and many episodes have been published in book form).
Peppa (the character) is known to be a little bit annoying but it's relatively gentle stories of a pre schooler and her family and friends.
Although Grampy Rabbit can be a bit booming......"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG" 😂

@crostini you say the nature of screen time has changed in recent years - you are actually correct. Many dedicated TV channels for children have actually stopped broadcasting due to lack of viewers (CITV is one channel).
Children don't watch as much scheduled TV as they used to - it is a lot more online content.
Surely this is why (if there's going to be screen time) watching a well established and reasonably quality programme (like Peppa Pig) is better than watching random online nonsense.

I don't need to see it. I am currently in a care home (for my many and varied sins) and the woman across the corridor has it on and it regularly wakes me up at 6-6.30am. This is through 2 closed doors! I'm sure there are plenty of quality programmes for pre-schoolers, I'm just not sure that Peppa Pig is one of them. One advantage of being in your 60s and not having daily responsibility for toddlers is that you don't have to watch kid's shows. I much prefer waiting for a few hours and watching Magnum PI. A daily dose of Tom Selleck in tight shorts kick-starts the heart in the morning.

I wouldn’t have let either of mine have screens to watch at home as toddlers and we opted for a nursery that didn’t use them. Not a massive deal or that they are doing something wrong but if you’d prefer she doesn’t have screens I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for that. People tend to be really extreme about it being the worst thing in the world and damaging and I think that’s overstating things massively but screens definitely are less good than lots of other activities and if they just were not available toddlers would occupy themselves with something else.

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)?

To be fair, you can also look after her for free.

As a PP pointed out, you're paying for childcare, not constant stimulation (with zero screens). If your own childcare can involve some screentime, then I don't see why nursery can't, especially on rainy days or downtimes such as nap time.

@Needmorelego yes of course it better. My point is that many kids have too much screen time at home and it's not great to hear that they're also being given it at nursery, regardless of what form it takes.

But watching it on a laptop, is not 'scheduled', by the sound of it, they have put it on Netflix (or similar streaming platform) and are just letting it run endlessly. We are talking Preschoolers here!
We have a responsibility as parents and child care settings to take care of them and their developing minds. Screen time for toddlers is not ideal, I think everybody knows that. As I say people have become numb to it because it's become engrained in society.

@crostini I can't speak for that specific nursery but I expect that watching a pre school programme (whether on a tv screen or laptop screen) is probably part of the nursery plan for the children who aren't having a nap during nap time !