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…

Yes, precisely. Do people really think nurseries are just flowing with staff who do these jobs for us while we sit on our arses all day and let the kids have at it? It's extremely ignorant, insulting, and disrespectful to hold these views towards the people who care for your children and invest so much in their learning and development.

All the children in my care, I care so deeply about their needs and what's best for them. We spend so much time together, I am the one who cuddles them when they are upset, encourages them when they are unsure of themselves, makes sure they are clean, have full tummies, are having fun at nursery, are meeting their milestones.

It makes me feel so depressed, devalued, and disheartened when people who have no idea the amount of work and love that goes into giving their children the best start in life, start ripping apart the efforts that we put in and criticising things they know nothing about. Very demoralising.

We used to laugh at how many accident report forms we'd have to complete if we had to do them at home!
nb I'm not suggesting parents not be informed of accidents.

It would be a senior nursery nurse job at most to do something like a day-to-day timetable for the children, in between all of the other things they are doing in the day.

A manager would probably give it a quick glance and tick it off because they have 10,000 other things to do.

(Probably including dealing with parents complaining about children having 10 minutes of screen time.)

You just seem clueless about how busy people are in childcare settings.

This is ridiculous. Babies shouldn't be watching any tv at nursery. Not beneficial for them whatsoever under 18 months! Parking them next to some toys they can explore is much better

They play all bloody day!

Of course parents don’t think nursery staff have magic wands, we are parents of babies and toddlers so we know how demanding they are. But just because a nursery is understaffed, or the job itself is challenging with a lot to do does not justify the use of screens with children whose parents may not be comfortable with them.

I worked in bakeries for years - if you were short staffed you couldn’t just chuck a load of potentially harmful stuff in the bread to make it easier to handle, not tell the customers you’d done it and then sell it for the same price. Do you see what I mean?

@Breathedeeper no offence (and I said this upthread) but if you want a non communal based childcare setting and one where you can get 1 on 1 care and get to 100% dictate what your child can or can't do - hire a nanny.

It’s not about having 1 on 1 care, it’s about transparency. I suspect a nanny with no one else to cover her breaks, etc., would probably feel even more justified using screens than someone working in a nursery. But the point is you need to tell parents if you are doing this with their children.

@Breathedeeper the thing is nurseries, pre schools and child minders have had times where children watch a screen (tv, laptop, tablet or whatever depending on era) is something that has happened for decades.
It's not new.
It wouldn't be something most parents would think doesn't happen within a nursery setting.

Erm, no, I don't, because you are being quite ridiculous and comparing poisoning people to toddlers watching some cartoons

If you don't like her watching them, it's not an issue, and you're within your rights, just tell the staff you don't want her watching screens. Job done. They aren't psychics.

As I said in my other posts, parents are aware in my setting that the children watching cartoons sometimes. If a parent told me they didn't want this to happen, I would respect that.

It's not the fact that parents may not want their children to watch the screen that is my gripe, it's that people are saying nursery staff are using screens to "be lazy" and so they can "have a break" when in fact the very opposite is true.

I wouldn’t be happy with that. I don’t allow Peppa Pig at home so don’t expect to pay for DC to watch things like that.
The fact that nursery staff are paid minimum wage is a disgrace. I would be willing to pay more for childcare but many parents wouldn’t or indeed can’t. Staff should be getting paid to tidy and prep when the children are not in. I know that wouldn’t happen because childcare is already expensive and people don’t want to pay more.

And for what it's worth, I don't think YABU to not want your child to watch screens at nursery. If your child attended my setting, I would respect your wishes. Some parents are OK with it, some aren't. Both are fine.

Out of interest, what programmes do you allow?

PP is quite educational compared to, say, Paw Patrol.