Cartoons at after school club?

[Maxmaxmax]

My little boy just started at nursery school this week. We are not new to the nursery setting and have been at a private one for 2 years, but this is the first week at the nursery of a local school. The school is highly rated from what I can tell. All parents and local teachers speak highly of it, and all has been good so far in the usual nursery day. However when I went to collect him today from after school club I found them all sat on a mat watching disney cartoons. I asked if this was usual, and was told quite defensively that it was only on a friday, and it was just a little song.

Am I being naive or old fashioned to expect more than this at an after school club? If they're interested in music then why not encourage the children to play music, or to have a dance party. Not just sit there idly watching the screen.

It is also a very sunny day, and all other children were out in the school's beautiful gardens.

AIBU, or should we be expecting a bit more?

They will watch TV if it's kids cartoons as it's designed to be addictive. Not because they are exhausted or want to sit down. Tiredness in young children doesn't usually manifest as sitting still resting.

I'm just as guilty as the next parent for letting my kids watch TV so they don't make a mess or a noise - but let's be honest this is not in their interests apart from the fact that it helps me keep my sanity!

If you don’t like what they are offering, you will need to sort out alternative childcare or change/reduce your working hours to be able to collect your child from school and avoid the club altogether.

I feel like there's a middle ground to be found between asking a question about screen time on the school grounds and homeschooling. Just personally.

Modern parents often feel an increased sense of responsibility for their children's well-being, including their educational experiences. This heightened involvement is driven by societal expectations and the desire to provide the best for their children, not by entitlement. Though across the board people are definitely becoming more entitled so hard to unravel that one... I know several older family members have said to me their glad they don't have to parent now as it seems so more pressured than they remember. Could give a hundred small examples but it's easier to just say the world has changed. Really not fair though that teachers are often the ones in the middle of this perfect storm of stretched budgets Vs increased expectations and pressure from the parents and the governments and policies. It's tough from practically every angle. Can understand why teachers are leaving in droves and there's an increasing homeschool movement!

Is it an after school club run by the schools own staff or an external company?

Either way, yes, you’re expecting too much. There is nothing wrong with listening to Disney songs and watching the videos.

ASC is cheap childcare really isn't it? Or, at least, cheaper than most other forms of childcare. That's not a criticism at all (we use it) but I don't expect anything fancy from it other than a safe space for DS to play with his friends. I know they do some activities, or, at least, some activities are available for them, but the kids can generally just choose what they want to do. DS doesn't often watch TV because I don't really have any limits on screen time so he doesn't feel like it's a treat or something special.

These clubs often struggle to stay afloat as they are, let alone having staff stay for 20 minutes when the children have gone. The last hour of the club at the school I work at runs at a loss every single day, but is kept open to help the parents who use it. There are constant threads on MN complaining about the cost of childcare. I'd much rather 10 minutes of Waffle the Wonder Dog as the last few kids trickle out than the club folds...

Have you ever looked after 30 kids on your own at once? It's exhausting for everyone inc kids so sometimes a bit or numberblocks etc is necessary!

For goodness sake, kids should be allowed to relax after a whole day at school.

Parents are the ones still at work, not the kids.

That would put the costs up for parents though. Not all parents will be able to afford that.

Thank you. The only studies I could find were done by Middle Eastern paediatricians and there was a lot of “western cartoons erode traditional values” which was quite an uncomfortable read.

A bunch of small boys being expected to eat more snacks after watching two episodes of Spongebob isn't the definitive study some people would like to think. What's to say that they weren't picking two snacks rather than ten because they could tell they weren't that hungry/weren't bored compared to the other groups? That could be interpreted as watching Spongebob (I don't think they say which episodes) assists with self regulation of food.

In any case, a lot of Disney movies are far slower paced, more melodic and gentler than Spongebob. Most include some very important themes, are based upon folk tales, mythology, classics of literature and fairy stories, introduce kids to the Hero narrative and have a considerable amount of classical, jazz and other musical styles in them. Even if they'd been watching Roadrunner or Bugs Bunny, they'd have had exposure to cause and effect, comic timing, music communicating action, mood and intent and prompting kids to anticipate what is to happen next and wait for the payoff.

I like classical music and opera precisely because of watching cartoons as a kid. My first exposure to classical mythology and other literary genres was mostly through cartoons, but also through watching epic adventure movies on TV (although I can't exactly imagine any AFC showing them Jason and the Argonauts, it went along with cartoons like Ulysses 31 in educating me, as I certainly wasn't going to get that at home).

And sometimes after a busy day, it's just nice to sit still and disappear off into another world, one with colour and song and magic. This applies to five year olds after a day at school at the end of the first full week back as much as fifty year olds.

Yup, YABU.
Would have been easier with a poll.

As has been said. This isn't school, it is childcare after a long day and an exhausting first week at Nursery school.

I think as a one off thing (especially at the end of their first week where they are bound to be exhausted) that it’s ok.
They’re only tiny and they are bound to be exhausted.

we typically dont let our dc have a lot of screen time (but I suppose it’s all relative) they play with their toys, look at books, do colouring etc to relax. However, we do let our dc7 watch 45 minutes of tv mon-fri when he gets home from school to decompress because he is exhausted. Then the tv goes off.
we have done that since reception age, because I think balance is important.
dc don’t watch tv apart from that really (sometimes we do a family ‘movie night’ on a Friday evening)

I think it wouldn’t bother me unless I noticed it was a regular thing!

every now and again at my daughter nursery, usually when it’s raining (Scotland- so a lot of rain) they turn the lights off, get cushions and blankets and get cosy on the map and watch a film. I think it’s so lovely, they do so much organised activities and outdoors play and it’s genuinely lovely nursery that I really like the idea of an occasional film treat on a cold rainy afternoon. If it’s all the time yeah it’s a bit shit but if it’s a Friday afternoon treat after a long tiring week then I think it’s quite nice for the kids.

Screens in general
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885201423000242.

Animation and executive function
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8392582/

Except for my brother practising his Hong Kong Phooey moves on me I wasn't harmed by an excessive diet of cartoons 😀 The articles though are quite interesting.

I was lucky enough to be able to pick my kids up some days during the week when they were small & guess what, when they got in I often allowed them to watch TV!

Honestly, you are fussing about nothing.
Just be glad that your child is safe and well cared for after school & cut the After School Club workers some slack.

YABU and stop being so nit picky.

DD's after school club (covering the whole primary age range) do lots of things Mon-Thurs. On a Friday they go outside for half an hour to blow off some steam and then put a movie on. They pull out the crash mats, snack on popcorn and generally chill out. I've always considered this a positive thing as the younger ones in particular are tired by Friday night.

As long as the cartoons are age appropriate I wouldn't worry about it at all.

I’m with you OP!
watching TV at age 3/4/5 doesn’t always give them down time, with mine it actual gives them massive over stimulation and when you remove them from the stimulation they go a bit mad and then takes a lot long to chill everyone out before bed.
But the point about cheap child care others have mentioned still stands - the adults looking after them need to have down time (it’s not about the kids at that stage)

Exactly. OP has forgotten the fundamental thing in all this and that is "Are the children happy and relaxed at their ASC provision?"

They have to sit and learn ALL day at school apart from at playtime. If you haven't been in a primary school since your own school days I think you'd probably get a shock at how much learning is crammed in, how prescriptive it all is, how much pressure there is for the kids to reach certain targets. The days of doing a nice relaxing activity on a Friday afternoon like "free choice" painting/drawing in art are long gone.

For god's sake, OP, let them be children and have some fun for a very small amount of their awake time on a Friday afternoon. The miserable stressed children I see at school are the ones who are pushed by their parents from pillar to post doing a "worthwhile" organised educational activity every day of the week while never having any proper downtime to do things that kids find fun like watching a cartoon. They've had to hold a pencil all day at school. Let them do something that doesn't have any "aim" other than to let them giggle on a mat with their friends switching off for 20 minutes.

ANd by the way, your OP says both that they were all sat on a mat watching Disney cartoons AND ALSO that all other children were out in the school's beautiful gardens. So which is it? Where were they? Inside or outside?

You're just on a wind-up, really, aren't you?

Have you thought that cartoons are not all the same? And that maybe the fact that YOUR children get overexcited after watching some of them could just be because they are so unused to watching them that the novelty factor excites them?

Agree it’s not ideal. The OP isn’t suggesting they’re taught French or doing maths practise or learning to play tennis during this time- just that the usual array of books with quiet corners, colouring in, some board games, age appropriate toys, Lego etc are out, and they can occupy themselves. Why is that such a terrible idea? Screen time has been shown to be harmful to developing brains, and sure lots is worse than a little- but given how unavoidable screens seem to be now, why aren’t we trying to reduce them where we can? It just seems unnecessary.

They also really don’t relax all kids- my DS will be transfixed by a screen, and to an outside view seem completely calm, but his behaviour later is notably worse than days he’s had time to play with play doh/get lost in small world play etc. I have no idea of the chemistry that goes on his brain, I just very clearly see the effects. All kids are different of course, and I appreciate it’s much harder in a childcare setting.

@Nafotdbs

you stopped using the FREE ikea crech
which is advertised as a play area, nothing more, because they put a film
on for those who wanted to watch it??

you think dragging your kids around ikea shopping is SO much better gor them??

🙄🙄🤣🤣🤣🤣

@Maxmaxmax

its an after school club, kids are knackered by Friday. Youre being ridiculous

I couldn't get worked up about this. Perhaps stop using the ASC if it's not up to your standards.