Recent study of children joining reception class

[Liveandletlive18]

A recent study by kindred2 of a 1000 teachers resulted in finding a quarter of children today joined reception class when still in nappies. Many children are unable to climb a staircase or sit properly on the floor due to lack of exercise & muscle tone. The children used expressions more common in America such as trash & vacation due to excessive screen time. Teachers stated covid is no longer an excuse. They say a lot of this is due to busy parents working & having less time to interact with children & teach them basic skills. Is this a worrying trend.

This is not only debatable, but doesn't make a difference to the point being made about the importance of things like trips to the supermarket. When the lack of these has caused a problem, it's still a problem regardless of how much is down to choices and how much down to parental incapability. Society has to deal with the effects of removing the village, whether or not we feel the parents concerned did as much as possible to mitigate the effects.

Well if you saw me with my half-Canadian son and my mum you'd probably judge me too but it's got fuck all to do with YouTube.

What tools are you talking about?
Everybody is capable of talking to their child, playing peekaboo, taking them to a playground, going to a library and showing them a picture book, etc.
People choose to ignore their child while looking at their phone, they know it is not good parenting but they don’t care. They don’t need ‘tools’, they need to stop being so selfish.

Which is ridiculous and not helpful by the nursery. Some just aren't ready by then!

Absolutely agree - and mine went to nursery!

@CheshireDing that's a really condescending attitude to have. I was raised by a sahm and wasn't going to school in nappies. If your child is going to an excellent nursery AND being supported at home then chances are (if there are no underlying issues), they'll be fine.

But they'll also be fine with a supportive, involved sahp.

Equally if they go to a crap nursery and are unsupported at home they'll struggle. If they go to an amazing nursery, but are left in front of screens all evening and weekend and put back in nappies, they'll struggle.

Because it hasn’t been modelled to them

they don’t have a support network showing them how to parent appropriately

surestart centres and the like don’t exist anymore

health visitors and social services are stretched and underfunded.

it’s like being taught cooking at school. Years ago you were taught cooking at school, and it was often taught at home. Then it got cut. So the children who didn’t cook at home weren’t getting the extra help with that at school. They then become parents and can’t teach their children and the cycle continues. Yes you can learn yourself, like parenting. But, if it’s not been modelled, it’s harder.

I hate that this is blamed on parents working. Yes it'll be a contributor but full be of parents not working who don't engage with their children.
Expectations are so low of what children should be able to do.

This is absolutely the problem. And it will get worse.

I know a lot of people do send between these times, so it is not a "waste of money".

it will won’t it. At the moment regardless of nursery or working the majority are still doing it. It won’t take that long for the tiny percentage to become ill equipped parents themselves and the percentage increases

A fair point, but about 800 playgrounds have closed and 200 libraries have either closed or been handed over to volunteers in just the last 10 years.

How do you know this? Do they have additional needs?

for libraries, they are only open during limited times.

I don’t have a local library. My nearest one is a 20-30 min drive away.

To a certain extent I understand what you mean, but you see the things I list when you watch tv/insta reels/facebook. Do you genuinely think that the parent who puts their baby/toddler in front of a screen so they can watch another screen themselves has no idea that it is not the best parenting? (genuine Q)

Sadly I think this is down to the lack of support parents have to stay home with the children in the early years. It doesn’t serve children to go to an early years setting and mix with other babies / children, when they should be home learning off adults and getting one-to-one care. Rather than funding free child care places, offer the funding to parents to see if it means they can stay home OR pay a relative to stay home so they can work.

My kids were all home educated until 7; they attended various groups with a mixed age group of children as well as being immersed into society, visiting shops, being with adults etc. Whenever I encountered children in reception or year 1 classes I couldn’t believe how behind their speech seemed! In certain it’s from being stuck with peers of the same age for long periods of time.

I had to put my DD into childcare every day because I was a working single parent after my marriage broke down due to my ex husband's abuse.

What should I have done to have met your breathtakingly bigoted parenting standards?

Was I not allowed to use my annual leave on holidays? Should I have given up my job to stay at home potty training my kid?

I'm so tired of this stunning ignorance on here about working parents...

I think it's a combination of things. Although most kids of working parents I know turned out well adjusted and do well academically etc. The children I see struggle the most are those in the grasps of "poverty' in Scotland. Unfortunately this often means in real terms parents who don't work, have an alcohol or drug addiction and which sitting about all day getting benefits etc has been part of. They are not actually poor and in most cases financially better of than working parents . They loose self confidence, ability and at often bored and lack direction so go further into addiction. This then causes neglect, disinterest etc.

There is also a huge issue with changing attitudes around potty training. I was told countless times that boys "train later" so not bother even trying. I did try and my son's all trained just after there second birthday including my 2 nuerodivergent sons. Had I taken the advice and not bothered to try they wouldn't have been trained until much older. Disposable nappies are also a huge problem because toddlers don't feel wet. They need to feel wet to want out of nappies sooner.

I have worked with 4 year olds who are more than able to use a toilet but the parents still insist on putting them in nappies (or pull up pants). They don't see this is holding the child back.

I do think some don't know, a lot of young parents now will have grown up with screens. Not just TV but constant access to screens whenever. It's an addiction.

I don't get any benefits for my DC. As I explained up the thread, I potty trained at 2.5 and never went back to nappies. DC was still having up to 6 accidents daily in year 2- I've paid privately for physical and mental health checks at great cost because no one took me seriously. My child has SEN and I wasn't taken seriously with that either - my DC is exceedingly bright but with quite severe SEN issues.

I suspect it is more likely to be children from families that are quite heavily dependent on state support. Many of them lose the ability to do anything for themselves and expect the school to do everything for them.

I don't have direct experience but a friend has been working with families in a poor area of Bristol. She has been shocked and depressed at how hopeless many of the parents are, and it's so sad to see young children living in homes with no proper human interaction.

Even then, you would be hard pressed to fine a nursery open for 12 hours unless it was on site in a hospital!

I don’t think you can put the majority of the blame on young parents and benefit families (most families on benefits are working anyway) when I know plenty of middle class families with two good earners who put their kids in front or Miss Rachel etc

I disagree. Thank god some parents don't stay at home with their confirm! Nursery/childminder fills in the gaps. I think it's more about attitudes. You can have a SAHP who does little or a working parent who does lots with their child. Screens are a big problem. Most of us are addicted.

Covid can't be blamed now for current young children being behind. It's all about the parent and not about the child for a lot of people.

Definitely not that comment was so out of order. I had my son at 15 and he was potty trained at 2 and is one of the smartest in his class. That posters theory doesn't even make sense because the average age of a first time mum has increased in line with this problem. iPads kids are probably the biggest issue

I started primary in the early 1970’s.
We didn’t have much at all. No family car. My mum worked part time in a low wage job - she’d had a career before us, but gave it up to look after us.
This is what I remember - a a fair bit of discipline. We ate at a table. Taught how to use knives and forks. Could look after ourselves when it came to washing and going to the toilet. Taught how to say please and thank you. Shown how to behave in other people’s homes and then out in public.
Of course in those days we had one TV, three channels that showed some kids TV at lunch and tea time but that was it.
My mum taught me how to read and read to me.
She was that age during the war brought up in abject poverty, her dad was away and her very young mum used to leave her locked in the house. However, along the way, via her grandmother, she was taught manners and respect,
I am not just looking back with rose tinted specs. Kids in my class used to come to school dirty and with holes in their clothes.
But on the whole our parents were just that and we respected them and our teachers.
I am shocked now when I am around young kids that they don’t move their heads from screens. They aren’t seeing the world around them.
And by the way I know fantastic parents and know their equally wonderful kids who are really lovely to be around.