Would this annoy you as a parent?

[Jodes97]

I work in a nursery and a parent has messaged in asking what kind of paint we use at the nursery. They said it’s not coming out of their boys clothes after trying everything and they’re annoyed about it, saying they’d expect it be water based paint. Would this be something that would annoy you as a parent or would you just think it’s to be expected at nursery?

No it wouldn’t bother me. All his nursery clothes are stuff that he’s just about to grow out of or primark so I don’t care if they get stained.
Id probably feel different if it was a uniform though.

Wouldn't bother me. He doesn't wear his 'good' clothes to nursery (they specifically ask we send them in things we don't mind getting messy). And I'd rather they let him have fun than try and keep clothes clean!

Most schools and nurseries get water based paint, otherwise clothes wouldn't get clean in the wash and it's a big waste. It's fair enough as a one- off if they use something that doesn't wash out but not all the time. If it's nursery I imagine paint is used often.

I absolutely do not care about the clothes my 3 year old wears to nursery. If they get stained with paint, she’ll still wear them to nursery. My youngest has a few hand me downs that are stained with paint from when my eldest went to nursery. Obviously she has clean clothes as well! But she has some paint stained tops she wears to nursery.

I'm entirely unmoved by stains on school uniform. Got plenty of white polos with with marker pen stains. And paint. I don't feel looked down on. They're clearly stains they've acquired while learning.

I don't get the big deal about that or paint on nursery clothes. Just meant DC had been enjoying themselves.

It bothers me and I have previously emailed school about it. There are so many water-based, washable paints that could be used it makes no sense to me that you would use anything else with children. My son came home covered in paint that wouldn't come out. It's irritating and a waste of money.

No it didn’t bother me

I soon learnt that clothes got stained. He was having a great time and loved nursery

Even a lot of water based non toxic 'washable' paints can stain, especially on certain fabrics. I wouldn't mind as always sent DS in clothes didn't mind getting dirty, but i don't think it's wildly unreasonable to ask about the apron situation or what paint is used (often their are tips on how to get certain brands out of clothes etc) if it's an issue for you. No one expects a child to come home i wouldn't imagine pristine clean, but if its a lot of paint frequently can see why that gets irritating.

DDs nursery did this. It's really annoying that they don't use washable paint / don't use aprons.

I never complained, but some people must have, as a note came home saying it's because they have free flow to all the activities, it's not adult led, so while there are aprons there it's down to the DC (2yo!)to put them on, and they generally don't.

What I did find is that it had a better chance of coming out if I put it on a cold water wash as soon as we got home. Anything more than 20 degrees would set the stain and it never came out.

Never bothered me in the slightest - DS always went to nursery in either supermarket clothes that I picked up in the sales, his cousin's hand me downs or the terrible character clothing that MIL likes to buy him. Every thing was washed and cleaned, just might have a stain on.

I agree with this. They don’t use aprons at my DS’s nursery so he comes home absolutely covered in it. Old clothes or not they’d be totallly ruined if it wasn’t water based paint.

Incidentally it didn’t used to come out, but has started to so I think mine has switched.

They should be using water based paint of course, but not all will be easy to take off clothes.

Generally you can't be precious about any clothes sent to nursery, I have had white tops ruined because I wanted my kids to look cute. That was my stupid idea and I accepted it lol.

But the type of paint depends on the age for me, I would expect my 20 months old who is super messy and just mess about with paint to use the easily washable "baby paint".

But I would prefer for my 3 year old to use real paint with better pigments (still water based but won't wash off that easily).

The paint should be water based.

However I’d never send my child to nursery/school in clothes that I would worry about getting stained or messed up.

I work in a nursery. Our paints are water based but still state 'may stain clothing'. Some colours stain more than others.

We are told that we must have aprons available but we cannot insist that a child wears one, we can only offer.

Yes it would and it has. I never sent my DD to nursery in her best outfit but the amount of times she came home covered in paint that wouldn't wash out was grinding. What happened to the water based, powder paints?!

God no, kids need to be kids

My kids coming home with paint-stained clothes does sort of annoy me. Everything else (dirt, food) mostly comes out but not paint. We do have 'daycare clothes' but it's annoying putting effort into washing and drying stained things so I can send the kids off in grubby-looking clothes 5 mornings a week. Also, my DH doesn't always appreciate the 'daycare clothes' rule and will send them off in an expensive (usually gifted) clothes.

I do wish they had one or two 'paint days' a week so I could have specific sets of painting clothes and not ALL their clothes looks so grubby.

We always had nursery clothes as we knew they would get trashed.
I would worry more if they stayed clean.

It would annoy me if it was every day. ruining clothing.
My DD nursery used to use aprons

Wouldn't bother me. My DC went in clothes that I wasn't bothered about for this reason.

umm I guess it’s frustrating but you expect little ones to get messy and if it doesn’t come out then that item becomes one they only wear at nursery if you are that fuzzy.

My LO used to wear white shirts and the whiteboard markers never came out so I do understand the frustration but it’s not something I, personally, would complain about.

Childminder here!
Even if paint says its washable, it rarely is...
I've tried them all!

We always told parents not to send children in good clothes. Whenever something of my kids got stained I just added it to the nursery pile.
We did use aprons but still kids managed to get it on their clothes and it was water based but still didn't come out.
Why do kids need to wear immaculate clothes to nursery? Like I said just put them in stained clothes for nursery, they'll only add more stains. The children are there to learn and have fun not worry about how dirty or stained their clothes are.

I’d be furious if I sent my child to nursery & it came home stained in paint that didn’t wash out; why are you offended? Has she asked you to replace the clothing personally?

Yes it annoyed me even though I sent my daughter in old clothes that I wasn’t worried about as the nursery used to say “IT WILL WASH OUT” it infact never washed out, why lie just say it will stain