AIBU to think nursery staff should not cordon off a public playground?

[mumofboysinlondon]

I took my almost 3-year-old and baby to a small playground this morning, and while we were there a nursery group came along. So far so normal.

The staff with the group then added chains to the two gates to stop their kids from escaping, and roped off some of the climbing frame.

I was a bit annoyed by this - the roped off areas included the fireman’s pole and a rope ladder which my kid loves. Obviously this is a space designed for small children so it is inherently pretty safe… The locks on the gates also confused a number of other parents trying to get in, although they could be opened relatively easily by an adult.

I did speak to the member of staff and asked if they really needed to do it and she said it was the health and safety policy of the nursery. I didn’t want to kick up a fuss and we left after a bit.

AIBU in thinking this was a bit out of order - it’s a public playground.

That’s not on, the equipment is public equipment, not for a business to commandeer and impact other people’s use. I’d email the nursery if you know which one it was

I don't think the locks on the gates would have bothered me, as long as adults could open them as you say, but I'd have removed any ropes that were stopping my child using the equipment for what it's designed for.

My sons at nursery that are right next to a park and honestly I agree with you. It’s a public space they have no right x

That's ridiculous, they can't assign sections of a public park for what is essentially a private business. Next week, go with a picnic just before they arrive and sit right in the middle 😁

I run a childcare business, fully regulated, and I'm in the nope category. None of that is ok.

Definitely not okay. Public funds will have been used to create a park that's accessible to anyone in the community. A private business should not be able to rock up and interrupt that access whenever they feel like it.

If it keeps happening, speak to the council. They should be able to do something about it.

No, in the same way as you can't cordon off areas of a play park for exclusive use.

I really wish I had asked but I didn’t think of it until we’d left, and they had no identifying markers (no name on the high-vis vests the kids were wearing, for example).

Thanks all, I feel vindicated! I totally get how it happens - they’ll have risk assessed a trip there and thought those bits were too high, and the gates are a risk, so they’ve taken action to mitigate that. But it seemed way over the top to me.

It's got to be one very nearby (walking distance for toddlers). You could find the closest ones on Google maps and then have a look at their socials for "we visited the park today!" posts

If it's a public playground I think you'd have been well within your rights to tell them you were removing the things that were stopping your child from using the equipment. And I agree that if you could work out which nursery they were from, you ought to get in touch and complain. Really odd behaviour.

I'd be reporting to the council

There aren't any terribly close - but I might take a punt on the closest one which is about seven minutes' walk away for an adult. (Central London though, so there's a chance they could have come on a bus.) I might also drop an email to the council.

YANBU. This happened to us this morning at a local park too. Apparently there is a holiday club taking place at village hall next door but why are they just allowed to take over a public park?! Safeguarding must be a nightmare too.

Locks on the gates are fine but I'd have moved any ropes if my children wanted to get to bits.

I would have gone on the roped off areas anyway.

This happened in our park last year and lots of parents complained, I haven’t seen it happen since.

The nursery had walked over, set out bags/plates/cups on every one of the picnic tables in the park despite not a single person sitting down but said they had to be kept for the snack time and they cordoned off the park. I do get it from the nursery safety perspective but as others have said- it is not the nursery park, it is a public park!

I do think as prices rise more people will start doing similar not just nurseries. We were at a NT site near us a few weeks ago and every picnic bench in the park there had “happy birthday” banners/cloths/plates etc on, nobody sat down as kids were all running playing. Another parent had gone and asked at the reception if there was somewhere else people could sit as there was no space and the staff confirmed they don’t take party bookings so these people had just turned up and claimed the space😂

Im wondering if the cordon was as an indication for their children to stay within rather than for other children to stay out of?

Presumably it was an easily passable 'barrier'?

Perhaps 'cordon' was an unhelpful word. They had roped off the parts of the climbing equipment that they felt were dangerous to their children, preventing anyone from using them. There is a sort of tower with a slide on one side, then three other sides, one a ladder, one a rope ladder, one a fireman's pole, and they'd roped off two of these sides using a sort of netting. No way of moving it unless I untied loads of knots.

It goes without saying that I don't think this tower bit is dangerous at all, it's not particularly high and would have been age-appropriate for the children they had with them.

If the risk assessment said it was too risky they shouldn’t have gone not decided to block things off from the public!

We took our reception class on a trip recently which included time in the park. Staff positioned themselves around the park including any possible escape points. Staff and children had hi vis on so everyone was visible. Stopping others using the park didn’t even cross our minds - infact we reminded the children that others would be there too!

Not on, speak to the council if they don’t like to hear it from you.

You have to pay to get into NT properties so seems an odd place to choose for a cheap party if the kids are just playing in an open space then eating.

The equipment cordoned off isn’t appropriate. If you encounter again I’d untie it and let children use it. If they speak to you say it’s a public park and your dc want to play. Ask for nursery name. Without a name I don’t see what council can do.

😲😲

Oh wow!

That is NOT what I imagined at all, and is completely batshit crazy!

I, personally, would have encouraged my child to still use it if they wanted to (even if it meant removing their barrier), but I can understand why others wouldnt. I would have happily advised that it is their responsibility to keep their children safe/make sure they dont go on any equipment they deem unsafe.

They can put up notices in the first instance and could send out comms to all local nurseries letting them know it's not allowed. We had something similar locally, but it was people exercising and not nurseries, and that's what our council did. I think they later had to threaten fines when some people ignored (was a long time ago), but they should be able to do something for starters.