To think hot drinks should be baned from toddler groups?

[cah1]

I am sick to death of parents just leaving them in toddlers reach! It really scares me!

In years gone by women used common sense!

I find it weird. If you have a friend and toddler around to your house can you offer a hot drink? 2 friends and 2 toddlers? At what point do you say there are now too many women to be responsible-they won't take care-they can't have a hot drink?!

Particularly stupid- as I would bet that most scalding happens in the DCs own home with no visitors!

The only reason i go to my DD playgroup is for free tea n cake

It's not about saying that people (you're the only person who's specified women, exotic) aren't responsible. It's about saying accidents can and do happen and let's minimise that risk - there are posts further up the thread about insurance and liability realities and the differences between home and baby/toddler group.

Happy to disagree and I do realise that I'm in the minority.

You would minimise the risk if people looked after their own toddler and own drink. However I realise that as health and safety treats everyone like 2 yr olds then you have to allow for the risk of being sued and ban it-as in school DCs not making ice slides, playing with conkers without protective goggles etc etc etc.
I am glad that mine are older and you could have a hot drink-I'm not sure I would have made the effort without!

The problem is that although it seems like common sense ALL parents don't take care with their drinks. Yes people managed in the past and some groups manage now but accidents happen. The groups that have banned hot drinks have generally done it after a burning incident. At home is entirely different - as I've said you don't generally have 30 odd parents with hot drinks in your home and the same number of toddlers running around.
There's no point in arguing really. If people think the risk is worth taking then that's their choice but I wouldn't take my kids to a busy toddler group with no separate area for hot drinks and just trust that all the parents will be sensible and that no toddlers will run around unpredictably. I am also aware that as much as I try you can't watch your kids 100% of the time - which imo you would need to in that kind of environment. If I wanted to follow my child around watching them like a hawk and stopping to talk to no-one I wouldn't bother going to a toddler group. I go to toddler groups so the kids can play in a relatively safe environment. If other people go for a hot drink then that's their prerogative and they can go to toddler groups that serve them.

bump! i went to a toddler group yesterday that has this policy!! i nearly DIED, i had walked there (half hour walk) in the RAIN and was dying for a nice mug of hot tea (milk and two sugars thanks) but nope, not allowed!!

health and safety gone MAD!! most put off going again despite it being a lovely group, i may take a flask with my own tea in next time!

havent read the thread to see what the general opinion is, but a mug of hot tea and a biscuit are ESSENTIAL at toddler groups imo!

My DD once got nasty burns from a spilled hot drink (not at a group), was pretty horrible experience for all of us. Am always conscious of it now, and will ask people to move hot drinks if they're on the floor or low down with crawling babies, rampaging toddlers etc.

The A&E doctors said that herbal teas give the worst burns, because no milk to cool them down.

am sorry to hear of that dozer, but would that mean you would want them banned?!! like you say BE CAREFUL, use common sense but to outright ban them! like stranded said, its being treated like a child, i have 5 kids from 11yrs down to 7mths and i have been to thousands of toddler groups and have yet to see a child have a drink spilled on them and have managed to avoid scalding my own children as well, despite horrifying my mil when drinking tea with a baby in a sling its crazy, h&s gone mad and i dont like it at all!

thankfully this morning i have my regular toddler group where there is tea, cakes and scones all provided!!! just like a toddler group should be!!

Been going to and running toddler groups for eight years. In that time I have come to the conclusion that the greatest risk to children in these groups are the parents/carers who assume the group is somewhere where they can abdicate responsibility for an hour and a half.

I have only seen one accident involving a cup of tea, and that was due to an unsupervised child scaling the tables to get to it. Grandma was too busy contemplating her navel to notice. Decent supervision greatly reduces the risk of accidents.

No, I wouldn't want them banned, although our local children's centre has banned them (after accidents), but think some people do need to take more care.

I go to a few toddler groups and have seen plenty of spilt hot drinks and 'near misses' where a toddler or baby has almost been burnt. It happens almost EVERY week! There is always some massive idiot who puts their hot cup of tea on the floor where babies are crawling or puts it on a chair and a toddler comes bounding over and knocks it or tries to grab it.

There should be a hot drink area, chairs and tables etc. Or maybe we could all just go without a tea/coffee for an hour or so!

It is absolutely not true that Toddlers groups are for toddlers only. For having lead a Toddler group for the last 4 1/2 years (with hot drinks and all whithout any scalding so far) Toddlers groups are for mothers as well. There is a huge amount of isolated mums arround and coming to socialise a bit and have a cuppa witout having to wash it after is really important. I agree with exotic that it is for the parents to show some responsability towards their Dcs.

Blime ! This thread still be bought to life??? It started in Feb 09!!!

My daughter pulled a cup of tea down on herself at a P&T group. We had been playing on the floor chatting to other mums and she went over to the table and just pulled it down in the blink of an eye.

It was my fault for not being more aware and the fault of the mum who left her cup of tea right at the edge of the table.

There are signs saying to keep cups in the middle of the table but people forget.

She wasn't hurt, it had cooled enough that it didn't burn her.

I still don't think it's worth banning hot drinks, just being very very careful should cover most eventualities.

i bumped an old thread rather than start a new one :)

i just think it should be common sense thats all and wondered on the general view :)

Oops I though it was a bit familiar I had already posted on the thread in February! Thanks God I said the same thing both times!

Down with health and safety!!
What do we want?
Disease and danger!
When do we want it?
Now!

Of course they shouldnt be banned. Should we ban children from drinking water at the groups incase they get spilt and a child slips on it?

At the group I go to there is a row of chairs with the tables behind to put the drinks on. Always parents sat there to stop any children getting near the tables and the mums get to enjoy a cup of tea while there child enjoys playing.

Bit of common sense is what is needed!

We moved into an area with a no hot drinks policy and the groups were all rather dry affairs. It wasnt the lack of coffee alon,e it was the lack of a decent bisuit that went with it. No food either. These places make you want to loose the will to live you need a good biscuit to munch on.

I thought they were MOTHER AND Toddler groups...

Hot drinks should be banned from all venues where groups of young children play.

My daughter was seriously burnt by hot coffee at a toddlers play event.
She was in the Salisbury burns unit for two weeks and had full frountal burns requiring skin grafting and two years of follow-up treatments.

She was lucky, if she had ingested the coffee internal burns could have killed her.

We sued the venue.

Childrens skin is thin, it burns fast.
As a mum who has had to remove my daughters clothing as the skin literally peeled away, I would urge all playgroup leaders not to serve hot drinks.

Im not being rude here Rosemary as that sounds a hideous experience- but where were you when this happened?