Only read the first page so apologies but having worked in several different nurseries I have only been appalled by the treatment of the children, at one nursery and after mentioning it to the manager it was dealt with.
"They cried all day"
The babies spent most of the day content and when they were upset they were either consoled, or fed; as most babies there was a reason for the tears, hunger, tired, wanting comfort, however even a mum of twins or more than 1 child will say that if you're dealing with another child, the baby has to wait a minute of to, for you to deal with them.
"They are all forced to 'nap' at the same time whether they are tired or not".
Depending on the age of the child they were put down for naps as they would at home babies under a year would sleep throughout the day and toddlers after lunch - which is normal for most children - if they had a morning nap we would try and put down in the morning but if there is stuff going on they won't go to sleep and would sleep at lunch time. As you have worked in a nursery you will know that it is hard to get 11 1 year olds to sleep but also know this is partly becuase they don't want to miss a thing and 2 that they giggle or try to play with each other - you don't just close the door on their bedroom and let them wind down. If the baby/toddler didnt want to go to sleep they weren't forced but we did try and get them to sleep to make sure the child wasn't overtired later.
"They are put in highchairs and fed one by one with the poor children at the end of the row crying until it is their turn to be fed"
Again what age? Parent's of more than 1 have this trouble taking turns to feed the babies With the ratio of babies to staff being 1:3 they shouldn;'t be waiting that long - but you do get the impatient eaters.
"The worst part is when the parent arrives to collect their child and asks how they have been they are told 'He/She has been fine, had a lovely time' even if the child has been crying all day!"
I have had days where the child has been upset, they're still settling in, got a cold and just had one of the days - which we all get - and yes have said they've been fine - they enjoyed this, they liked this but I have always said there have been a couple of tears
"Why oh why would anyone out there child in such a place? If you have to work get a childminder!"
Because you also get bad childminders but the hope is that in a nursery if someone sees this happening to your child, or the children in the setting that they would strive to make the nursery better and speak to the manager about any problems - I used to annoy my boss moaning about little things because I wanted the best for the children. So is it really the setting that is bad or you who have just come and bitched on here but haven't told us what you've done to help.