videos at nursery

[lucy01]

DD1 let it out last night that she has been watching chittychittybangbang at nursery - she said to me that "the childcatcher isn't nice but doesn't come to our home does he?" Almost fell over.

I know that they watch videos if, supposedly the weather is bad, but they don't tell me at the end of the day that that is what they have been doing.

I don't have a problems with videos in general but I wouldn't have let dd watch this at home and would have preferred the choice at nursery - is this unreasonable? Some of the kids in her room are only just 3 and, call me over protective, I don't think that ccbb is an appropriate video for that age group.

Should I say something or am I over-reacting.

Took my dds to see the show (2 and 4), however younger one nodded off at the child catcher bit.

oops!

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At my dds nursery, they watch tv - normally Barney or Fun Song Factory or some other godforsaken kids show once a day.

They watch tv at home and sometimes they need to unwind and calm down a bit and I find tv does that for them.

I do let the children watch tv (usually cbeebies) or a video (thomas, noddy etc) and the eldest has been to the cinema.

I suppose I just want to know what other nurseries do - do they let the children watch it but tell the parents lt the end of the day or just pretend it hasn't gone on by not saying anything! They tell me what other things she has done during the day but why not when they have watched tv?

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Lucy - you're right, the nursery don't mention it to me either. They say in the contract that a bit of tv is watched each day and indeed when I spent some time there before DDs started, I saw their tv time. The kids talk to me about what they watch.

But thinking about it, what can they say about it? not a lot really. Dunno whether I might have some reservations about entire films being watched.... I'll have a think.

Cod, calm love, I pasted the link in and got to the thread.

here

It was too painful to watch you keep trying...

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I don't think Chitty is necessarily a suitable film for toddlers (2 - 4 years??) to watch as it has a storyline in it that I would have thought was a bit hard for them to follow. Did they watch the whole film? How long is it??

I had a quick scan through cod's miserable attempt at a link - it was said that maybe staff needed a "break". Surely there would be enough staff in most nurseries to cover anyone "needing a break".

As a childminder, I sometimes allow children to watch 15 minutes of something-more-suitable after their lunch, just to eat my lunch (if I haven't been able to eat at the same time as the children because I've spoon-feeding one and chopping up apples for another). There's only me looking after the children, not a huge network of people!

If a nursery says that it makes use of TV/video, then it's up to parents to decide if they're happy with it. I still think that they could have made a better choice of film!

I've worked in many nurseries thoughout the past 15 years and video watching is something that I see happen in some nurseries.

The reasons for watching a video are important. On wet winter days it could be something to help cheer the children up, though it shouldn't be on for very long, maybe say 15-20 minutes. It must be appropriate to the audience and should be educational - thus as someone has mentioned, things like Barney, The Hungry Catterpillar and other age appropriate stories. It should not in my view be Feature Films - Note: Most videos are for home use only... they require a licence to view in a Nursery setting... bet the nursery hasn't got one!

Videos should never be used so that staff can have a break - they should have sufficient staff to cover the ratio in the room at any given time. If say you collect your child from nursery and find that they are sat in front of a video with one memeber of staff supervising, then feel free to complain, both to the nursery directly and to the regulator.

As a nanny, children I care for do not tend to watch much TV, they are too busy doing other things. If they are feeling unwell, then a video may be used - unlike other forms of childcare, nannies care for sick children.

Where any childcare provider says that they will use a video/tv, then as a parent you need to know what sort of thing they are watching and for how long. At a nursery, this should certainly be put on the daily record sheet (for young children) or on the daily routine board for pre-school.

Mine isn't at nursery, but I think a whole film does seem excessive...

BUT... disagree with Chitty being a bad choice of film for younguns. The 2-4 yr olds don't have to understand the whole story, cos they are so little, and I think that at that age, they are also too young to be scared of the childcatcher - it is when they are older and understand what the childcatcher does that it gets scarey.

Think yourself lucky - I went ape when DS (almost 5) came back & had been watching Dodgeball
The nursery had run a Holiday Club & DS had time in there as a 'treat' - having said that I think the oldest child in there was 8

DD is 3yo and loves Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - has done since before her birthday too. She watches the whole film and really enjoys it, and loves singing along with the songs too. She is able to follow the story, and although she says the childcatcher is scary - she isn't actually scared IYSWIM - as she knows the children are saved later.

My dd1 has watched whole films since she was4 and dd2 since she was 3 no probs

But I don't like ccbb because of the childcatcher but that is only IMO

Lucy - I agree with you. I don't know about Chitty Chitty cos I haven't seen it but with a range of kids there's bound to be some who take it in their stride and others who get scared.

I would have thought they would stick to CBeebies or that kind of thing & not watch films at all.

CCBB is scary for little ones I think, my Sis was terrified of it!

My ds1's former (note the very deliberate former) school watched videos every day, plus c-beebies. He was completely fluent in Disney by the end of Reception term 1. grrrr

My dd sat glued to CCBB a couple of weeks ago whilst I was a bad mother and abandoned her to the tv whilst painting ds's room. She obviously didn't understand the story line at 2 1/2 yrs old but she loved the singing and colourful scenes.

In respect of tv/videos at nursery, don't think dd's nursery do it although they may well do. I don't have a probelm with it as long as the film/programme is age appropriate and it's no more than 20 minutes.