Christmas at nursery

[Novembergirl]

Santa is visiting ds' nursery this week during their Christmas party. Parents have been asked to buy a present for their child, to be distributed by Santa, up to the value of, I think, £8 and, if attending, to contribute food to the party.

Unfortunately, due to a combination of dh not checking the file where parent correspondence is kept (admittedly, difficult to remember when you are juggling a wriggling baby and a bag and are rushing through reception on the way to work or home to feed a hungry ds) and ds being ill, I only found out about the festivities (and the parental responsibilities) last night!

Yesterday, I was in a toyshop; today, however, I will have to dash out between meetings and find something in one of the (few) local department stores (the City is not a great place to shop for childrens' toys). I might be able to make the party (and proceeding carol concert) if I cancel a meeting and work from home, but as ds is only 10 months, I wonder if this would be an over reasction (I would, however, love to see him listen to the carols, meet Santa and receive his present and would hate him to be the only child without a mummy or daddy present)!

I know that another local nursery buys all their children a small present (to be distributed by Santa. Maybe I was being unrealistic in assuming that ds' nursery (which has slightly higher fees) would do the same? I would be interested in hearing the experiences of other mums and, in particular, thoughts on whether, given ds' young age, I should try to make the carol concert/party.

Hey there Bauble.....sorry but ya gotta admit ....an employers hat is very very very much different than an employees.

As to being paid for breaks....over the 15 years i worked in nurseries i have had some jobs that do pay and some that dont.I personally have always preferred that they weren't paid so then i had the freedom to do whatever i wanted in my break IYSWIM

hmmmmm and as to taking annual leave to finish shopping.....not really the point i was making....more the point that families are involved on the nursery workers side too .....just trying to make people think about the other side a bit.

It is such a sad thing to say but i feel that the nursery industry is very flawed in a lot of ways. This is by no means aimed directly at you Bauble.....but one of the main reasons for poor quality/unsympathetic/unable to empathise staff is may are so young and so inexperienced. Because the ones like me and many of 30 something qualified nursery staff i know we have had children of our own.And with nursery work being so poorly paid .....average Deputy in london £20k,average nursery officer 15k....i know this because that is what i looked at 6 months ago. Therefore ....those of you paying childcare in london would know this.....i would be more or less working to pay for childcare. So have dropped away from the nursery scene altogether and now becoming a childminder.

Our staff get loads of perks, including free childcare, so asking them to use their annual leave for time off over Christmas doesn't seem too extreme in our case. I would be really P'd off if I was a paying parent who was expected to work normal hours on the 23rd December and was asked to collect my child at 3pm 'because it's Christmas.'

Bauble99 - You're great - only wish I lived nearer your nursery!

Nzshar- a break is a break - you can do what you want in it paid or not. I work in a hospital - £15-20K is considered a reasonable salary amoungst my colleagues who all have degrees, often have masters degrees and all have a few years experience.
I leaving this thread before I get really annoyed..but wish you well in finding family's to childmind for who will be happy to fit in with you.

Novembergirl - sorry that this thread has wobbled off track a bit..hope your ds has a lovely party.

hmmmm ok i stand corrected bauble ...you are one of the very very few nursery owners i have come across that gives free nursery places for their staffs children. Well done to you and i only wish there were more like you. And yes ultimately i agree it is rude to call up asking to pick up your child if you are a paying parent. But if that did happen i would be more worried about the management of that nursery allowing such a thing to be done.

Bluebear why are you getting annoyed??? Just to let you know that if a break is paid for then in my experience i have had more presurre to take shorter breaks if understaffed etc at times. Also i know that most hospital staff have assisted childcare ie paid or part-paid so therefore makes it all that bit easier.If there were more nursery owners like bauble then it would also be easier for the likes of me too.

As a CM I'm wouldn't finish early on the friday/saturday. A friends parent owns a nursery and she says that about a week before christmas she will run a letter off to parents asking which ones will be collecting the children early. If it's a majority, then next year she might close earlier, but will not charge parents, and will give them adequate warning.

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the staff at our nursery finish early but only an hour, on the day of our party which isthe last day before christmas.

Normsnockers

I think you will find that i agree its not nice to be asked to collect your child early ....just was stating the reasons some do this is not to pile on guilt to parents.

I also found the "motivational career talk" just a little patronising. I choose to go into childcare because it was something i enjoyed, i adore working with children.I have never wanted to be a desk/office person it just wasnt/isnt me. So therefore the thought of owning a nursery is not all that appealing as i would be more or less bound to the load of paperwork required by OFSTED, Inland Revenue etc. It is, like most service jobs grossly underpaid . But also like other service jobs to make a decent wage would outprice the service in the market so therefore its a catch 22 situation.

In nzshar's defence i have to say that I have a huge bee in my bonnet about the whole UK/Christmas work output issue at the moment.

During the last week of November I tried to order some nursery furniture from a company which usually has a 2 to 3 week delivery time. I was told that they couldn't guarantee delivery until the end of the first week in January.

The reason? You guessed it! It's Christmas

Christmas and New Year bank holidays last, what? A week at most? And, even allowing for the fact that a lot of companies close during the period between Christmas and New Year, this still leaves weeks of 'working days'.

It seems to me that Christmas starts from the first tinsel induced after work 'drinkie vomfest' through the awfulness of 'Secret Santa' (which seems to involve buying a useless present for someone you don't even like) to the awful finale that is the work 'do' which involves spending an evening wishing you were at home, eating crap food and probably photocopying your bum.

Baaaaaaah! Humbug!

From an employers point of view it's a bloomin' nightmare. Maybe I'll get so pissed/hungover that I forget to pay people. Can you imagine how that would go down?

Our staff are fab anyway, so none of the above applies, but I bet the owner of the company who's delivery times increase by four weeks because 'it's Christmas' is mightily P'd off.

I chose a community nursery for my daughters and I like the whole ethos - we're a registered charity, run by a management committee, and although we aim to make a small surplus, it's not a profit-making concern in the business sense - we just try to award our staff the best salaries we can afford and the parents the best value possible. we also help local residents to take up local authority funded places (means tested) which help them to return to work or study. I agree that most nursery workers don't want to end up behind a desk, no matter how much money that might mean for them.

nzshar - you are wrong in believing that hospital workers get paid or part-paid childcare.
Bauble99 - agree with you about all this 'takes a month longer cos it's christmas' stuff though.
Bundle - your nursery sounds fab too - the one my children go to is also a registered charity - I guess the amount that would usually go into the 'profit' gets used to give the workers a better salary and subsidised meals etc. seems to be better for everyone.

DD has her nursery party next Friday. Nursery isn't open as such that day. The party is betwen 10-12. Parent's don't go but they can arrive early at collection to listen to the children sing.

Father Christmas is visiting and gives each child a present (provided by the nursery). Last year it was a book.

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nzshar. I agree, it's a shame that more nurseries don't encourage good staff to come back to work after having children, by providing free childcare. For us it's a win win situation. We get fantastic staff who feel valued, the children benefit from their experience and the reputation of the nursery soars. We have even provided free care for one of the nursery assistants we recently took on (I don't mean to imply by the word 'even' that she is less valuable, but in other nurseries free childcare(if any) is only offered to senior staff)

We're not greedy people and as long as we make a good living, we'll be happy. The cost of regular advertising which we no longer have to do, due to our reputation, is not much less in the long run than free staff places. I would rather give the benefits to our staff than to a newspaper/magazine.

bauble if we did that our nursery would be out of business pretty pronto. it is a shame that we can't provide perks like that but our revenue and outgoings are pretty similar and we can't afford to sacrifice the £900 odd a month we'd get for a full time place

It's a tricky one, isn't it??

It always strikes me that nursery nursing (or early years practitioners, as they are now known) is a career which attracts women, in the main and yet is one which few can return to once they have children. Most, IME, seem to go on to childminding, which is a shame (for us!) as there are some fantastic people who often say they enjoy the social aspect of working within a team.