TV in the nursery

[GirlsWhoWearGlasses]

My 2 yr old DD has recently started at nursery 2 afternoons a week, just for 3 hours at a time.

The nursery seemed great and the staff seem very warm, but every time I pick her up the tv has been on - Peppa etc. I appreciate that some of the children are there fulltime and need downtime, but my DD is only there six hours a week. We were hoping nursery would improve her confidence and language.

Am I being ridiculously precious? Is this normal? We aren't TV puritans, well maybe we are, we would normally let her watch 15 minutes a day at most as a distraction before dinner.

Am I being daft?

No
TV in nursery is a very bad sign
It is just not necessary in a nursery
Its a sign that thwy are short staffed or lazy or unimaginative or unable to entertain the children

I would tell them that you dont want her watching tv

I wouldn't expect to see a tv in a nursery at all, let alone on. I'd change nurseries.

I wouldn't be happy with this

I think it's terrible. I have absolutely no problem with children watching
TV- in fact at home I actively put them in front of the tv- but I pay the nursery over £40 a day... I categorically DO NOT want my kids just watching TV for that price. My daughter used to come home from her old nursery singing all sorts of songs from CBeebies programmed I'd never even heard of at the time... Eventually we changed nurseries (tv wasn't the only reason though - it was a rubbish nursery! TV was just a symptom of that I think!).

Thanks everyone. That's what I was worried about. I will speak to the nursery then. I wasn't sure if I was being over the top, but it seems so counterproductive when she's there to help her develop social and language skills.

I send my two children to an OFSTED outstanding nursery. The eldest has been going for nearly 3 years. The only time I have ever seen the kids watching TV was on a 'snow day'. The kids had been outside all day in all weather gear ( that they provide) and were shattered by tea time. They put on Toy Story and half of the kids were asleep on the mat. I really don't think I would be keeping my child in that setting if it is a regular occurrence ( I'm not anti TV fwiw just don't think they should watch it at nursery).

If they are showing something that fits the theme of the week/month/term, that's fine. As are films in severe weather (instead of going outside).

But just for corralling? No, I wouldn't be happy.

The nursery my kids are in, the toddlers do watch the occasional film or rugrats episode (they have a vhs player still) and I am okay with this, seems to always be on a Friday and I know they do tons of other activities and go out a lot to parks etc and spend a large amount of time in their garden doing activities.
Both my kids are in 9-5 apart from a half day on a Friday though, it seems to be the same with the rest of the kids too.

I would not be happy if it was something they did all the time.

I work in a nursery, yes we do have a TV in one of the rooms but it was only used to play music, we would never have the TV on in the day but would occasionally in the evening from 6:30 - 7pm when the last few children were getting tired and it was only a bedtime story at this time anyway. I would be very concerned if the TV was on all the time. I would defiantly take this matter up with the manager and if no changes then change nursery. Nursery is for fun learning, messy times not sitting watching TV.

I wouldn't be happy with this. In fact, I don't recall ever seeing a TV in ds's nursery. He watches TV at home and I have no problem with it in general but I would not be happy with it at nursery as a regular thing, especially for the younger groups. Occasionally would be fine.

DS nursery didn't have a telly. They had a computer in the preschool room but never has films or telly as far as I know

I would be not be impressed! When I was a nursery nurse, the preschool used to watch a Xmas film at Xmas and occasionally of it was raning heavily.

But I wouldn't be impressed if it was on all the time.

Regular nursery, regular occurrence - quite slack.

The one place I saw it used regularly (& IMO fully appropriately) was a drop in 'emergency Childcare' place - just because it helped calm the kids who maybe were scared to be unexpectedly dropped with strangers. In particular - my DS - who they eased in with a couple of Thomas episodes.

Are they responding to a particular 'problem' - or is it a time filler?

Otoh, my dc1's outstanding nursery regularly put tv on for the after 4pm slot when the kids were exhausted. Assuming this is happening earlier in the day, in prime activity time, then it's unacceptable. And also, given your dc is doing little nursery time, can you move her to a guaranteed 'no tv' time?