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is this normal practice in a nursery?

37 replies

BUTU · 21/10/2014 00:59

My 18 months toddler just started settling in sessions in a nursery. My son loves to press buttons and switches. In the toddlers' room, there is a lift. He likes to press the lift button but he is told not to. He also want to press all the switches beside the electricity sockets, which is not allowed either. The sockets all have covers . There is also a food preparation corner in the room. My son wants to play with the swinging cover of the food bin, which is not allowed either.

Is this normal to have these temping things in the toddlers' room and forbid them to touch? My son is feeling rather frustrated because he cannot resist the temptation. At my home, we baby-proof the rooms so he can play safely wherever he goes. All the things he cannot touch are locked away. Shouldn't the nursery do that too? Are all the nurseries like that? Shall we try other nurseries where he can play with everything within his range?

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SavoyCabbage · 21/10/2014 01:16

Surely it is good for him to know that he can't touch everything that he sees. You can't lock away everything in the whole world that he might want to touch.

What if you are in the queue at the bank and the person behind you has a walking stick that he wanted to touch? Or when he wants to poke another child in the eye? Which seems to be a common phase!

They have to learn that they can't always do whatever they want to do. For their own sake.

BUTU · 21/10/2014 02:32

@SavoyCabbage Thanks for your reply. So your children's nursery also leave things in the play room but children are not allowed to touch? I normally only put limits on dangerous or immoral behavior. For example, he is not allowed to take other children's toy in play group when other children are playing with it. But I let him play toys in other children's buggies in the buggy park area.

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kelda · 21/10/2014 02:44

Of course he shouldn't be touching the lift buttons of the plug socket buttons. Plug sockets and lifts are not toys, so it's appropriate to teach him not to play with them.

I don't understand your post, you say you allow him to play with toys that are in someone else's buggy, in the buggy area? I wouldn't allow my children to play with toys on someone else's buggy that have been left in a non-play area.

TeenageMutantNinjaTurtle · 21/10/2014 02:56

In my daughter's nursery there are plug sockets they aren't allowed to touch. They are also not allowed to play with the doors, the taps in the bathroom and each other's "tubs".

So to answer your question, it IS normal. And your toddler will learn.

BUTU · 21/10/2014 03:00

@kelda Yes. In the buggy area, when I get stuff ready, he often walks around and touches the buggy toys hung in other buggies. In the play ground, he also touches other pushchairs, parked scooters and bicycles etc.

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BUTU · 21/10/2014 03:02

@TeenageMutantNinjaTurtle Thanks a lot! This answers my question and save me lots of worries.

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EmbarrassedPossessed · 21/10/2014 03:05

BUTU, I wouldn't be very impressed if I saw you let your child play with other peoples' possessions! When is he going to learn he can't just play with whatever toy he sees? Would you let him rifle through peoples change bags as well, seeing as they might be left on the buggies too?

My DS sometimes showed an interest in toys on other peoples buggies - all it takes is a little bit of redirection and distraction, accompanied by a phrase like "those aren't our toys, we can't play with those".

BUTU · 21/10/2014 03:09

@EmbarrassedPossessed Thanks. Hummm, I think it's a good idea to guide him away from those habits now.

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SavoyCabbage · 21/10/2014 05:24

There are so many things they can't touch. I'm a teacher and I can tell you I've never ever been in a setting where the children could safely touch every single thing they wanted to.

Handbags are a good example. They are in playgrounds and parks and on buggies. But you can't touch them.

My dd has a peanut allergy so it would have caused me anxiety if another baby was touching her buggy toys.

What would you do if he wanted to touch some dog poo he saw at a park?

HappyAsASandboy · 21/10/2014 05:46

Yup, there are always things around that babies/toddlers/children shouldn't touch. Our nursery makes things as safe as they can, and then has rules about what is off limits.

In the baby room babies (up to 2 years) are not allowed near the highchairs at the side of the room or near the doors or to play with sockets (!). They're told 'no, come away from the xxx' and moved away.

In the toddler room there is a big cupboard where toys/craft stuff are kept, doors again, sockets again, and adult chairs are off limits too.

By the time they're in the preschool room, there are taps, scissors (safety ones, but still restricted access), window catches, paints, everyone's bags/coats/wellies, all sorts really, that the kids are not allowed to touch without asking. The kids are generally very good at understanding what's off limits because they hear the leaders consistently repeating to any child that touches something inappropriate that it is not allowed because ...

On the subject of other people's belongings, I have always steered my kids away unless the owner is there. They want or have wanted to touch all sorts of stuff - buggies, bikes, scooters, motorbikes, cars, shopping in baskets/trollies, handbags/changing bags .... the list is endless. It all gets an age appropriate 'no, it's not ours so we don't touch' or similar from me. I wouldn't rootle through someone else's buggy/car/handbag/trolley, so they need to learn not to as well!

One final point - if you're in the uk, socket covers are almost always not needed, and actually make the sockets less safe (unless they cover the whole block, not just the three holes). There is info here - www.fatallyflawed.org.uk

insancerre · 21/10/2014 12:30

A lift?
In the toddler room?
A lift with doors and a lift shaft?
Am I missing something here?
Why have they got a lift in the toddler room?

Gileswithachainsaw · 21/10/2014 12:36

For disabled people. Food?

It was something else before it was a nursery.

To get ten double buggies down stairs for outings?

VeryPunny · 21/10/2014 12:36

In DD's nursery, the food and nappy change areas are fenced off with stairgates, so there is no way a toddler can get to them. There are no sockets in the main room bit. In th toddler and preschool rooms, the hand wash basins are freely accessible and child height - if a child starts playing with them, it's fine and they are changed into dry clothes if necessary. They soon get bored of messing with taps!

I think it's unreasonable to expect toddlers to not touch those things - and besides, an adult only needs to turn their back for a second. I'd be unimpressed.

Floggingmolly · 21/10/2014 12:43

You really think you can control your child's environment so that he can poke at and meddle with everything around him?? Wow.
And don't let him wander round taking other children's toys out of their buggies, ffs. it's immoral...

ShadowKat · 21/10/2014 12:57

The nursery we go to has no sockets that a child could reach in the baby / toddler rooms. Food and nappy change areas are gated so that they can't get in alone. Stairs are also situated so that children can't access them without an adult leaving doors/ gates open.

About the lift, though - I'm surprised that they've left it so easily accessible to the toddlers. You'd think there's potential for a toddler to get into serious trouble with that, if the staff are distracted for whatever reason.

And I agree with everyone else that it's not acceptable behaviour for a child to play with toys out of someone else's pushchair. They're not his, and he needs to learn to leave them alone.

insancerre · 21/10/2014 17:01

I still can't work out why the lift is n the room
I manage a nursery and have worked in/ visited dozens and have never seen a lift in a room used by children
I do the risk assessments for my nursery and people wouldn't believe how much detail we go into. I can't even begin to think how I could diva risk assessment for a lift in a toddler room and end up risk assessment I was happy with.

5madthings · 21/10/2014 17:13

Maybe it's not a lift with a lift shaft but one of those lifts that is more like a moving platform to go up and down a few steps?

I would be concerned about the plug socket covers, I didn't think they were recommended? But maybe op is not in UK.

ElephantsNeverForgive · 21/10/2014 17:15

DD1 would have worked how to have a ride in the lift in about a week.

She spent her entire preschool time, escaping into the school hall to climb the main school wall bars or getting on tables and getting out craft materials that were for another day.

She was a compulsive climber and totally impervious to the phrase don't touch. At 16 she still fiddles with things and picks up everything in shops.

If ever you went anywhere new you'd see her scan the room, climb over the hosts carefully provided toys and pick up an ornament, photo frame or CD instead.

No nursery on the planet, would be child proofed to the point DD1 didn't find something, that wasn't a toy, wasn't age appropriate and that she shouldn't have.

BUTU · 21/10/2014 17:17

@HappyAsASandboy Thanks! Your advice is really useful. I have read this site www.fatallyflawed.org.uk too. I agree with what's said on the site. So we don't have the socket covers at home. But in the nursery they do.

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BUTU · 21/10/2014 17:19

@VeryPunny Thanks a lot! So at least in some nurseries things within children's reach are ok to play.

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BUTU · 21/10/2014 17:27

@ShadowKat Thanks. It's useful to know not all nurseries have sockets within reach. The lift is a disable lift. The door does not open automatically. Children can not pull the door open. In my opinion, it is not dangerous to press the lift button. But the nursery rule is that the children cannot touch it. In fact, the sockets are covered. It's not really dangerous to play with in the switches. Again, it's the nursery rule.

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BUTU · 21/10/2014 17:32

@insancerre Does your nursery have electricity sockets in children's level, rubbish bin next to play area? The lift is kind of moving platform for wheelchair users. The door does not open automatically. It's quite safe I think.

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kelda · 21/10/2014 17:42

It may not be dangerous in our opinion because the sockets are covered, but it is dangerous to allow a child to consider pulg sockets and lifts as toys.

You really should be backing the nursery up on this one.

Finola1step · 21/10/2014 17:53

I agree with Kelda.

insancerre · 21/10/2014 17:56

Yes
The electricity sockets and bins are within reach and are inost nurseries
The children are told not to touch them
Children do learn boundaries pretty quickly
I don't think that everywhere should be childproofed. I think children should be taught not to touch things that they shouldn't be touching.

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