Ruined clothes, what would you do?

[Sakura03]

We're mostly very happy with DS' nursery but its bothers me that the children don't wear aprons when painting as nearly all my son's tops are stained (black paint), on Friday it was top and trousers, earlier in the week he'd covered his hands in black paint and used his top instead of paper, despite using a decent stain remover the top is completely ruined. I buy him cheap clothes for nursery and I expect the occasional accident but I think it looks awful bringing him in in badly stained clothes. The fact that his clothes is cheap shouldn't really matter as in my opinion you should still look after your clothes. That's the way I was brought up and I want my son to learn that we look after our clothes (just the same principle that we apply to toys etc). I feel like pointing this out to staff, what would you do? Do your nursery use aprons? Tia

Every 'washable' paint I encountered in my time in schools and nurseries stated on the packaging that it may stain, especially colours like red, blue and black.

Was just about to mention red and black paint not washing well myself.

Even if they wear an apron for painting, they can still get an itch and scratch it with painty hands. Or maybe they're just passing by the painting and get poked by a brush. Maybe they brushed up against a bit of furniture a paint covered child touched on their way to wash their hands. Or maybe they're near some paint you're getting ready and you turn your back for a second. You then turn round again and they're covered in paint that they apparently definitely didn't touch it and they have no idea how they got painty.

Our nursery uses aprons, and even full body puddle suits. Still gets filthy at least once a week.
Messy play is encouraged and apparently very fun.
I have pictures of the LO covered in paint wearing an apron.
We just get cheap clothes and if they get stained I still use them after washing them.

Thank you everyone, it's been interesting reading your opinions. I'm still of the opinion that just because I buy cheap clothes for nursery it shouldn't be a reason to not look after it but I get that a couple of stains here and there are to be expected. I will have a chat with the staff and ask that he changes into his "art top" if they are going to do painting. It just seems to be the black paint that's impossible to get out of the clothes. Thanks everyone

The problem with aprons is that they disrupt the flow of the child's play once you've stopped them put on an apron they've forgotten what they wanted to do and wonder off to other things toddlers can't concentrate on what they were thinking once you've distracted them. It also means the ensuing temper tantrum wastes more learning time. Put your child in cheap dark coloured or patterned clothes if its a problem change them in the car.

@MiddleParking
How is the wet clothing going to get moldy in a couple of hours? Do you leave them days in s bag? What do you want them to do with it leave it dirty hanging up give a full laundry service?

[quote jannier]@MiddleParking
How is the wet clothing going to get moldy in a couple of hours? Do you leave them days in s bag? What do you want them to do with it leave it dirty hanging up give a full laundry service?[/quote]
Yeah, I want a full laundry service from my kid’s nursery, you got me obviously I don’t leave them days in a bag. That doesn’t make it not gross for them to be shoved in a nappy bag soaking wet (often straight after her breakfast) then put in her rucksack in a warm room and left til I get her home that night. Mould spores can absolutely be developing in that time, if you were trying to design an environment in which to make cotton clothes go mouldy quickly that’s pretty much what you’d do.

I just used to keep stained clothes for nursery - they were washed and clean but with random splodges by the end. Surely all children have a set of ‘rough’ clothes for messy/outdoor play?

When my older DD was at nursery, they allowed the children to paint outside in the middle of winter, clearly without aprons, as she came home with her new winter coat covered in thick black paint that never came off. Luckily we were able to replace it and use the ruined coat just for nursery, but for some families that would be the only coat their child had and my daughters coat at least was a real mess.

We’ve never sent our girls to nursery in good clothes, but it never occurred to me they’d allow paint around children’s coats.

I work in a preschool and we are not allowed to enforce children wear an apron for painting, messy craft, water play etc. This is because it is seen as to disrupt the child and can stop a child from wanting to be creative if they refuse to wear an apron and then cannot join in with the activities on offer. The Curiosity Approach wrote an interesting blog article on it which I will link.

www.thecuriosityapproach.com/blog/aprons-displays-and-things-to-go-home

www.thecuriosityapproach.com/blog/do-aprons-stop-a-child-s-learning

My own little one attends a nursery, he has a huge pile of second hand / free clothes which he wears there. I honestly do not mind if he goes through multiple changes of clothes each day because he’s been happy, engaged and learning. He refuses to wear a bib at meal times and I cannot imagine him happily putting on an apron so he’d miss out on a lot of activities if that was the case. Yes I want him to learn to look after his belongings but I’m not going to stop him from having fun because of his clothes. To me, that is not the biggest priority!

In regards to the wet clothes, what else can practitioners do? We often have 30-40 children a day in our preschool setting, we simply cannot wash and launder every change of wet clothes. Therefore if parents don’t provide a wet clothes bag, they are bagged up and sent home in a nappy bag for the parents to deal with.

Like another poster said, wet swimming costumes are hung up to dry during the summer but then that’s also a nightmare as most parents don’t label anything so reuniting each child with their costume and towel is very time consuming!

@ZombeaArthur, early years settings are encouraged to provide the same range of activities outside as they do inside

That's sounds extreme and I'd be annoyed too. I'd be asking what paints they use that are so hard to wash out!

Mould spores 😂 Seriously, bung it in the wash, any potential mould will disappear.

OP get yourself a nursery "uniform" and accept it will be trashed.

Thanks, Einstein, I’ll try that.

After the first lot of clothes got trashed I bought my DD a load of navy blue clothes for nursery. Hides the stains!

@MiddleParking
So what do you want them to do with the wet items for every child? It's not like at home where there is one set. If your out and little one gets wet what do you do clip the stuff to outside of bag to dry or put them in your bag?

I put my son to nursery expecting him to come back covered in pens and paint. I really don't think it's an issue

Really do keep the stained ones for nursery. DS 9 has a school shirt that I can't get the red paint out of. I'm glad it's the end of the school year and he needs bigger sizes anyway.

For nursery we use...
Cheap clothes
Dark clothes
Already stained clothes
Something from a multipack that I don't really like (I bought my son a multipack of leggings and there's a grey pair that look just like the hideous work trousers my largely absent father used to wear with his change jingling in his pocket - it's irrational but I can't stand them!)

Nursery know my son is clean and looked after despite stained clothes. I'd rather he was allowed to move freely around the room doing what he chooses to do without someone flapping around him interrupting him to put aprons and stuff on

Stop being so precious? Send him in clothes he can get dirty, stained and torn. Learning and fun happens through creative play.

Children get messy at nursery, it hugely normal. Just wash them and send him back in the clothes. They are only ruined if you care about having painty clothes. Try to think of it like you wouldn’t expect a building to throw away his work t shirt if it got a stain on it, because appropriate clothes for a builder or a painter and decorator are ‘messy’ ones. Same is true for a nursery age child. Save best clothes for best.