Wrong child given to me

[Astressedmumoftwo]

Earlier today I went to pick up my son from nursery. A member of staff I'd never seen before appeared with a little girl who walked towards me out of the door. I quickly explained that I wasn't her mum and the worker apologised and took her back in. I had a chat with the manager after who explained that this new staff member had been mistakenly told I was this girls mum by another staff member.

He was very apologetic, said the staff member involved was very upset about it and said they'd make sure it couldn't happen again by implementing more safeguarding procedures. They seemed to take it seriously at least

What would you do?

If they hadn’t taken it seriously I would be very concerned but they did so it’s unlikely to happen again.

My DS once escaped from playgroup and was in the garden attempting to unlock the gate! The manager turned up at my house the next day to tell me what had happened and I had a little cry about it and even fourteen years later I still shudder when I think about what could have happened. But they took it seriously and were very apologetic so I left it at that.

If this was a certain nursery in the Norwich area attached to a primary school where my niece used to work I would tend to agree with you. some people can be rather deceitful in their manner.

I have ginger hair but neither of my children do. I've lost count of the times I've been mistakenly presented with a bewildered looking random ginger child at nursery and school over the years 😆

Yep this was what happened in swimming! Short ginger woman must belong with small ginger girl, right? No, I have the blond boy who is still dicking about in the pool.

This ^

Many years ago our practice manager was sent to the local nursery to pick up a child who’s GP father’s surgery had over ran. Eventually the GP asked where his DD was, sat outside your room said practice manager. That’s not “Dora” says GP.! Practice quickly phoned nursery, explained what had happened and the children were quickly exchanged. As I say this was many years ago, when security wasn’t as good as it is now. !!

😂

Nothing.

They've apologised and immediately put better procedures in place.

What else would you expect?

I once did the opposite: I was the parent collecting my DD and tried to take the wrong girl home. To be fair, both were ginger…

I've been called in to be nursery staff, no training whatsoever, paid under a tenner an hour, boring as fuck work where I'm just a skivvy while other staff slink off with a child in their lap to avoid any real work. Even the practitioners seemed dozy and mean, pulling kids away harshly or telling them off for moving.

I absolutely hated it. This was a private nursery too.

You just can't expect good staff because the pay is awful and the atmosphere is horrible. I did my best but it's so dull I couldn't keep awake a lot of the time. I felt sorry for the children.

I'm just saying the staff member was probably agency, underpaid, expected to travel outside their area, and underappreciated too, so made a mistake.

What would you want done? Even if he got sacked he'd just go and work somewhere else very easily as they are crying out for staff.

There’s a definite ginger theme here isn’t there? 🤣

Is this a joke?

what do you imagine they’re going to do?

I have twin girls and they were in the same nursery class with a set of twin boys, I got handed the wrong set of twins multiple times because people just get told to bring 'the twins' out.
They once brought me one of mine and one of the boys which was sort of funny, I guess they just knew that both of them were twins so assumed they were a boy/girl pair- despite the other identical set of kids still wandering around inside.

If it wasn’t ack then yes it is an issue. But it was and was dealt with. Move on and forget it.

You clearly have a very low expectation of an Early childhood educator. “You can’t expect good staff because the pay is awful?” ( yes it is but that’s beside the point) I happen to think I am quite good at my job. Have I mistaken parents for another before before, yes, because I am human. Have I sent a child home with someone I don’t know? Of course not. Because I’m not an idiot. I’m glad you are not an educator because your attitude stinks.

I agree that nursery staff are hugely underpaid for the job they do and the responsibility they have. And I am sure there are some who can't be bothered. Happily almost all the ones I have come across have shown huge commitment to the safety, wellbeing and happiness of the children in their care, because they are dedicated to their jobs. They could no doubt earn the same or more doing a much easier job elsewhere (it's not a case of having no other options), but ime they choose to stay, often despite the shit* pay rather than nurseries getting poor workers because* of it.

You’re living in La La Land. You think young/agency nursery workers enjoy being exploited for the love of children. That doesn’t last.

In the rest of the country outside of the bubble you’re in, many don’t stick around because it’s either a stepping stone or they can’t hack it.

She’s not saying that you can’t expect good staff, you can (temporarily).

Low and awful pay is not beside the point though is it? It has a lot to do with high staff turnover and frankly a lot of us would be horrified to earn that which explains why some feel unmotivated.

Log it with the police

Most do their best and have a very positive effect on the children in their care. Yes, there is high turnover and many leave for better paid jobs but that doesn't mean they do a shit job while they're there.

Are you serious?

You just can't expect good staff because the pay is awful and the atmosphere is horrible. I did my best but it's so dull I couldn't keep awake a lot of the time. I felt sorry for the children
My kids have only been in the school nursery not private but how the hell do you fall asleep in a room full of toddlers??

Hi police. I want to report a dreadful incident. I went to pick up my child from nursery and they accidentally brought the wrong child to the door. I said to the brand new nursery worker that it wasn’t my child and she apologised, took the child back and returned with my child. The nursery manager also apologised for the mix up. Please rush over there, shut the place down and start arresting people.

police: 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️

I didn’t say that at all.

Their love of children and the satisfaction that brings even with the best intentions you can still understand why less people are wanting to work in childcare. Many of the posters I’ve seen working in childcare do enjoy working with children but aren’t happy/find it impossible to make a decent living so move on.

Some patents seem to kid themselves thinking their childcarers are wonderfully happy receiving low pay and bad working conditions because they get to spend time with their darling offspring.