Is it unreasonable to ask playgroup to manage this?

[Hana89]

Hi,
I'm just looking for a bit of advice: I'm a first time mum and I'm not sure of the etiquette surrounding playgroups and how they are managed.
Basically, I take my 10 month old to a great soft play session run by our local SureStart centre and the team who run it are so lovely, but lately there have been quite a few toddlers coming with obviously bad colds/chest infections. Think: properly snotty noses, hacking coughs etc.

The organisers have commented in a hinting way to the parents like "Oh dear! Is X a bit unwell to play today?" but they don't actually stop them joining the session.

Would it be unreasonable or unfair of me to write to them and ask them to manage this a bit better? It's a free weekly session and it is great fun so I absolutely understand parents not wanting their little ones to miss out, but equally I don't think it is fair to the children who are not ill and because they're all so young there is no hand-over-mouth or sensibly wiping noses, it is just a free for all. Personally I just wouldn't take my daughter if she was so obviously poorly, but I sort of feel like the parents who don't seem to think about it should be gently asked to take their children home and join in next week.

If it's just me and I'm being a bit overprotective then fair enough, like I say, I don't have much experience of these groups. It has just been a bit of a shock!

Let your kid get the colds. You will be glad of it when they don't miss school because they are never ill.

My experience has been the opposite of yours. The last two winters have been horrendous for coughs, colds, viruses, sick bugs. My DD was never off sick from school pre-COVID and has had several episodes of time off school in the last two years. I work with children and was pretty much immune to sickness bugs but caught it twice. Staffing at work has been a nightmare due to illness. I don't know enough about the science behind it, but it definitely felt like there was some 'lost' immunity we all needed to regain!

Edited to say I meant to quote User's post that having a break from colds over COVID had helped her DCs immunity.

If you work out how to get a toddler to 'rest up' please send me all your advice!

This isn’t really a thing. The more viruses you get the more likely to damage the immune system.
Most don’t give long immunity.

The other thing we learnt from covid is the importance of our immune systems. Which won't get chance to develop properly if it's never exposed to cold viruses.

They can absolutely set rules if they choose to. A lack of payment doesn't mean lack of care.

I'd imagine not taking them to a play session with a bunch of other kids might help...

Yep!

@Hana89 I think the difference here is that it's a Sure Start session. Often these might be the ONLY place some toddlers and babies get to go to - they don't go to soft play, or baby groups, or even Sainsbury's cafe. It's a safe place for the mums to meet, often with the support of a worker of some kind. In a lovely way, you may be a little overprotective. Try not to think about nursery / the toilets in F1 and F2 when they are slightly more independent 😁 If some of the little ones didn't go to Sure Start they may never leave their flat / home all week. I speak from decades of first-hand.
Enjoy your little one everywhere! Don't forget the local library too, they have lots on.

A few of these have popped up. My Daughter isn't in a bubble - she comes with me on public transport, shops, libraries, galleries and a range of playgroups. She has reasonable exposure to society. It is just that there has been a massive uptick in chest infections lately (we got a WhatsApp message about it asking parents to be vigilant) and I wondered if it was something that the group leaders could be more forceful about instead of just suggesting parents be considerate. Clearly (if this thread is anything to go by) they'd have a mutiny on their hands.

How could they be forceful though? What would that look like?

Similar here. Dd1 who is ten now had everything going when she was a baby / toddler at nursery. When she started school she never had a day off, hardly ever ill. Then after Covid lockdown when she went back to school it was like she was a toddler again, sooo many sickness bugs. We’ve already had a sickness bug this year again

Pre Covid nobody cared or noticed these things much. Kids have snotty noses all the time sometimes for weeks on end. Can't just keep them at home.