How often do your kids have accidents at nursery?

[RoyalGalas]

My 2.5 year old son has an accident report almost every day at his nursery. Nothing serious - grazed knees, minor head bumps etc - but is this normal?! I'm starting to worry that he isn't being properly supervised.

Unless the incidents are him doing something dangerous or unexplained then he is being supervised. Children have bumps all the time - most of which you wouldn’t worry about at home. But nurseries have to record and report every little incident.

4 times in 10 months. I wouldn't be worried about grazed knees though.

4 or 5 times in 2y but we don't have to sign for bumped knees

18month old - twice in 8months.
3.5 year old - never in thy same time frame

It is normal for these incidents to happen. Minor incidents like grazed knees and minor head bumps can be common for active toddlers. However, it is important to make sure that your child is in a safe environment. You can schedule a meeting with the caregivers. It is always better to talk it out.

Sounds like over recording, but maybe that's just nursery policy. Some toddlers are always bumping or falling over no matter how closely they are supervised. At my setting, we record anything that leaves a mark or any bump to the head. But even this is open to interpretation, a red mark which disappears after a short while would probably not be written up. It's a fine line because you don't want parents worrying over every fall or bump. Maybe ask about their policy for recording accidents?

Rarely, they sound a bit overzealous in their form filling but I guess they just want to cover themselves.

Constantly. Both DC inherited my grace

DC1: At one point had a hideous bump on the left of her forehead from nursery and another on the right from a family walk. We decided we all felt better that it had happened on the others' watch.

DC2: One memorable day they said they'd stopped filling in accident forms when they got to the third that day, but that there probably should have been five.

Unless your DC never falls at home and the rate seems disproportionate, I wouldn't worry.

Also, we found the clumsiness tended to get worse with a growth spurt as they adjusted, and also sometimes indicated a need for new shoes.

ETA, they do seem overzealous if they're recording grazed knees.

I once joked with ds's nursery that he was top of the league table for accident reports, we were averaging one a week at one point. Then his sister came along and knocked him off the top spot. Between them they once came home with three in one day. If they are minor bumps and have a reasonable explanation then I think that's ok. Bit nothing wrong with asking if he's having an unusually high number of accidents, and if there's anything you should be aware of.

I'd judge it based on the damage to him. Is he coming home with more bruises than you'd expect from a day at home? Any serious injuries? Or just the normal fall over/bumped into another child sort of thing that is a normal part of a toddler running round a play area?

When he was in the under twos room it was all the time. Most days would get one - our record was 3 in a day. Now he's in the over 2s hardly any.

My son gets too confident and when first walking would try and copy the eldest children in the room - even though he didn't have the ability yet.

Also nursery will report every little bump - the kind that at home you would forget about 2 mins later