Nursery

[Ks24]

Child is in nursery. Few times has dropped food on top before attending - no time to change before school and nursery have put this on their "list". Now when I go I'm told - his trousers today were a bit baggy and he may be bullied when he's older for things like that, or, he doesn't have socks on today (I'd rather he didn't wear the socks than have the sock paddy and be grumpy), there seems to be something new every day however nothing is said when he comes out of nursery covered in orange juice/paint etc. Am I just being paranoid?

The trouser comment is a bit odd, but staff are expected to note if a child appears to be well cared for.
Not having enough clothes on, and coming in in dirty clothes would be concerns, yes.
It is completely different for a busy toddler to go home at the end of a day with things spilled on them, from starting the day in dirty clothes, yes.

See i think the socks comment is a bit 'odd' too but I personally don't wear socks because I hate them, but that said the last two days my feet have been freezing, now thats my choice, i'm an adult, a child at nursery not wearing socks and being cold because of it. Yes thats the parents responsablity and it would start to ring alarm bells.

Dirty top, come on you know thats not right, would you go to work in a top you've spilt your breakfast over?? Without at least trying to dab it up or change it?? Or you could at least pack a spare top and chanfe it when you get to nursery or do you not even have time to do that.

Children get dirty through the day, especially at nursery age.

I'm guessing that your child is going to nursery looking a little bit uncared for and they have a safeguarding duty to make a note of these things. Maybe have a look at your morning routine and see if you can do something to tidy him up a bit EG some cheap new clothes from Primark or similar that fit well and look a bit smarter, then cover him up or leave his top off until breakfast is finished. Pack a fresh top and socks in his bag then if his feet are cold they can pop the socks on. Nursery are right, maybe not now but looking clean and well cared for will matter to him and his peers as he gets a bit older...... people judge (rightly or wrongly)

It doesn't take 2 minutes to change a top that's had breakfast spilled on surely? You wouldn't go to work in a stained top..

Same with socks, his feet are probably freezing - fine if it's his choice but not putting them on just because he may throw a strop isn't great. Put them on whilst he's in the high chair eating breakfast.

Feed him breakfast before you dress him. Children need socks to keep their feet warm and to prevent shoes rubbing and causing blisters.
These little things can sometimes be viewed as the beginnings of neglect if they happen frequently, nursery have a duty of care to your child to notice these things and challenge them.

What type of shoes is he wearing without socks?

It does seem a bit OTT
I work in a nursery and I couldn’t care less what they look like when they arrive, as long as they are wearing something
No socks? But at least they were wearing shoes
Dirty top? Better than no top
Baggy trousers? Better than too small and they will grow into them
Unless there were other signs of neglect, then this wouldn’t even register with me

The things you describe are the sort of thing that’s fine occasionally, but if it’s happening a lot, it might start to look a bit neglectful. Except the baggy trousers thing, that’s sounds a bit odd unless they’re so big they won’t stay up. A child’s clothes being dirty at the end of a day’s playing is a different matter to them being dirty at the start of the day.

We used to put a little painting smock (the wipe clean sort you can buy for when DC are doing crafts) on DC on nursery days when they were eating breakfast in their day clothes.

Protects the clothes from spilled yoghurt etc and removing the smock was faster than changing the clothes.

And when my DSs were small toddlers I used to put them in tights under their trousers when it was cold to stop the whole pulling socks off thing.

Are the trousers baggy = a size too big for him to grow into
Or
Baggy= worn so that the elastic's stretched and the bottom's sagging?

Baggy, size too big.

Ok, odd to comment on that then definitely!

How old is your son? The "bullying" comment is a weird thing to say. I wonder if they're trying to let you know in a roundabout way that he's struggling with his trousers being too big. If he has to be pulling them up or if they fall down while he's playing that is actually an issue.

As long as his shoes aren't rubbing and causing blisters, in this weather no socks is fine, especially if he's getting distressed, but I would let the nursery staff know when you drop off so they understand the situation, and also so they don't worry that he's taken them off and chucked them somewhere when they weren't looking.

If he's preschool and going to school this year then you should expect that school will want him wearing socks every day.

Sending a child to a setting in dirty clothes doesn't look great when it takes seconds to change them, as the setting would if the kid spilled lunch down themselves.

Was the socks thing in the winter?
Were the baggy trousers constantly falling off and making life difficult for him?
I also don’t fully get why a dirty top can’t be changed. It takes seconds.
Paint and OJ in nursery is a bit different to going into nursery in dirty clothes that keep falling down (if that is indeed the case).