Anyone else's nursery say they shouldn't be bringing child to nursery in a buggy?

[Gizmo2015]

As per the title really, just wondering if anyone else has been told the same?

I started my DS turned 3 end of June to my older childs primary schools nursery in September. Received an email addressed to all parents a few weeks later to say they were shocked to see parents bringing kids in in buggies, and we should only be doing so if they have special need. Buggies are recommended up to the age of 3 and all kids are over this age now and children should be learning to gain strength in their legs etc etc. Now we have a 15 min walk in to school (30 mins if little one is on foot) and I have to get both kids in on time. We do usually walk home. Many parents drive their kids in to school or drag them in on a scooter, is this better? My eldest went to the same nursery and I initially brought him in in a buggy no issues, we stopped using a buggy before the end of nursery which is what I planned on doing with my youngest.
So, I'm just wondering if this is becoming quite widespread now among nursery aged kids?

Thats not what I'm saying at all. Children should be allowed to continue to learn as they grow whilst at school at that age. The example of not drinking out a cup at school is an example of how you are complaining that they apparently can't do so, but aren't actually helping by getting them to drink out of a bottle the whole time they're there!

It sounds like you want them to be perfect human beings capable of completely looking after themselves from the moment they step in to nursery at the age of 3 and if they're not 100% there, its due to lazy parenting/lazy mothers.

And we had cups in our classrooms (albeit not at desks).

Ignore them. Idiotic box-ticking. Better in the buggy than by car. And as you say - the way to school is not the time to practising getting strong legs. You have to be there on time. Coming back from school is different.

This is true and very interesting. So we can adjust things for convenience when it suits obviously.

Parents saying leave it to school are being lazy. There are very practical reasons for not having an open cup in class a parent not sitting a child down every time they walk away with a drink doesn't have a practical reason they just don't want to keep doing it....and again it doesn't take long if your consistent. A parent saying but the child takes 10 minutes longer to put their own shoes, coat on or walk is no different if your consistent the 10 minutes extra isn't for long and life ends up easier.

School haven't cut changing for convenience of no changing rooms they never had them in infants they cut it because children can no longer self dress aged 4, 5, 6;and two staff changing 30 kids takes longer than the lesson.
The cups we've discussed.
The school are adapting to lazy parenting and asking parents to do things that parents in the past always did despite work.

What is it with schools and now nurseries overstepping? Presumably the kids are at childcare because their parents need to get to work, hence the driving and buggies! With the best will in the world, 3 year olds don't walk very fast - who the hell has time in the morning to meander at a 3 year olds pace and still get to work on time?

Please stop posting this nonsense.

Schools changed the PE system after the 2020 lockdown due to changes to classrooms and contamination. It was nothing to do with bad parenting.

@jannier it’s in my living room which is almost entirely gym mat and pillows at this point … i squeeze myself on the sofa and resign myself to my lot .

Im not denying there’s a definite element in privilege - I actually agree with some of the above posters that privilege plays a factor in how much time a child spends in a pushchair. We’re fortunate to have a garden and a nearby park, and that I could afford an Aldi gym mat. At the same time, I also think there’s an element of nature involved - this kid was doing the splints in her ultrasounds! None of her friends are this active and they have similar access to gardens, parks, and arguably better financial resources (solo parent so only one income)

(my original comment was somewhat flippant as well- but also the general response to the news of my current pregnancy is thoughts and prayers 😂)

I suppose if nursery are that bothered, they can make sure the kids get plenty of exercise during the day!

I'm sorry, but this just isn't true.

As for everything else, I think there are complicated reasons why there has been an increase in a supposed lack of 'school readiness'... some of which are more to do with the pace and expectations of our curriculum (see changing for PE for example)... although the impact of screens, especially in the area of speech and language is definitely a concern.

The thing is what we do about these huge societal shifts and how we manage ensuring children are supported as best as possible. There are many ideas of how this can be done, but one thing that won't work is demonising and judging parents and spouting hyperbole about the issues that people who work with children are seeing.

One of the key tenets of the EYFS is partnership working, and if schools and nurseries are unable to work with families and outside professionals in the best interests of the children in their care, then they are not doing their job.

When my daughter was 3 her preschool took them on a trip to a local garden centre. She was very small for her age and I didn't think she would be able to walk that far, so requested that I went along so that I could put her in the buggy.

They thought I was completely bonkers and couldn't believe that she wouldn't be able to walk.

They soon shut up when she fell asleep in the buggy on the way back to school.

Yeah it's this and is also better for privacy

I wondered if the wearing PE kit to school was also a way to get out of a situation where say someone born male identifies as female and there is an issue about where they change.

I think in the context of primary schools, coming in wearing PE clothes is largely down to the time constraints of an increasingly crowded curriculum. When you have 2 hour long slots of PE in a week, losing 20 -25mins of each PE lesson while children get changed in and out of uniform seems like a waste.
In KS2 there would be the added issues of a separate space for boys and girls and staff to oversee each group.
In secondary school there may also be issues with privacy and bullying.

Yeah I remember all the time wasted changing for PE in primary school too. Also those kits must have stunk by the end of term.

As others have said, this is just not true. It's not the reason the school I worked in changed policy nor any other schools I know. Children have always been horribly slow changing after PE! That hasn't changed in the past 20 years. One thing that has changed is privacy expectations; my Y5s used to get changed boys and girls together which would cause uproar now. Again that wasn't why we changed policy but the change has inadvertently sorted the issue of no changing rooms.

As I said in our area it is the infants that come in kit the primary just use separate classrooms and change so that isn't the reason.

It was changed after the lockdowns in most places. Schools found it worked so well they didn’t revert back. But you do have a very definite and fixed view that parents ‘these days’ are lazy compared with those from yesteryear.

How many spare classrooms do the schools in your area have?! 😅
You seem so certain that what you believe to be the reasons ARE the reasons... I'm not sure there is much point in trying to have a nuanced discussion about it.

I am STILL WAITING for Jannier to tell us all whether she thinks it’s acceptable that nearly all the parents in Tokyo and similar Japanese cities take their kids to daycare/kindy on the back of a bicycle.

Is this acceptable or isn’t it?

Just an answer, please.

Ours have gone from 3 to 2 forms since Brexit but before that the class was split using a classroom that other children were off doing other activities with older girls on periods able to use the toilets.

There's a lot wrong with Tokyo like the pressure to perform academically and child suicide rates....although not much has been said in recent years so may have changed. Obviously it's better if children can ride their own bikes but if too young it's what it is ....we are sold a view that Tokyo is busier than central London so I'm guessing that just like here it has very different areas my area of London isn't as you describe it walking riding and scooting is safe. Hence why I walk 2 two year olds whilst pushing a buggy (with a non walker in) to and from school to drop a 5 and two 8 year olds. The walk takes 20 mins rather than the 10 it would take me on my own the drive would be 5 but loading and unloading would add another 5 plus anyway.

That doesn't answer my question. Do you think that cycling with a preschooler on the back of a bike is OK or not? More importantly, if a parent uses a buggy sometimes when in a hurry because they have an active lifestyle involving a lot of walking, is this actually any different to putting a child on the back of a bike sometimes in similar circumstances.

I have no idea what on earth "child suicide rates" have to do with buggies or anything else on this thread.

I’d love to know what you were doing with them yesterday, then.

This is one of those issues where anyone who has a strong opinion on what should work for families other than their own is something of an idiot.

And anyone who is a regular car user and still has the nerve to criticise other parents for having their kids use buggies is a prize arse, honestly.