DD can choose how she spends her time at pre-school. I'm not sure what I think about this.

[puffling]

DD is 2.5 and has been at pre-school for a few weeks. She took some time to settle in and got attached to activities that she feels secure with. These are jigsaws with a male worker (she calls him 'man auntie') then outdoors to play for most of the session.
Children choose what they'd like to do and in some ways I like this. it means dd has been able to settle in by doing what she feels safe/happy with. perhaps as time goes on she'll start to join in with other activities.
However, on the other hand I feel sad that there's so much going on there that she doesn't do. She loves all craft work but never chooses to do it at pre-school. She never has a snack or a drink as it's up to her whether she wants to go and her it. it makes me feel sad. When i leave her there, i get the feeling she'd love to do painting, for example, but can't bring herself to join the table.
I've talked to her keyworker and others who say, she'll do things as she gets more confident. i broached the snack issue and her keyworker said,' Well she'l have to learn to come and ask like she'll have to do when she goes to school.'
I'm not sure if a small child should habe freedom to choose how they spend their time, if it's actually inhibiting them. I'd love to know what other parents and pre-school workers think.

'I get the feeling she'd love to do painting, for example, but can't bring herself to join the table.'

This child-led thing is the new gov philosophy BUT the staff are supposed to take into consideration the fact that some children may want to do an activity but need encouragement. So if a child looks over at the painting easle they are supposed to ask them if they'd like a go.

Quite ridiculous to not insist that a pre-school child has a snack and a drink!

I do think there is good intention, but it just isn't intelligently done and seem to take no account of how staff feel. And whilst more experienced staff may have the ability to read between the lines of child-led learning, I doubt a 16 year old in their first year of college will do anything other than follow the curriculum exactly.

And where do you draw the line - My ds went through a car obsession. He would spend all day if possible simply lining up cars by himslef. Now whilst that may have been great for his future numeracy & logic skills, it wouldn't help his fine motor skills, or his socialisation.So I'm glad that the staff would let him play with cars when he arrived, and would then insist that he put them away after 30 minutes and play with something else (of his choice, but a more directed choice). And We've had kids before who were obsessed with the computer. Now ICT skills are great, but I wouldn't really want my child spending 2.5 hours per day staring at a PC, no matter how educational the games on it were.

The other thing that bugs me is the bloody open door policy. Now I'm all for outdoor learning, and there being no unsuitable weather,only unsuitable clothes, but it's just not practical. Apart from anything else, if one child is outside then one member of staff has to be outside, which in our pre-school (18 kids, 3 staff, so better than required ratio's) would leave 2 staff to supervise 17 kids - which is difficult when you're also meant to be supervising a rolling snack table and continually observing and noting behaviour.

My DS, now 4 started at a very much unstructured "playgroup" type of environment. He was very shy at the time and he was absolutely lost. He has always been a boy who has needed firm guidance and needs to know what is going to happen next. Even now at weekends, the first thing he will say when he wakes up is "What are the plans for today?" Anyway..... Despite the staff saying "do you want to do some painting?" he'd just automatically say no, so it was just left. He never settled there anyway so I took him out.

At his next pre-school it was much more structured. They had periods of free play and then periods where there was a specific activiity that the whole class was involved in. eg singing/music lesson, "keep fit". At the time, he waas very shy and if he could have opted out of the singing session he probably would have. The teacher said that he would never look her in the eye when he sang as he was just too shy doing it! However......as time went on, he got used to doing stuff he wouldn't automatically have chosen to do himself, and grew to love it and his confidence really grew because of it. It really expanded his interests, and he LOVED performing in his end of year show.

The crucial point I think, was that the pre-school never FORCED them to join in with an activity if they really didn't want to, they were just very much encouraged to join in, however, they were expected not to disrupt the activity and instead had to sit quietly and observe the others. Doing this, my son got to realise from the children's faces that certain activities were actually fun to do, and this encouraged him to join in with things, shyly at first, and then with gusto for most things!

Now he has started school he has settled in so well, is used to a structure, and periods of having to concentrate at the times the teacher tells you to. He is confident at most things, and loves to try new things, and I just think that if he'd had the chance to opt out of things he wasn't keen on at pre-school, he just might have got used to that way of doing things and also never broadened his horizons so to speak.

I agree. I think it is much better to say "Why don't you come and do some painting?" It is much more encouraging yet leaves them able to say no if they really don't want to than "Do you want to come and do some painting?"