Give me strength!

[Froglet]

Thank you!

[Froglet]

And now I've just noticed an unnecessary apostrophe in my own post - enough to tip anyone over the edge all on its own! ;-)

[finleysmaid]

has anyone just got a lot of demanding parents at the moment?...some of mine are driving me mad.....had one yesterday ranting (and i mean ranting!) about her daughters shoes...we happen to have 4 children who have come in in the same shoes....none of them are named and they have got mixed up...we are trying to sort it out but none of the parents know what size their child is ..so it's a bit of a problem......spent about an hour with this women yesterday with her basically saying it's my issue and i have to sort it out! :angry: i am of course doing my best but when the children don't come i every day it isn't that easy!

[woodlands1997]

Moral of the story - the parents need to name them!!! And if they don't know their own child's shoe size how on earth are we meant to know!

[narnia]

It's easy........................glue a rubber stamp to each childs feet, then dip them in paint and print their names in the shoes. Every parent can be issued with such a stamp for home use as well.

We had two boys with the same shoes, different sizes and very different state of the shoes............and yes, you can guess......each went home with one shoe from the other child's set.Not only that, but one had both the left shoes and the other, both the right !! We actually noticed the child with both right ones, because we said he needed to swap his shoes over, then realised what he had done.result?? Both sets of parents laughing and not blaming us at all. But some parents..............................

Edited May 1, 2014 by narnia

[sunnyday]

has anyone just got a lot of demanding parents at the moment?...some of mine are driving me mad.....had one yesterday ranting (and i mean ranting!) about her daughters shoes...we happen to have 4 children who have come in in the same shoes....none of them are named and they have got mixed up...we are trying to sort it out but none of the parents know what size their child is ..so it's a bit of a problem......spent about an hour with this women yesterday with her basically saying it's my issue and i have to sort it out! :angry: i am of course doing my best but when the children don't come i every day it isn't that easy!

Arghhhh - that's my 'scream of empathy' - how hard is it to name shoes, coats, bags........that said my 'lot' are fairly good at the moment - don't want to tempt fate here :blink:

We are coming up to 'sunhat season' - we always seem to have issues with that - I ask that children bring or wear their hats into thepre-school room - with the explanation that we can't be searching through bags - too much valuable play time wasted.........but we always get those that say "Esmeralda didn't want to bring her hat in so it's in her bag" - Esmeralda's mum will then be the first to say/moan "oh why didn't she have her hat on" - oooh not looking forward to all of that

Too many children are able to 'call the shots' - it will all come back and bite these parents on the backsides - if you allow a 2, 3, 4 year old to set the rules what will happen when they are teenagers

In case you are wondering ........we don't really have a child named Esmeralda! :rolleyes:

[Panders]

Quite frankly I gave up with the sun hats, sun glasses, bobble hats and gloves. I began to collect them from the cheaper stores when on sale or good charity shops and even bought wellingtons because so few parents supplied these things at least I now know we have all that we need in various. Storage is only a problem with the wellingtons but I would rather have them than not.

[sunnyday]

Quite frankly I gave up with the sun hats, sun glasses, bobble hats and gloves. I began to collect them from the cheaper stores when on sale or good charity shops and even bought wellingtons because so few parents supplied these things at least I now know we have all that we need in various. Storage is only a problem with the wellingtons but I would rather have them than not.

I think that is probably the way to go with this - ridiculous really though - it's not hard is it to make that part of the morning routine? :blink:

[Inge]

we had a bag of sun hats, and all wore one of ours... was easy to give all one as they went out and return it when they came in.. few objected.. all had to wear one.. including staff.. a few soon realised and brought their own, but if it was not in the room they had one of ours..

we got a job lot printed with our logo so very distinctive and we always knew our hats.. some parents wanted to buy them, but we decided to keep them for setting use as we always knew our hats.

[sunnyday]

Thanks Inge - I know it makes sense - but......secretly I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet (bonnet see what I did there) about parents managing to bring the required (very few) items to pre-school and showing some respect and consideration following repeated requests

[Panders]

Thanks Inge - I know it makes sense - but......secretly I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet (bonnet see what I did there) about parents managing to bring the required (very few) items to pre-school and showing some respect and consideration following repeated requests

I agree Sunnyday! it's not much to ask, but some just can't get themselves organised, then wonder why their children aren't. I got fed up trying to get our spare t shirts etc. back from parents I started putting in large letters on the t shirts, pants and whatever our pre school name - bit like prison wear so they could find it in the wash and bring it back, and not keep it because it was better than what they usually wear ha ha! It's working

[Fredbear]

Yes we too have a minority few at the moment, but my is it waring.

Sometimes they do need reminding that Pre-school is there for all and not just exclusively for their child.

I am sick of hearing my own voice over the naming of clothes, the very same parents that really moan when Jimmy (not real name) has lost his sweatshirt, etc.

[louby loo]

Well I've been 'snarled at' today (love that phrase)................ still - at least I didn't 'mowed down' by the 'hissy fit' exit like the rest of my staff did!!! :lol:

My sin? I dared to comment on lateness (constant offender) at pick-up time

[sunnyday]

Well I've been 'snarled at' today (love that phrase)................ still - at least I didn't 'mowed down' by the 'hissy fit' exit like the rest of my staff did!!! :lol:

My sin? I dared to comment on lateness (constant offender) at pick-up time

Arghhhhh - my empathy scream again!!!

[Inge]

I agree Sunnyday! it's not much to ask, but some just can't get themselves organised, then wonder why their children aren't. I got fed up trying to get our spare t shirts etc. back from parents I started putting in large letters on the t shirts, pants and whatever our pre school name - bit like prison wear so they could find it in the wash and bring it back, and not keep it because it was better than what they usually wear ha ha! It's working

I tried that... had one family who did actually keep the items plastered with writing to return to us... and actually had the cheek to send child to preschool in it.. :huh:

as to the hats.. not having freeflow it was all out.. no hat and no go for all .. not enough staff to split it.. and it is not the childs fault the parent is not organised..

[finleysmaid]

well shoegate has been resolved at last ...the awkward Mum refused to leave the setting until she had the issue sorted and she would speak to the parents...at this point i said flatly no...i would sort it out! i grabbed the other parent and whisked her inside before she could talk to anyone...i explained the situation and she immediately said....these aren't our shoes and swopped them...apologising for any inconvenience! I promptly passed them back to Mum one...rather unceremoniously !

anyway ho humm have spent most of my day in the toilets ....3 children at same time wetting and soiling ...i just love my job! :rolleyes: :blink:

[sunnyday]

Glad you got it sorted Fm - perhaps we should all take to marking names ourselves - think parents might have something to say about that though

[finleysmaid]

Glad you got it sorted Fm - perhaps we should all take to marking names ourselves - think parents might have something to say about that though

oh yeh like the ones who moan when you have binned the very pooey pants!

[sunnyday]

oh yeh like the ones who moan when you have binned the very pooey pants!

- ah - I don't bin them - I just double bag and let them make that decision! :rolleyes:

[finleysmaid]

- ah - I don't bin them - I just double bag and let them make that decision! :rolleyes:

yes i usually do the same....just couldn't find them in the mess :blink: :blink:

[Panders]

yes i usually do the same....just couldn't find them in the mess :blink: :blink:

cant spell the sound i just made - not even phonetically! but we have all been there!

[louby loo]

Just think of all those transferable skills we must have :1b

I recon we could all become highly paid union leaders!!! ::1a

[SueJ]

Loving this thread at the moment - I don't have a dragon for my avatar for no reason - fed up with all the nagging it's now a case of "my way or the highway"

All new starters MUST (like a statutory requirement) bring in (in big red letters on their new starter letter) a NAMED pair of wellies, a NAMED sunhat (I don't care if its September it comes in and if nec. gets upgraded as we need it), a NAMED water bottle with water only in it (and sometimes we do spot check to weed out the one's who think that orange/blackcurrent squash = water) and a NAMED toothbrush on their child's first day ( at this point we are working on the theory that as their child is new to you they are trying at this point to impress you ). We also put a name tags leaflet in their new starter packs so they have no excuses not to get some!

We do have a label making machine as some of our parents obviously don't quite get naming stuff OR worse still is it because they have obviously forgotten the name of their child

Most seem to take to this "somewhat direct" approach OK :rolleyes: and we keep on reminding them of the benefits of NAMING everything to get into practice for the school years when uniforms are "all the same".

[louby loo]

Love it SueJ

[Rea]

My role at present doesn't include a lot of parent stuff, I'm always friendly and stop for a chat, but problems, though few at the moment, are directed to permanant staff. My day was hot, made worse because staff said it was raining even after I'd stood outside to prove it wasn't, so we didnt play out! I was also punched by a quite delicious 3 yr old. Well yesterday he was delicious, today he didnt like been told not to push someone!

[sunnyday]

Loving this thread at the moment - I don't have a dragon for my avatar for no reason - fed up with all the nagging it's now a case of "my way or the highway"

All new starters MUST (like a statutory requirement) bring in (in big red letters on their new starter letter) a NAMED pair of wellies, a NAMED sunhat (I don't care if its September it comes in and if nec. gets upgraded as we need it), a NAMED water bottle with water only in it (and sometimes we do spot check to weed out the one's who think that orange/blackcurrent squash = water) and a NAMED toothbrush on their child's first day ( at this point we are working on the theory that as their child is new to you they are trying at this point to impress you ). We also put a name tags leaflet in their new starter packs so they have no excuses not to get some!

We do have a label making machine as some of our parents obviously don't quite get naming stuff OR worse still is it because they have obviously forgotten the name of their child

Most seem to take to this "somewhat direct" approach OK :rolleyes: and we keep on reminding them of the benefits of NAMING everything to get into practice for the school years when uniforms are "all the same".

Yay go Sue or perhaps I will start to call you 'Dragon Lady' - yay go Dragon Lady!!!

I'm always a little 'scared' that the phrase 'well it's not rocket science is it' - will, one day, just slip out - it's what I'm thinking/saying under my breath

[sunnyday]

My role at present doesn't include a lot of parent stuff, I'm always friendly and stop for a chat, but problems, though few at the moment, are directed to permanant staff. My day was hot, made worse because staff said it was raining even after I'd stood outside to prove it wasn't, so we didnt play out! I was also punched by a quite delicious 3 yr old. Well yesterday he was delicious, today he didnt like been told not to push someone!

Oh Rea - you will have the 'outdoor play in all weathers' police after you

[finleysmaid]

i hope for a better day today...but since two staff are off sick i'm not too hopeful!

[narnia]

So..............................I got it in the neck yesterday, big time! It was rainy, but we decided to go for a walk anyway ( all children are provided, at my own expense, with an all in one rain suit and we have lots of spare wellies for those who don't have any with them), we also gave each child a strip of card, covered in double sided tape, so they could collect anything that interested them. Ok so far?? Can you see any 'issues arising?? No, neither could I. Anyway, we return, unscathed and each child had actually filled their card. Hooray!! .................UNTIL : first parent arrives, and child tells her we went for a walk....'What??? In this rain??? Humph, well, I'm not sure THAT was a good idea'! So, I point out that we had dressed everyone up sensibly etc, which calmed things a bit. I reminded her that it is our policy to be outside every day, unless extremes of weather dictate otherwise ( oh yes, she's a teacher, so really should know this anyway....did I mention that?). Next parent arrives LOVES that we turned the strips of card into little crowns.............until...............her son pulls his down under his chin ( so it looked like a necklace...with me so far??). Then he pulls it back up and tried to take it off, but ( and here is the the issue) it stuck in a couple of places to his hair. Now, we are talking a few stray hairs, not a whole heap, but nonetheless, it was a problem. His father insisted on trying to wrench it off, child screams.dad then shouts 'get some scissors! We have to cut his hair'..mum laughs and says the child needs a haircut anyway. So, I stepped in and said that if they just take a moment, we can easily tweak the hair off the card ( and I was very apologetic). dad insists on pulling, child starts screaming so I asked them to leave it to me and I managed to remove it in seconds without any problems. Mum then noticed that her son was wearing different clothes, so I explained that he'd wet himself ( twice in fact, though I didn't say that), so i had changed him. She turned on me and very angrily said....'Oh, I see now.........he wets himself, so you put this crown on him as punishment, to hurt him'..........!! Now, I will readily admit that at times, I allow my usual calm demeanour and professionalism to slip. I suspect this was one of those occasions. I know I blushed ( or was it red with anger?), but i heard myself quietly say.... 'do you really think that's the sort of person I am? And that i would deliberately try to hurt a child with sticky tape? really?? She just humphed and left, but her child is due in today and i am not sure what to expect! ( oh yes, just to say, his sister also made a cown and had no ill effects!)

[Rea]

Oh blimey Narnia!! What an awful thing for someone to say! In your shoes I'd have to ask her today if she'd like to fill in a complaint form given she thinks I'm such a horrible person. I hope she's thoroughly ashamed of herself in hindsight.

Hope today was better. :1b

Mine wasnt, we went outside and it was freezing, luckily two children hadnt got a coat so when they said it was cold I decided we could go back in.

We also have a child who sounds like the trumpet everyone was blowing at the football in cup in South Africa a couple of years ago, we cant remember the name but think its a Voo Voo Varla, anyway, Voo Voo wouldnt be quiet all session, mat time, snack time, show and tell time...on and on and on and on..., she's set me on the path to the pub tonight. :blink:

Edited May 2, 2014 by Rea