Staffs' children in the setting with them..... Yay or Nay?

[Guest Nuby]

Would you consider or have you ever had staff with their children in the setting? (in settings with no separate rooms/ age groups) What was it like? What problems and opportunities did you encounter? I have staff applying for positions who are wonderful but I think I may set myself up for a long term nightmare or NOT?? Advise please! xx

[Panders]

So the children will be at pre-school with their parent as a Pre school Assistant, not just visiting on inset days? Frankly I would say no, but in saying that it depends very much upon relationship between them and how many etc. My son came with me when I worked and I now have a grand daughter with me - it does work, but I have had others that don't, one at the moment is a little fraught sometimes, as his mum wants him to do as he is told immediately and to be as good as gold all the time not very realistic

[mrsbat]

We have had a few of our staff member's children in the setting at the same time as them (I assume you mean a child attending at the same time rather than staff just bringing their children in?) Both of my children attended while I was working at the setting as an assistant and it was ok - I found it really hard if they ever hurt themselves or were told off etc and also my son found it very hard for me to be there but not be paying full attention to him.

We have a daughter of a staff member with us at the moment and if ever the child wets herself or anything like that Mum who is staff gets rather narky about it and complains so it has caused a but of friction. It may work ok but I think once this little one goes to school in September we may say no to taking on staff who have children with us (IF that's actually allowed?!?!)

[finleysmaid]

This has been discussed before perhaps try a search posts.

I started when my daughter (younger) started pre-school ...i found it a bit tricky at times but asked my colleagues to sort her out if there were any issues. I now work with my eldest so take her to work all the time!

[Upsy Daisy]

Speaking as someone who has childminded while caring for her own children and also worked in group settings which included them in the numbers, I would say that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages if you have a well thought out approach.

You need to be clear from the start about the fact that there will be a change from parent/child to staff/child relationship when they arrive on the premises and the key worker needs to be chosen carefully. At the same time you need to allow the child to turn to their parent if possible at times when they are really distressed or hurt because it isn't reasonable for them to be kept at arm's length at times like that. It could be tricky to manage but not so much so that it's not worth it.

My personal experience was that I was probably a little harder on my own child than on others but our deep rooted relationship meant that was OK. I did work for a short time in a setting with my second daughter where she was spoken to very sharply for resting her head on my lap during story time at the end of her first full session aged 2y9m. That didn't work out for us but there were a lot of other much more serious issues with that setting.

I think communication is the key. The staff member needs to know your expectations before the child starts, the child needs to learn through clear communication that there are differences between the home and preschool relationships and the staff all need to communicate effectively if any problems or niggle start to arise before there is a bigger problem.

[Guest Nuby]

Thankyou! Ill do a search Finleysmaid! xx cheers! x

[Stargrower]

We have three rooms so a slightly different situation. After trying it several times, we now have a rule that children of staff cannot attend if they are in the same room as the parent. So we have a member of staff just about to return after maternity leave. Her baby will (obviously!) be in our baby room and her mum works in our pre-school room. When her child is three, she will have to make other arrangements (or she will have to change rooms).

[Rea]

We've always done it. I don't see any problems with it, I also don't see why the child shouldn't be changed, comforted or told off by its parent. Obviously you'd need to decide ground rules to suit you though

[RedDragon]

I am the nursery manager and my child has been in the same room for two years and it has never been a problem as from day one she was treated the same as everybody else and she knows she doesn't get any special treatment.

[woodlands1997]

I think it very much depends on both the parent and the child we have had it where it really doesn't work at all and where it works absolutely fine! Have you got a policy in place, ours says that as far as possible they won't be working in the same room and the child must be treated exactly the same etc x