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Children unprepared for school


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1 minute ago, jimbaxters said:

As a teacher I feel I can comment on this but with the caveat that I have always taught in private education so it's a different ball game.

However, teaching is a vocation and the intrinsic desire to develop children in to well rounded young people should be a prerequisite. The problem is that many teachers have taken a step into teaching as they studied a degree that was in a completely different sector then either couldn't get a job in that field or just fancied teaching. Take the above poster's point about the education system producing adults who are not completely educated at the other side but this thread is more about parenting.

This leads to the "the teachers will sort you out" attitude which some parents adopt. How many times do we see a family in a restaurant with Mum & Dad glued to theri phone or even a parent pushing a buggy with one hand and scrolling FB with the other. When our daughter was wee, she never stopped talking and that was because we never stopped talking to her. It was almost like a running commentary of what we were doing. Children are curious by nature and need to be guided. If there are people out there (and seems like there are) who view their kids as an inconvenience then it's an extremely sad state of affairs.

Fair comment. I absolutely do not mean to absolve parents, I am just looking at the connection between the two things.

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13 minutes ago, jimbaxters said:

Please don't worry about this. If you try then your wee one will get it. Seen so many people get angst ridden about the development of their child. It usually stems from comparing them with others of the same age/stage. They should all get there with some basic attention.

100% agree but it can be hard. We have friends who had a baby at a similar time and It’s nigh on impossible not to compare but it’s ultimately a waste of energy to fret over it. 

Anyway, I’m sidetracking the thread a bit but appreciate the post. 

9 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

How long have you been trying to master the sippy cup? Best of luck with it.

:lol: f**k off 

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1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

A report due to be released this week will say that some children are arriving in primary  school so unprepared that they cannot say their own names or drink from a cup.

The Times education commission report heard evidence from primary and early years professionals that the number of children arriving for school without basic skills has risen in recent years, particularly post pandemic.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/some-primary-school-pupils-unable-to-say-their-names-teachers-report-srk68pkzm?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1655094920

Some of the cases detailed are insane - children who have never walked as far as required at school so require physiotherapy to cope. 50% of some reception (English P1 I think) not being toilet trained.

Ive heard anecdotes of a rising number of P1 Children attending school in nappies as they haven’t been toilet trained. 

Didn’t want to clog up the happy pregnancy and parenting thread with this.

what do P&Bers think is the cause of this phenomenon, if it is that?

Have any P&Bers not bothered to toilet train their kids?

 

Useless parents.

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The development of kids at a young age is something parents do worry about far too much. Both my kids couldn't walk until they were over a year old. Make no difference in the long term.

But it is all about investment. Invest time in the kids, talk to them, take an interest in them, get interested in what they are interested in, read bedtime stories, introduce them to popular 1960s science fiction franchises and they will develop well. Ignore them and they fall behind. Too many parents are more interested in posting online about their kids than talking to them.

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My wife is a primary school teacher, and there definitely seems to be a perfect storm brewing. Support staff have been cut to the bare bones, social workers and other services are overwhelmed with workloads. Some parents seem totally uninterested in parenting or incapable because they themselves are a total mess. Staff morale is rock bottom because of regular verbal/physical assaults.

My wife very much sees teaching as a vocation but even she is now questioning her long term future. Unfortunately it seems like the last 12 years of austerity is now coming home to roost and given how much Covid has impacted pre-school children, things are only going to get worse.

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We have deferred our sons entry into P1. He was born right at the end of February so would be one of the youngest in his whole year. In Scotland you can defer entry if your child’s birthday is between January 1st and February 28th, you continue to get funded nursery places for the extra year. I just thought that my boy could do with the extra time, mainly to develop socially. He doesn’t have any big brothers or sisters so I think he really benefits from nursery.

I just can’t fathom out people who don’t mess about with their kids, don’t play with them. Someone posted earlier that some parents seem to treat their kid as just an adjunct in their lives, they are dragged about, fobbed off on relatives and neighbours so parents can go out drinking etc. I see this a lot with people we know. I don’t understand it, surely everyone knows you have a kid you spend time with them, you do things as a family. It’s mental.

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From a parental point of view, I didn't send my eldest to school as he wasn't ready, he was a September birthday so I had to make my case and it was approved. He didn't gain bowel control until he was in P6 due to dyspraxia. He also had speach issues. He's a smart enough kid but it wasn't the right time for him. He's also been diagnosed dyslexic.

My youngest is February and went to school. The closest kids to her age in nursery, although only 6/8 weeks younger were babied and nursery felt she needed the stretch of school.

I like to think as a parent I tried to do the 'right' things, talk to them, read, extra activities. 

For the person asking if it was school nurse, no it falls to the asna if the child has a record of needs. Much of the time it was a case of calling me to either clean him on school or take him home.

I worked in a nursery for a while, a lot of the 3 yr olds speech was limited and basics just not there. I've no idea why, as a parent it's easy to cast blame at other parents door. Poverty probably has a part in it too.

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"Some will blame parents but we all want the best for our children and teachers say what isn’t being made clear enough to parents is what being developmentally ready for school actually means."

FFS, if you have to be taught that sending a 5 year old to school who can't say his own name, and doesn't know how to use a fork, never mind a knife, and is still in nappies, isn't acceptable, you shouldn't be allowed to have children.

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24 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

How long have you been trying to master the sippy cup? Best of luck with it.

We all end up back there if we live long enough.

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2 hours ago, beesher said:

My wife is a primary school teacher, and there definitely seems to be a perfect storm brewing. Support staff have been cut to the bare bones, social workers and other services are overwhelmed with workloads. Some parents seem totally uninterested in parenting or incapable because they themselves are a total mess. Staff morale is rock bottom because of regular verbal/physical assaults.

My wife very much sees teaching as a vocation but even she is now questioning her long term future. Unfortunately it seems like the last 12 years of austerity is now coming home to roost and given how much Covid has impacted pre-school children, things are only going to get worse.

Sounds awful tbh. We are a small private school with hardly any of these issues, thankfully. Which is why it boils my urine when all I hear from some of my colleagues is "The weekend isn't long enough" or "I'm soooo tired" or "Can't wait til I'm not teaching" (our last day with kids is this Friday). Granted it's hot here at the moment and by the end of the day we're all drained but they honestly don't know they’re living.

Edited by jimbaxters
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6 minutes ago, jimbaxters said:

Sounds awful tbh. We are a small private school with hardly any of these issues, thankfully. Which is why it boils my urine when all I hear from some of my colleagues is "The weekend isn't long enough" or "I'm soooo tired" or "Can't wait til I'm not teaching" (our last day with kids is this Friday). Granted it's hot here at the moment and by the end of the day we're all drained but they honestly don't know their living.

I hope it's not English you're teaching...

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8 minutes ago, Empty It said:

Not very relevant in this thread but a guy and his missus brought their 5 day old child to the boozer a couple of fridays ago for the pub quiz, is it just me or is this mentalist behaviour?

No I think it relates to other who have said kids are now seen as accessory.

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9 minutes ago, Empty It said:

Not very relevant in this thread but a guy and his missus brought their 5 day old child to the boozer a couple of fridays ago for the pub quiz, is it just me or is this mentalist behaviour?

If there's a limit on numbers in each team, yes, total waste of a slot. 

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22 minutes ago, Empty It said:

Not very relevant in this thread but a guy and his missus brought their 5 day old child to the boozer a couple of fridays ago for the pub quiz, is it just me or is this mentalist behaviour?


They're going to be asleep pretty much all the time at that age - you basically just feed them every time they wake up and that's them away again. As long as they were being fed and having their nappy changed I'm not sure I'd see it as a huge deal.

I think ours would have been about that age when we had to go and register her, and we went out for lunch after it. Not sure it's really that different to sitting in a pub for a couple of hours (unless the pub was particularly rowdy).

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We took our daughter to the pub for a lunch when she was like 3 days old, she slept through the whole thing apart from needing fed once. Don't really see much issue in taking her to a pub quiz unless it was in an old man dive bar.

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19 minutes ago, Rizzo said:

The idea of bringing baby to a pub quiz puts me in mind of those "parenting rights and wrongs" pictures.

baby-safety-manual-3 (1).jpg

He'd have a great time chewing all the chess pieces...

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