ive just found out that my sons nursery teachers wouldnt draw an elephant for him!

[Ripeberry]

I was really proud of my eldest today as well as she had been watching a DVD about "Spirit" the wild Mustang and it had a section on drawing Spirit, she spent ages watching the DVD, pausing it and copying it from the screen.
Of course i gave her loads of praise!

[OrlandoBelle]

I think what they're trying to do is make Children independant. One of my parents have asked me not to chop up apples and chicken pieces for her 2 yr old son as she doesn't want him to become finiky with food. But I have to admit, I do cut it up for him for fear he might choke. I never thought about grapes and cherry tomatoes and have been giving them whole up until now. I will be chopping them up as from tomorrow!

But not being able to help small children with their coats is ridiculous and as for not being allowed to draw an elephant???

Why do Ofsted give memos to Nursery settings and not childminders? It's not right. How are we supposed to know what we are doing is right or wrong before we have an inspection and get marked down for something?!! I wish there was just a list of things they would give us what Not to do!!! Infact, I'm going to start a new thread...if anyone has been marked down for doing something, or know of things Ofsted no not like...put it down! Lol.

[Ripeberry]

With the elephant thing. Can't we just draw one and then get the child to copy it? How are they supposed to learn otherwise? At our pre-school we give praise, our play leader has not had the memo yet i suppose.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Wonder if the teacher can draw!!!!!

[Ripeberry]

Have a nice time in Egypt Debbie

[sammy]

this was a "high scope approach to learning" course i went on and basically it was a course that was run alongside the eyfs. I think what she was trying to get at was if you praise one child then the other one would feel left out. But the way i see it that "other" child should do something to impress me then then ill praise him/her - hahahaha (no not really was joking at last comment) i praise all my children the same and comment on there lovely work too, so that everyone is included.

Honestly i still cant get over the elephant thing.

[sammy]

RIPEBERRY - did you just say "COPY" how dare you - hahaha,

My goodness no way are you allowed to draw anything to show a child, they have to think for themselves and do their own independent work.

These children are 2 going on 10 you know. lol

I certainly dont listen to all this silly stuff from teachers / ofsted etc, i do what i thinks best and sensible.

[Heaven Scent]

Words fail me right now because the people at the top have grasped titbits of principles from different educators and have got hold of the wrong end of the stick and are now filling others with a load of auld bumph - I may come back to this tomorrow I'm just too shattered to make much sense right now

[huggableshelly]

another situation where children are no longer allowed to be children, they are expected to grow up way too fast and be too independant.

Problems arrise when they become teenagers as they believe they know everything and do not ask for help from their parents as they have been bought up knowing they must do it themselves!

I'm never going to stop helping and praising my children or my mindees, I will continue to encourage them to try but surely its my job as a parent and as a childminder to offer help and support ehen and where needed not force a child to struggle on their own.

I had my 10 yr old ask me to draw a heart for him yesterday, I didnt refuse but I did suggest he looks in the template draw, this kept his independance at the same time as offering alternatives but if it would have been a younger child I would have got the template for the chilkd and helped them to use it.

[merry]

I couldn't draw an elephant to save my life, well not one that actually looked like an elephant Lots of parents muttering and complaining at the Primary school about how teachers will not help children do anything, they must be fully independent from the start. Even the little just turned 4's have to manage their lunch money every day in the canteen style pay as you eat lunch hall. You can see the poor little mites haven't a clue what's going on and lose money every day. I'm all for teaching independence, but it does seem to be going much too fast with very young children expected to do things far beyond their capabilities.

[donnahay0]

Just think about all those times when, as a kid, I watched programmes like Take Heart and my children who watched Art Attack etc - they were being shown how to draw stuff all the time - Oh does this mean I am doomed.

What a load of old cobblers - if we cannot show them how to do anything then my staff members are going to be at loggerheads - when my health and safety manager (that's me) tells my play leader (that's me) that the children must learn to tie their shoe laces because they might trip over and hurt themselves - it is going to end up with a dispute which the General Manager (that's also me by the way) will have to intervene. Oh what to do!!!

[Mummits]

I have to disagree about the fruit. My eldest daughter is almost 7yrs old and i still cut the grapes in half...

I'm not quite sure exactly what you disagree with, but my frustration is not really about whether or what fruit is or is not dangerous, it's the fact that OFSTED are apparently taking a line on all sorts of issues and not really communicating effectively with childminders. There are loads of posts about issues that seemingly sensible and caring people are just not sure about, and even concerning cases where they are being "marked down" at inspections for all sort of perceived shortcomings which could probably have been overcome or addressed if they had been foreseen - which suggests to me that the communication of requirements and advice is not particularly effective. Aimiev1704 has started a new thread about what NOT to do to have a successful inspection, and I think that sharing these tips is very helpful and supportive, but I still can't help thinking that it is a bit of a crazy system that requires practitioners to glean tips on the grapevine to avoid failure at inspection when it would be so much more fair and transparent for the regulators themselves to state the requirements clearly and consistently in the first place.

[Rubybubbles]

I use gummed shapes haha I don;t give a hoot tbh!! I find with help they come on so much better! I mean how many parents collect there child and go well what is it

I have had a child choke on a grape he used to bring his own lunch and I didn't even think! Very very scarey, I now chop everything he was okay! but it was very scary

[mandy moo]

It's a mad mad world we live in!!! What sort of people do 'they' want the kids of today to grow up into.
Personally I can't see anything wrong with drawing an elephant for a child if they ask you to. I would describe what I'm drawing as I do it with the hope they would have a go at following my instructions. A nice big oval body, 4 rectangular legs, a round head, a long curving trunk etc etc.
And praise?.....children thrive on it.

I like your comment Rickyamiths, it sums up how I feel perfectly

Your signature sums up ofsted perfectly, not you Hatter