Q In our nursery, some parents always seem to greet their child with, 'What have you done today?', meaning that they want to see something tangible or hear that the child has learned something definite. One mother really goes for the 'third degree' and her daughter now mutters, 'Nothing, nothing'.
The mother is now worried and tells us that her child is bored and has lost her excitement to learn. Yet this is a child who literally skips around the nursery with delight and is enthusiastic through every session. We are being horribly tempted almost to brief this four-year-old, so she has something to report each day.
A What an awkward situation for you, and it sounds as if the little girl dislikes the cross-questioning. You need to have a friendly conversation with this mother. Get across in a sympathetic way that 'nothing' can mean rather different things. All right, it could mean, 'I've done everything in nursery and it's a bit boring now'. But the answer can also mean, 'I'm tired and I don't feel like talking' or 'I don't know what is important enough for you.' Since her daughter enjoys nursery, you could try inviting the mother in for a session, so long as you encourage her to relax and watch, rather than direct.
A display board could share with all parents some photos and captions that explain highlights of this week, or 'We did a lot of looking/talking/thinking about...' Also, you could try some photos of parents and children who are happy to co-operate and caption them with alternatives for the pick-up conversation. Examples could be, 'Darren's dad asks, "How was your day?"' or 'Jemma's grandma wants to hear,"What was the best bit of playgroup this morning?"' - and even turn it around to 'Yinka's mother says, "I've had a really interesting afternoon, shall I go first?"'
