If “Fathers” are deemed “strangers” then what hope do we have for encouraging more fathers to battle through the tough times and stick with their young family for the greater good of modern day society.

Having a baby is a very stressful time for all parents, throw in two working parents and the challenge increases. With grandparents becoming younger and younger a gap has now been created which only nursery settings can fill

I would also challenge the use of the word “stress”. Stress is a word used far too often, what is stress? Crossing the road can be deemed “stressful” but it is something we do everyday. Is bathing a new born baby stressful? I would suggest it is but I would rather introduce a controlled element of stress than have an unclean child. Stress in moderation is a good thing, children who are introduced to stress at an early age will learn to control this position as they go through life. Unfortunately stress is a word which is used too often and used to assist the sicknote generation which has boomed in the 90’s / 00’s

Lay off parents, lay off fathers and lay off day care provisions

Yes, I understand what you are saying and sometimes staff may not share the same sense of humour as customers. However, they do try very hard and at the end of a long day for both parent and staff member, communication is always a challenge. In this instance it was a nursery manager who had a fairly grumpy parent on the phone, so I dont’ think there were any crossed wires! Do you think there are any ways we could communicate better with parents? We are always looking for ideas and suggestions, but I am also aware that we need to remind every member of staff that however great a day each child has had at nursery, parents only see the few minutes at the beginning and end of the day, so we need to make sure you get a flavour of what they have done. We are doing some role play at staff meetings this month around this topic, so let me know if you have any other ideas. Many thanks.