85th Anniversary: Through the ages

1920S

The Angel Child

Parents and nurses are becoming interested in psychology, which is the study of the human mind or psyche. When we know even a little of how the mind works, we look upon 'behaviour' in quite a different way from what parents and mums did even 20 years ago. We no longer classify children as good and bad, normal or abnormal ...

'Mary the Angel Child' is placid, never quarrelsome, obedient, gentle, she is perhaps pretty, beautifully mannered, not very robust, perhaps, but sometimes as strong as a pony. Now the doctor's idea of the Angel child might agree with the mother's and nurse's, but not necessarily so. The very goodness of Mary may be an evidence of physical or psychological inferiority. Mary may lack vital energy, lack 'libido' or life force which makes the average healthy child restless, always on the go, often naughty.

2 December 1925

Beauty drill for children

The special toilet exercises that I want to describe in this little series of beauty hints for children are so sensible that many mothers may be glad to know of them, and so simple that any child can do them. No one who tackles the subject in the right way need be afraid of making her child conceited.

2 December 1925

Over the Teacups: a wrinkle for light sleepers

Tips writes: Mothers who find loss of sleep the most wearing part of baby-care, and are easily woken by irrelevant noises from the precarious sleep they might have had, find this homely precaution (suggested by a doctor) as great a boon as it has been to me. Take a small piece of cotton-wool, roll it into a pencil-shape, and dab one end thickly with Vaseline. Insert this in the ear passage, and it will keep out at least 50 per cent of noise - you need not be afraid that you won't hear baby cry!

7 April 1926

Children and their Cameras: how to avoid disappointment

Every child should have a camera! Photography is one of the best of hobbies for anytime of the year - but especially for the holidays, since pictures taken can be utilised for the making of 'Books of Memories' that will be a delight on many a dull winter's day. It is a mistake, however, to let your seven-year-olds start out on a holiday with a camera and no experience at all.

28 April 1926

Fathercraft: healthy play with the toddler

Little girls love to play fairies and enjoy being the good fairy with the magic wand. Witches, ogres and the likes, are persons to whom the door of the modern nursery should be always barred. But the bad boy made good by the good fairy with her magic wand, Cinderella, Dick Whittington, and the Sleeping Beauty are all games for father to play in the nursery.

28 April 1926

About letters

Nurse says that I must write in ink

(It's such untidy stuff, I think!),

And when she makes me slope my pen,

It wobbles worse than ever then.

The people who are grown-up now

Can write their letters anyhow -

If I might spell a few words wrong

It wouldn't take me half so long ...

How glad I am to reach the end,

And be her

'Loving Little Friend'

- Muriel, Kent

5 May 1926

Decorative gloves for tiny hands

Children love pretty things and it is really no more difficult to buy something that is attractive than it is to get something ugly, and so these new notions in children's gloves will be found very popular in nursery and schoolroom.

5 May 1926

Official Montessori method

It is expected that shortly throughout Italy the Minister of Education will be given power to authorise a bi-annual course of preparatory and elementary instructions on the Montessori system of education, the course to be given by Dr Montessori, and to be of not less than six months' duration.

At the Institute of Umanitaria at Milan, Dr Montessori has started the first of these official instructions, paving the way for those that will follow when the proposed new law shall become universal throughout Italy. One hundred and fifty teachers are taking the course, and at the opening of the series there were present many distinguished statesmen and educationalists.

26 May 1926

A simple slip-on suit for small boys - washable, practical and manly

A one-piece is an ideally comfortable garment for the small boy, as well as being essentially practical. For summer wear there are many materials that could be utilised, including gingham, zephyr, cotton, shantung and other washing silks that are easily laundered. There is no doubt too, that the pocket will encourage him to take a manly pride in his appearance. At any rate, he will greatly appreciate its presence on his trousers, and it will be full to overflowing before the day is over.

16 June 1926

1930S

Does smacking ever make a 'naughty' child 'good'?

How to make a child obey is one of the most important problems that every mother has to solve in the upbringing of her children. I often meet mothers who doubt whether the view taken by modern education, that corporal punishment should never be used in education, is really true.

They always bring the example of other children they have seen with whom this punishment is used and who appear to be much better behaved than their own children. Mothers who are in the habit of smacking, however, tell us that finally this isn't really successful. It might well stop the child's naughtiness sometimes, but in most cases makes children more defiant.

14 December 1938

Nursery topics of the week: the five day week

The twenty-first anniversary of the five day week will be celebrated by The Nursery World next April, and a number of interesting letters from firms already working on this basis have been received by our proprietors, Benn Brothers Ltd. They are almost unanimous as to its advantages, for the small increase in wages cost is usually offset by improved output due to better health and the increased happiness which comes from free Saturdays.

21 December 1938

Letters from readers

Observer writes: My small charge, a boy, aged 20 months, suffers from eczema, behind the knees. He has had it about six-eight months, in varying degrees, and it has also been on his face and in the elbow joint of one arm. One leg is very much worse than the other, the patch extending well down on to the calf. He has been taken to a skin specialist, and his own doctor has prescribed ointments. The specialist said his diet was perfect, as did the doctor, and the only change he suggested was to replace sugar with glucose, which I did. I have tried well all the doctors' ointments, two paints, and several advertised ointments, and once it cleared away completely for a fortnight. Now it is as angry looking as ever, and I feel in despair. I use oatmeal in his bath water as it is so hard. Can any reader help me and give me hope of a permanent cure?

18 January 1939

 

Ideas from a nursery school

Music is very important at this age and we do dancing nearly every day. The three-year-olds just dance freely about the room and gradually come to be able to move most gracefully in time to the music. We use imagination in this also. The children 'creep like pussies', and 'jump like bunnies'.

We have a bookcase to which the three-year-old has the same right of access as anyone else. We find the young children very careful with the books and we sometimes have spent a most enjoyable and enlightening few minutes after asking one of the children to tell a story out of a particular book.

1 February 1939

 

A party dress

Will any reader please lend a party dress to a girl 11 years? She is very healthy and will take great care and return the day after the party - 24th February.

15 February 1939

Ideas from a nursery school

Sewing and carpentry are both much appreciated by the five-year-olds, and one of the things that they all like to do is make a shoe bag with their initial on.

Carpentry sounds dangerous and I am afraid that by many people it is turned aside on that account without much thought.

15 February 1939

Nursery regulations

Q: Could you help me regarding running a nursery school? A friend of mine who has been a school teacher before her marriage would like to know if she could have a few children in her home. She wishes to know if there are any regulations or anything against having a nursery school in her own home.

A: We understand that there are no regulations with regard to starting a private nursery school, but it would be advisable for your friend to write to the Nursery School Association of Great Britain for further particulars about running a nursery school.

1 March 1939

Evacuation plans

It is good news that plans are being made for the evacuation of expectant mothers from London in the event of war. 'It is hoped,' says the pamphlet describing the scheme, 'that it will be possible to move out of London by road transport, rather than by train, all women who are within a short while of their expected confinement.' An appeal is being made for suitable voluntary workers to go with the mothers - women with experience in midwifery and maternity work.

3 May 1939

 

1940S

Nursery topics of the week

'They don't know what war is,' one sometimes hears, and although this may sound like envy, it rarely is. Oddly, we feel the happier for 'knowing what war is,' for taking our part in a great effort, even if it is only the humble civilian part of accepting necessary restrictions and rationing with good heart. Women whose husbands are fighting have more to bear - added responsibilities of home and children, constant waiting for, one prays, good news.

3 December 1942

Childhood problems: the first attachment

Children in their second year get so very attached to the people in whose charge they are and - for a time - are constantly anxious not to be left by them. We consider it as a natural thing for children of this age to clamour for their mother's or nurse's company and do not consider it right to force the child to be alone and 'cry it out'. Many parents believe that if they give in to the child's wish for company it means spoiling him; this is, however, not the case, if one is aware of the fact that if the child is allowed to have the company he asks for during this stage of his development, he will normally go on to the next one when his interest in objects and activities comes into the foreground and he no longer needs a grown up to be with him so much.

7 January 1943

Nursery topics of the week

Though the timber house is growing in popularity, concrete is not much liked. Other demands are for separate bathroom and lavatory, plenty of cupboards, cheaper telephones, more efficient refuse collection, proper ventilation, and kitchens really well planned and equipped by the builder for the work that is done in them.

11 March 1943

In misty weather

The healthy baby must be put out of doors during the day, cosily wrapped up and in his pram in misty weather. If there should be a really thick fog, keep baby indoors in a room alone for his sleep; ordinary house noises will not disturb him if the door is shut. As a rule you may open the window at the top, unless the fog is the real 'pea soup' variety, which sometimes occurs in industrial towns, when a shut window would be advisable.

11 March 1943

Domestic help

I would like to add all praise for the nannies who by reason of the war are carrying on doing countless jobs such as gardening, spring cleaning, cutting down coats etc, for their charges in addition to cooking and caring night and day for these tinies. Surely it's the greatest war job of all, bringing up the rising generation without help in the house?

27 May 1943

Nursery schools

The aim of the nursery school is to provide medical care, training in good habits and right behaviour, and an environment in which the children can learn the things suitable to their age. By two years of age children are usually ready to spend part of their day with a group for companionship, but the nursery group must be small enough for each child to receive individual attention.

24 May 1945

Letters from readers

Incidentally, 'Katrina', you seem to think 'in these enlightened days' that people can always successfully regulate the size of their families! We had, once, the idea that two daughters would be a nice little family - but our sixth child is due in the spring!

4 October 1945

Letters about baby

Ideally, the nursing and expectant mother should not smoke, but hundreds do without obvious harmful effect, so you must not worry too much about it. It would be wise not to smoke when you are near baby and to keep tobacco smoke away from baby's bedroom.

18 July 1946

Letters from readers

My advice to 'Discontented nannie' if she is the marrying type, is to get out of the nursery. If she is not certain of her chances she had better remain in the nursery. I find life quite fun as a spinster of forty-six in a happy nursery with three children to love, but I feel a spinster of the same age in business must have a bleak time.

???

Letter from 'MB': boy seven weeks old

Q: We are anxious to have conflicting information resolved on the subject of how much mental contact should take place between parents and a child of this age. One story says that it is dangerous to talk to a child until several months old, that it should be left all alone until then. The other story is that it is dangerous to leave a boy child to howl as he may rupture himself ...

A: Close contact with the parents when fully awake, being talked to quietly, cuddled and later on stimulated by toys he can handle are certainly desirable. I feel that you are very anxious to make him an exceptionally forward baby and should advise you to follow him rather than to push him forward. His emotional balance and relationship with you will be happier if you do not expect exceptional achievements from him.

13 March 1947

 

1950S

The Real World

The latest addition to Jean Piaget's monumental contribution to our knowledge of child development is The Child's Construction of Reality (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 25s). Here, basing his findings on the detailed observation of his own children up to the age of 2, he examines how the infant arrives at a conception of objects, space, cause and time, and thus to an understanding of himself as part of the world, instead of a world of which he is centre.

7 July 1955

An American baby in London

While Mrs Carlyle took relaxation exercises - begun three months before the baby's birth - her husband was one of a group of earnest young men who also attended special classes, designed to explain just what their wives would go through at the actual birth, how they could be helped cheerfully through pregnancy, and how they could be helped with the chores when the baby arrived. Bathing and nappy-changing instructions were included, then the doctor took them on a tour of the hospital.

14 July 1955

TV and Children: some reader's opinions

I have seen what happens in the homes of our friends when it is introduced. Hobbies are dropped, one by one, the glazed television countenance and limited television talk overtake them gradually. They seem incapable of feeling wonder. Whenever they are introduced to a fresh field, they have always seen better on the television.

- Mrs Hylda Lowcock, Forest Row, Sussex

Andy Pandy, bless him, is just right. He has that indefinable quality that puts him among the classic characters of children's literature. I banned the Flower Pot Men after one viewing. I don't know whether their way of talking in near-words had anything to do with my three-year-old's sudden - and mercifully temporary - inability to articulate, but I don't think they were a suitable example for a child learning to speak.

- Felicite Nesham, Gloucester

25 April 1957

Nursery tips

When my baby started to crawl, I stitched pieces of plastic foam on the knees of her overalls to prevent scratched and sore knees and it was most satisfactory.

6 June 1957

Father takes over

The other day we had a letter from a father saying: 'My wife is due to have a baby during the beginning of July and I am taking my annual holiday then in order to look after her and our two daughters, aged 3 years and 15 months. Could you, please, suggest a series of menus to cover the two weeks, with three meals per day. We have a refrigerator and a garden with the usual vegetables and I'm a passable cook.'

The menus on the opposite page are our reply. We hope they will be helpful to the enterprising father, and to others, who may feel inclined to follow his excellent example!

20 June 1957

Naming the July baby

There are not so many flower names from which one can find an inspiration, but one may look again at Jasmine, Lileas (after the madonna lilies), Eglantine, and any of the rose names.

When it comes to thinking out something unusual, Adela might be a thought. Amabel. Bernice. Clarice. Drusilla. Fidelia. Veronica. In a period when the more ordinary old-fashioned names are overdone, and are inclined to be a bit dating, think of the less used ones. Harriet. Henrietta. Fenella. Julia. Lucy. Miriam.

9 July 1959

Readers' letters

Being endowed, I think, with the normal characteristics of my sex, I enjoyed to a reasonable extent the births of my children but at the same time was aware of the unpleasant and inaesthetic element involved in it. Why do husbands want to intrude upon this experience, such a fundamental and personal one, since it contains to some degree, pain, indignity, and a joy which no father, by virtue of his sex, can really share?

As women I feel we should preserve the dignity of what men have so boldly ascribed to us as our primary function!

I'm by no means prudish or over-modest myself but I think childbirth should be managed as tidily, painlessly and quickly as possible.

16 July 1959

Royal baby

Everybody at Buckingham Palace is looking forward to the arrival of the Queen's baby. Preparations are already being made for the newcomer. An empty room on the second floor of the private apartments is to be the nursery. This suite, on the side of the Palace which faces St James's Park and Constitution Hill, has always been given over to royal children.

24 September 1959

Readers' letters

I like my job and enjoy life and I most certainly love children. One could not be a nannie if it were not for that reason - it is why I am a nannie, certainly not because of the money I earn!

8 October 1959

Nursery topics

'Play is the best homework,' says a new leaflet issued by the National Federation of Parent-Teacher Associations. It shows, in coloured pictures, how home-life can support the work of the school. Children are helped in learning arithmetic by experiencing the practical use of weights and measures and money in cooking and sewing and shopping.

31 December 1959

1960S

From car park to baby park

Car parks at big stores are nothing new, but a baby park, where you can leave your small child in safety while you shop at leisure, is a novelty that many young parents will appreciate. At the fourth-floor Baby Park at Harrison Gibson's newly-opened furniture store at Ilford, Nurse Wormall has been busy assembling toys and occupations for the children who will play there while mothers and fathers wander round the shop.

7 July 1960

Suited for spring

When spring comes at last, no outfit is more useful for a girl than a suit, or a jacket and skirt made in contrasting materials. The pattern sketched above is cut in sizes 6, 8, 10 and 12. The slightly fitted jacket, kind to the tubby child, and giving the thin girl a more chunky appearance, has a notched collar, and two patch pockets large enough to hold a hanky and a purse.

2 February 1961

A new book on sex

Previous editions of the National Marriage Guidance Council's booklet Sex in Marriage have sold well over a quarter of a million copies and it has proved the most popular of its publications. Its 50-odd pages cover amazingly fully, delicately and yet plainly, every aspect from the days of courtship before marriage when young people are worried about their future harmony, through their first experiences to a full married life and serene later years. It is wholesomely free from undue attention to abnormal and pathological conditions, though it is far from turning a blind eye to special difficulties.

16 November 1961

The Editor's visit to the US

Another high-spot of my trip was my visit to the White House. We were welcomed on the President's private lawn in a rose garden, and just over the hedge (where once President Eisenhower had a 9-hole putting green) we now were able to see the children's swing (which seems staple equipment in every American home) and sandpit of the Kennedy children.

5 July 1962

No 'early starters' please

(There) is a swing away from formal rote memorisation and early teaching of letters in favour of active experience of number, and a delay in introducing reading until a stage of readiness has been reached, normally about 6 or 7 years.

19 July 1962

Playgroup misbehaviour

Children who have been to playgroups do not always make the best schoolchildren, according to a Dorchester headmistress. Mrs M Cutler wrote to a newspaper recently to protest about playgroups run by untrained housewives. She said that although children gain self-assurance from going to playgroups, they could also develop a group 'naughtiness'.

7 May 1964

Working mothers

Len Chaloner's recent article on the dilemma of work and home ties facing mothers who return to work for one reason or another, prompted Mrs Joan Crook to write to tell us about a scheme she has just started. She had been working for four years as a secretary to a very co-operative employer who agreed to let her work hours to suit her domestic arrangements. During this time she met many employers with staff problems - and also many mothers who longed to return to work, but who could not do so because of the clash between office hours and family commitments.

In an effort to help both sides, she opened her EFM (Employment for Mothers) Agency. And, although it has been going for less than two months, there has already been a flood of enquiries.

11 February 1965

Playthings for playhours in nursery schools

Equipment for nursery schools is so fascinating one could spend hours thumbing through catalogues. But the moment must come for discrimination according to the budget available, and one big addition every so often does help to build up a variety of activity material. GYM SET comes with interchangeable swing seat, trapeze bar and hand rings. Extra cords allow for suspension from a beam or swing frame. Abbatt. £2 13s 6d. MARKET STALL for group activity fulfills the love for playing at shops. ESA. £5 15s 5d.

13 October 1967

Where East meets West

Everyone recognises the well-known sign 'Nursery', but what if it is written up in Punjabi? The unfamiliar letters look strange indeed to an English mother pushing her pram through the streets of Balsall Heath, Birmingham - but to the many immigrant parents in this overcrowded district of a big city, the sign must look like a little bit of home.

6 June 1969

Handy hint: braces for mum

If in the final months of pregnancy you find that, instead of keeping your stockings up, your suspender belt or roll on gets pulled down by them, borrow your husband's braces and attach them to the top of your suspender belt. Worn over your bra, the braces will be quite comfortable and will save your worrying about what is showing under your hemline.

15 August 1969

 

1970S

Open University

The first 25,000 students-to-be are just receiving their final letters of acceptance from the new Open University for the term starting in January. This pioneer university gives a chance for people without formal qualifications to take a degree by correspondence, radio, TV and an annual summer school.

3 September 1970

Your child's puppy-fat ...

it won't just go away

Obesity is becoming a common problem in a child's first five years, and can be a serious problem as soon as the latter part of the first year. Obesity at this period often rights itself, in that there is usually a notable loss of fat in the second year, but excessive fat should act as a warning that the child is liable to respond in future to a positive food balance by laying down fat.

4 January 1973

Learning a foreign language at age 3

In my three-year-old's playgroup are Dutch and Danish children - this in rural Wales. Three months ago, she was with German and Italian children in a kindergarten in Norway. As the impact of the Common Market is felt, there is bound to be a greater movement around Europe by the different member nations, and at family level, this may involve not only an uprooting from one way of life and adaptation to another, but also having to learn a new language.

22 February 1973

Give me back my figure, please

Regaining your figure after childbirth (and who doesn't want to?) is largely a matter of correct posture. Walking about for several months with an increased weight in front makes one lean backwards in order to balance the load and sometimes alters the angle of the pelvis, producing a hollow back.

8 March 1973

Christmas gifts

The first thing you are likely to notice about many of this year's annuals is the price. Last year the average cost of an annual was 70p, this year you will be asked to pay anything from 45p to a staggering £1.95 for your child's Christmas reading.

24 October 1974

Toddler blues

Is there any mother with one or more under-fives who doesn't get frustrated, lonely and bored at least some of the time?

Conversation between other adults is subject to constant interruption. Even those messy materials like paint and clay only occupy the toddlers for short periods and they involve preparation and clearing away.

If you ever feel that just 10 more minutes with your own delightful children will drive you to screaming point, the answer could lie in joining a mother and baby group.

16 January 1975

The good old days?

Parents have been focusing too much attention on the child this last generation, giving him too much too soon. Thus, he grows up expecting life to hand him everything on a plate, and he is sadly disillusioned later. Not only do parents give their children too much, they also plan their lives too much. Every day of every school holiday must be planned - outings are arranged, parties given, swimming, dancing, riding lessons are arranged, and the child is required to make no effort to amuse himself.

13 March 1975

Public spending cuts

Cuts in public spending are bound to affect us all and education, of course, is always a prime target for 'economies', which usually result in a reduction in the number of teachers and a rundown or cancellation of school building programmes.

In this bleak financial climate there seems little doubt that education for the under-fives will suffer more than some areas.

4 October 1979

1980S

Time off for mothers-to-be

Pregnant working women are to be given the right to time off with pay for antenatal care, the Department of Employment announced recently.

24 April 1980

Discipline - saying 'no'

Here is a list of 'naughty' situations - they're not in any significant order: Making a noise; pointing at a stranger; swearing; spitting; pant wetting; bad table manners and spilling food; climbing on a car roof; running away when called; being late for meals; scribbling on books; not cleaning teeth; telling a stranger she is ugly; being cheeky; getting clothes dirty; bringing dirty shoes into the house; touching the TV set; shouting; fighting.

11 February 1982

Playgrounds

The sorry state of most of our playgrounds is an indictment of our society's attitude towards children's play. Our playgrounds tend to be ill-equipped and poorly maintained, and, as a result, they are needlessly dangerous for the children using them.

April 22 1982

Childminding

Minding is a chancy business, with some mothers getting the better end of the market. This is because in this country finding and using day care is largely a private matter, the business of mothers, but of no one else. Local authorities do not have to help mothers or set high standards for minders.

5 January 1984

Flying with baby

When breast feeding, light baggy jumpers are ideal. Blouses are more modestly undone from the bottom. If you intend to use a baby sling try not to wear a blouse with large or pearl buttons as they tend to dig into both baby and yourself.

Keep your make-up and hair style simple and easy to restore.

2 February 1984

Surrogate mothers

Parents who use the services of a 'surrogate' mother to carry their child to term would have no legal redress if the woman decided to keep the baby. Charles Butcher, a solicitor who has researched the legal position surrounding 'womb-leasing' contracts, announced this at a London Medical Group meeting recently.

26 April 1984

What is a family centre?

Family centres have opened in many parts of the country in the last few years. But what is a family centre? Probably no other type of provision serves families in such a variety of ways and yet has the same name. There is, as Jan Phelan says in her book, 'no identikit family centre'. Some were originally day nurseries, some children's homes, some originated as community or social work support projects; there is even a family centre at the National History Museum in London.

10 May 1984

Conference gives 'message of hope'

Harriet Harman, MP, Shadow Social Services spokeswoman, read out a list of local authorities who have no day nurseries at all within their areas. Then to those who had not heard it before came the real message of hope. 'The Labour Party,' she affirmed, 'will make it a statutory duty on local authorities to make provision for all under-fives whose parents want it.'

30 January 1986

Little Black Sambo

Stories have been appearing in the press that Little Black Sambo will shortly go out of print and not be re-issued. But the stories are NOT true. Managing director of publishers Bodley Head, David Machin, told Nursery World that there were copies in their warehouse and it would continue to be available.

30 January 1986

Raising the school age to six

The all-party Commons Education select committee is exploring a suggestion that the compulsory age to start school should be raised from five to six. This would bring the UK into line with many other industrialised countries.

13 February 1986

My Little Pony

Much to the bewilderment of many adults, the popularity of My Little Pony shows no signs of abating - the company claims that currently 82 per cent of all girls aged between four and nine years in this country own at least one Little Pony!

27 February 1986

Support from Lady Di

HRH Princess Diana is another public figure who has proved her genuine interest in childcare; her dedication would almost certainly prove invaluable to the new Child Care Training Board, should it become established.

3 July 1986

Child development

Boys do better than girls at maths and science. Some psychologists argue this is because boys are biologically predisposed to learning maths, that there are genetic reasons for male mathematical superiority. Others claim that this difference in attainments is because boys are positively encouraged to achieve in these areas, whereas girls are not.

20 November 1986

New language of the NCVQ

Nursery nurse students will soon have their training broken down into elements and units of competence as part of the new national accreditation system, which should be in full working order by 1991.

23 February 1989

Good parents start young?

Although parenthood for older couples does have its pitfalls, all these potential hazards can be overcome. Too old at 40? Not necessarily.

11 May 1989

1990S

Judith, the pregnant doll

A doll introduced to the UK by David Halsall Toys has caused comment in the British press.

What marks out 'Judith' is that she has a baby in her tummy, which you can take out. Among the complaints made is that she 'comes with optional partner and no wedding ring' and the Evening Standard (9 July) describes the idea as 'unspeakable'. Appraisers at the Play Matters/The National Toy Libraries Association will nevertheless be giving Judith a recommendation in the Good Toy Guide.

6 August 1992

Present and correct?

There is something about children's literature that produces a wave of uncritical nostalgia in otherwise intelligent adults. Lovingly, they talk about the books of their childhood, and berate politically correct killjoys for spoiling children's fun.

Books which feature black children in interesting, non-stereotypical roles or girls in the forefront of an adventure are described as uniformly dull but worthy. Children, we are told, vote with their feet and avoid books like these, a comment which displays remarkable ignorance of the current market in children's books.

22 April 1993

Institute's report demands private nurseries for all

A right-wing think tank has called on the Government to privatise education for under-fives, to give all threeand fouryear-olds a nursery place.

The Adam Smith Institute believes the best way for John Major to meet his stated 'cast iron' commitment to provide education for all would be to rent out vacant local authority space to the private sector, which could offer integrated daycare and education on a full-time basis, all year round.

The institute envisages that parents would be helped with the cost of places by a voucher scheme with three bands related to the amount of income tax they pay.

16 January 1995

Meeting points

One of the most important meetings held in the nursery is the staff meeting. Most nurseries have formal staff meetings where all staff come together to plan projects and themes, discuss problems and progress, and evaluate the care and education they are offering.

18 September 1997

Face values

Parents can be like the little curl right in the middle of the forehead: when they are good, they are very, very good and when they are bad they are horrid. But however horrid they may be and whatever the reasons for their being awful, it is the unenviable task of nursery staff to establish a good working relationship with them.

An ability to work in partnership with parents is one of the most important items in the nursery staff's professional 'tool kit'.

14 May 1998

Home rule

Last month, the Government published guidelines on the amount of homework that all children in state primary schools should be doing outside of school. These recommended that four and five-year-olds in reception classes should spend 20 minutes a day on reading and some other 'home activity' ...

The Government acknowledges that it is difficult to define exactly what sort of homework four-year-olds should be doing. Its guidelines state that 'in the case of younger children, it is the involvement of parents and carers in joint activities, which can be very brief, which is the most valuable in promoting children's learning.'

21 May 1998

Under the influence

It is fashionable these days to blame the influence of television for much of the aggressive, anti-social behaviour we see in children. But this assumption is challenged by a research study based on a remote island in the Atlantic, where children had never watched television until 1995. Two years later, the children - whose behaviour, pre-television, was classed among the best in the world - showed little change. The nursery children even showed a significant improvement in their behaviour, with less playground fighting and teasing.

9 July 1998

Pre-school expansion going 'too far, too fast'

Last week, following the Treasury's Comprehensive Spending Review revealed by Chancellor Gordon Brown, education secretary David Blunkett promised to fund 190,000 nursery education places for three-year-olds by the year 2002. This would almost double the percentage of three-year-olds in education from 34 per cent to 66 per cent.

The Government has also launched a programme to support children from birth to the age of three, called Sure Start. The £540m programme will target parents in the areas of greatest need and is expected to reach up to five per cent of under-threes and their families.

23 July 1998

Goals heed advice on learning through play

Early years organisations have given a warm welcome to the Government's foundation stage and Early Learning Goals for young children in England.

The goals, which will replace the Desirable Learning Outcomes and which were unveiled on Monday by education and equal opportunities minister Margaret Hodge, place greater emphasis on children learning through play than the Government's draft goals, which had a hostile reception from the early years sector when published earlier this year.

7 October 1999

2000s

Happy returns?

New nurseries are opening up all over the country, new chains are growing faster than ever and more company start-ups are planned ...

All the growth and competition depend on more money coming into the childcare market. And there are more banks and other investors willing to risk investing in childcare for the potential rewards.

3 February 2000

MPs plump for NVQ3 standard

The first all-party report on the current state and desired future of the early years sector has received a warm reception from organisations and teachers' unions alike.

The Education and Employment Committee's wide-ranging report on the Early Years, published last week, rejected staffing proposals in the Government's national standards for daycare and childminding and called for NVQ level 3 or equivalent to be industry standard and for all nursery and playgroup heads to be at graduate level or equivalent within a decade ...

At the document's launch in Westminster last Thursday Education Committee chair Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, described it as 'a fundamental report about a fundamental period in child development'.

18 January 2001

Nursery plan rallies early years sector

Early years organisations and nursery chains have been invited by the Government to create up to 900 'Neighbourhood Nurseries' in disadvantaged parts of England over the next three years.

1 February 2001

Mark my words

One of the most important conclusions of the recent report on the early years by the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Employment was, 'The vast majority of professionals believe that numeracy and literacy in the foundation stage should be introduced informally, especially through play games and informal conversation.'

1 February 2001

Editor's view

We are delighted to report that NW's 'Stop the Drop' campaign over the lowering of staff qualifications in the national daycare standards has achieved a partial victory. The Government has made concessions and said that those in a supervisory role in full daycare settings must have gained NVQ level 3.

15 March 2001

Help children to cope with terror

A child psychologist has told carers and parents to expect to see some children playing at pretending to be aircraft crashing into buildings, in order to make sense of last week's tragedy in the United States.

20 September 2001

ICT: nursery websites

'Whether you call it the World Wide Web, the information super-highway or cyberspace, you can hardly fail to notice that the internet is 'everywhere' at the moment ...

Is there a benefit in having a website? Absolutely!'

9 May 2002

Birth to three

Children do not see some times of the day as being for play and others for work. They see all experiences as opportunities for experimenting, finding out, communicating and relating to others.

22 January 2004

Glasgow strike ends on bitter note

Glasgow's nursery nurses voted by 542 to 98 last Thursday to accept the pay offer of £9.83 per hour with a lump-sum payment of £2,500. But they claimed that prior to the ballot they were threatened with the sack if they did not cease industrial action.

10 June 2004

Nursery campaign goes nationwide

The organisers of the Save Our Nurseries campaign fear that many private and voluntary providers are unaware of the impact the revised DfES Code of Practice for the nursery education grant will have on the sustainability of their business, the quality of care they offer and parental choice ... Under the new terms of the Code, nurseries will no longer be able to charge parents a 'top-up' to cover the actual cost of the nursery education place.

17 August 2006

Experts seek TV ban

The backlash against parenting reality-television programmes continued this week, with child experts united against Channel 4's Bringing Up Baby.

The show has been widely slammed by critics for 'experimenting' on babies with outdated and discredited theories which could harm their development.

25 October 2007

3,000th children's centre celebrated by ministers

The opening of the 3,000th Sure Start children's centre was marked last week by visits around the country by ministers including children's secretary Ed Balls.

Little Starz Children's Centre in West Norwood, London, was one stop on a tour by Mr Balls, children's minister Beverley Hughes and eight other ministers that took in children's centres in London, Manchester, Yorkshire, Hertfordshire, Devon, Dorset, Kent, the West Midlands and the north-west.

14 May 2009