Nursery World - Positive Relationships - Transitions: Too relaxed?

Children are arriving at nursery still sucking on a bottle or wearing nappies when they should have moved on, practitioners report - but what do you say to the parents? Karen Faux finds out.

A 'relaxed' attitude by parents to important developmental transitions such as potty training and weaning is generally held to be a positive thing, but some practitioners fear this may have gone too far. They are increasingly reporting that the children in their care are being kept in nappies too long and are not being given the opportunity to move on to other important stages because parents are either ill-informed or ill-equipped to support them.

At the London Early Years Foundation, chief executive June O'Sullivan reports that over the past ten years she has observed children being over-protected and 'babyfied' across all social classes.

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