Shame on you Cooperative Childcare for denying us the use of the playground

It was a sunny lovely day yesterday, probably one of the last this autumn, and I was looking forward to the local dads club meeting.

The Dads Group SE18/28 is a group for male carers, we meet at Brookhill Childrens centre the last Saturday of every month and socialise with each other and our children.

We've met at this venue for just about two years and the group is a great bunch of dads with an even greater mix of nationalities and cultures (Carribbean, Nepalese, Nigerian, European).

Today I turned up at Brookhill Childrens centre just past 11 o clock and said hello to all old and new faces, both children and adults as this is what the Dads Group is about. It's not just about the dads chatting away on their own, and it's not just about playing with your own children, we speak and engage with everyone, adults and children.

Dads Group Brookhill - March 2015

After barely 2 minutes in the outdoor space we are confronted with staff from the Cooperative childcare, the nursery we are in opens up into the same outdoor space as them, and they are having an open day, they don't want us to use the outdoor space since they want to show it to parents who are interested and might show up on the open day.

Apparently it's bad for a nursery to have happy children playing in the space during an open day, I would have thought this showed what the nursery would look like on an ordinary day?

If we had shared the indoor space then there would have been a risk of the children being too loud (albeit low) for the staff to speak to their potential clients.

The outdoor space is large, and it wouldn't be difficult to either find a quiet corner, or go inside of the nursery for a longer conversation.

Some Dads left in protest, others like me stayed for the sake of the children, they know about Dads Group and look forward to it, to have left the nursery would have disappointed them.

We did get to use the upper floor of Brookhill, a much smaller patio sized space, a lot less space to move around and no climbing frame.

But we are really puzzled as to what was the reasoning by person who made the decision to have us moved, what was it about the Dads club you didn't like?

I don't know how to interpret the events today, I have three main theories;

• Was this a meeting with the new Tory privatised Britain?
  "This is business, we pay for this space,  you don't pay for it so you have to leave".
  
  Toryism following the harsh cuts being implemented, a formerly council owned childrens centre, now turned private pushing out it's non-profit work (Dads Group) in favour of business (the Cooperative childcare).
• Was it snobbism?Did the Cooperative Childcare not want dads on their open day there because some of the dads were in track suits? Was it going to scare away some middle class parents to see these men and their children playing together?
• Was it even racism, did the Cooperative not want black dads and black kids during their open day?

Whatever the reason was to deny us the use of the outdoor space, you'd have hoped that the (nursery?) staff from the Cooperative would have been human enough to recognise the needs of the children they were sending off the playground.

Brookhill Dads Group - March 2014

Let me tell you Cooperative Childcare, if you knew anything about caring for children then you'd know they need space to move around, 6 year olds doesn't want to sit and read books inside a nursery on a sunny day. Neither do energetic 3 year olds, they want to try out the tricycles, kick a ball, or use the climbing frame.

It was difficult for me to explain to my two girls why they couldn't play in their usual place.

I expect your explanation to the Dads Group regarding your action will be no less difficult.

Emanuel Berglund
Long standing member Dads Group SE18/28