Adventures and Dramas in the Nursery

Chapter 11

The morning sun glinting through the large windows of the nursery, casting a warm glow over the breakfast table in the toddler room, where Carly, their forever 17-year-old apprentice, was busy signing in the children. Her fingers danced over the tablet screen as she checked off names and updated the day's schedule.

"Good morning, Nathaniel!" Carly greeted brightly as his mother approached the gate.

The parent, a middle-aged woman with a constantly concerned expression, sighed deeply. "Oh God, you youngsters and your technology."

Carly looked up, slightly confused. "Sorry?"

"The tablet. I swear, your generation is never off it," she continued, her tone dripping with disapproval.

Carly offered an apologetic smile. "I was just signing Nathaniel in."

The Parent's eyes narrowed. "You were on it last night when I came to collect him, too."

Carly bit her lip, recalling the previous evening. "Oh, you came to collect him a bit earlier yesterday. He was right in the middle of finishing his tea, so I was just recording it on the iPad."

"Just feels like your whole generation is raised on tablets," Nathaniel's mother remarked, her voice tinged with frustration.

"I-I mean, we-we've got to use the tablets to record everything throughout the day," Carly stammered, trying to explain.

The parent crossed her arms. "But how do you think that looks to the children?"

Carly blinked, taken aback. "What? Sorry, what do you mean?"

"Well, if the children see the adults on the tablets all day, surely that's all they're going to want to do as well," she clarified.

"Oh no, we're not on them all day," Carly assured her with a nervous laugh. "Like I said, I was just signing them in. We record their meals, but when we get a quiet moment, normally during nap time or when they're eating, that's when we sit and do all our updating on it."

The mother shook her head. "Well, I don't really agree with it. Okay, you go to a restaurant, kids are on tablets. I come into the nursery; the adults are on tablets. It just feels like everyone has their face glued to a screen."

Carly nodded, trying to empathise. "I get it. If you've come in and seen me on the tablet, yeah, I can appreciate how it looks, but I assure you we're not on them throughout the day. We don't even have time to be on them. Plus, there's only one per room and there are four staff members in here, so we can't be on it all the time."

Nathaniel's mother gave a heavy sigh. "Well, I do wish you were on it less. Okay, you're supposed to be setting an example for the children, right? Anyway, I'm going to go. Bye-bye, sweetheart. Less of the tablet, Carly."

"Okay," Carly replied with a defeated sigh as she walked away.

Autumn, their no-nonsense deputy manager, approached Carly with a stern look. "Carly, anything you record today for Nathaniel, save it as a draft. Don't upload it."

Carly's brow furrowed. "Um, sure. Okay. Why?"

"Just making a point," Autumn said curtly before walking off.

***

A few hours later, the nursery buzzed with activity. Autumn was sat working at her desk while Marjorie was out running some errands.

"Excuse me, Autumn," Nathaniel's mother calmly said.

Autumn turned, her expression calm and composed. "Yes?"

"I've been checking my phone throughout the day and I didn't get a single update about Nathaniel," she complained, with a confused glint to her tone.

"Didn't you?" Autumn replied, feigning surprise.

"No, and I really like to know what Nathaniel's been up to throughout the day when I'm not with him. So why was nothing uploaded to the app?" the parent demanded.

"Because I asked Carly not to," Autumn stated matter-of-factly.

The irate mother blinked, taken aback. "I'm sorry if I missed something. Why would you ask her not to update it?"

"Well, you gave her such a grilling this morning about being on it. I told her not to use it anymore," Autumn explained.

That's when she flushed. "No, no. I wasn't giving her a grilling. I was simply saying I would prefer her not to be on the tablet all of the time."

"And that's precisely what she did. She stayed off it today," Autumn said calmly.

"But it meant I didn't get any updates about Nathaniel," retorted his mother.

Autumn nodded. "So, you don't want my staff on the tablets, but you also want all the updates throughout the day. Is that correct?"

"I just don't want them on the tablet all day," she insisted.

"But I assume you still want updates on Nathaniel's breakfast, lunch, and tea, his snacks, his nappy changes, his naps, and his daily activities. Correct?" Autumn asked pointedly.

"Yes," she admitted, her tone softer now.

"Well, unless you expect the staff to be able to do that telepathically, I suggest you stop giving them grief about being on the tablets and let them do their jobs," Autumn said firmly.

The Parent opened her mouth to argue but closed it quickly. "Fine. Look, I just don't want Nathaniel to get used to seeing adults looking at screens all day."

Autumn's eyes sparkled with a hint of amusement. "I've seen your Twitter feed. I guarantee you spend a lot more time buried in your screen than we do ours."

Eyes widened in shock she stammered. "Wait, you've seen my..."

"Oh yes," Autumn continued, her voice cool. "I keep up to date with all of my parents. Never figured you for someone who'd be so anti-sex before marriage, given Nathaniel's date of birth."

The mother's face turned beet red. "What? Um..."

"You definitely shouldn't have been wearing a white dress on your wedding day," Autumn added with a sly smile.

Humiliated and furious, she stormed out to collect her child, leaving Autumn with a sense of achievement.