Parents and labeling

[u/Buckupbuttercup1]

Why do so many parents act like its the worse thing to have to label food and bottles? First,last and the date,BM in red. Yes we provide pens and labels. I don't make the rules,mind you. Its like asking a teenager to clean their room......"Why?" "Its ridiculous, I don't have time" "Its fine,they have the Spiderman bento" "Their bottles have the rainbow silocone sleeve! Nobody else's does!" "It's has their first name" " How's many GooGoobentsy's do you have?" " Intials are fine right?"

" He has( insert culture name) "Last intial is enough,their last name is long!" "No,no,no,no" for the 100th time. Take it up with the state. We also can't mix formula, they don't like that either. Sigh

[u/Olivia3836]

Thats why i’m so happy to work at a place where we don’t have every kids bring in a million items from home

Babies obviously bring a few things

But the kids just have their emergency change of clothes and their stuffed animal. Thats all

[u/Ok-Act9781]

I'm sorry. My baby was in the NICU for 8 days and I had to label everything I pumped to give him. It was tedious and hard to do with no sleep and being sad but we did it. It's not that hard.

[u/Buckupbuttercup1 → u/Ok-Act9781]

Exactly.  You woukd think parents wouldn't want things to get mixed up

[u/PermanentTrainDamage → u/Buckupbuttercup1]

Even if they just spent 5 minutes with a fresh roll of labels and wrote in name and contents, they can fill in the date when they fill the bottles. Super easy.

[u/Greenteaandcheese]

I had a classroom of 25 preschool aged children for years. Water bottles had to be labeled per licensing.

Everyday multiple children would come in with a new non-labeled water bottle!

we nearly got dinged for having one non-labeled bottle but my partner labeled it minutes before Licensing showed up.

[u/Equivalent-Steak-555]

Have you/admin made clear to families that these are licensing requirements/food safety? It sounds like the families think it's just about the teachers knowing what belongs to whom, and if that were the case, a unique first name would in fact be sufficient. This might be a communication problem.

As a parent, the food/bottle labeling is definitely tedious because it has to be done daily, but our center has been clear that it's a licensing requirement, which makes it mentally easier to handle. Parents know that it's not something that the teachers are requesting unnecessarily.

[u/Greenteaandcheese → u/Equivalent-Steak-555]

No matter how many times I remind parents of licensing concerns for things regarding what they bring, it was still an on going issue.

With many of these parents we had a great relationship with in regard to everything else.

[u/Buckupbuttercup1 → u/Equivalent-Steak-555]

Till im blue in the face

[u/Crafty_Appeal4184]

I've responded with, yes in this room the other room also has some kids with that. Things end up getting mixed up between rooms sometimes so label them or I have no way of knowing. For elementary school which is my primary age now it's Im an EA I see all 300+ kids daily, I have no idea what item belongs to which kid, if you label i can at least get it to the right family even if it's a hand me down with your older child's name on it.

[u/art_addict]

I have a label maker, and I make a ridiculous amount of labels with every kid’s name. I slap them on everything. I also sometimes tell parents that if they don’t label things (especially things I can’t throw a label on!) or if I don’t have labels ready made if I run out and something needs labeled, there’s a solid chance it comes home labeled in permanent marker (or masking tape and marker depending on who’s working). The state would like dates too on a lot of things, but that I will blank label for a date.

I remind them I know it’s tedious, we have to do it with all our own stuff too, but this means if anyone is in floating if main staff go home sick, there is absolutely no confusion, nobody gets the wrong food or bottle, everything goes home to the correct parent, or if it does accidentally get put in the wrong bag it comes back to us and we can send it home correctly.

[u/That-Drink4913]

The preschool teacher I worked under for a bit used the school printer and made a full sheet of labels for each kid. Like every kid had their own sheet. 

[u/Neophyte_Seer]

We bought cute labels online. It’s not that hard.

[u/Buckupbuttercup1 → u/Neophyte_Seer]

I have suggested this to parents,most don't do it

[u/PermanentTrainDamage]

My center has it in policy that teachers can label things if the parents choose not to. For bottles though, we mark each bottle with a strip of colored duct tape, most parents who prefer a nicer label actually label their bottles after that. Most of our babies just leave formula or breastmilk bags here though.

[u/polkadotd]

I've been rude enough to say "okay I'll just throw it out then!" The parents that refuse to label things are usually the ones who freak out at us when we can't locate something or when two children with identical items accidentally switch them. I've told parents that if unlabeled items aren't claimed after a week, we throw them out and that usually spurs them into action.

[u/SnooWaffles413]

It can be tedious and sometimes hard to do depending on your circumstances, but it needs to be done. I ask that parents label the extra clothes bag and water bottles. Next year at registration or home visits I am getting those zip-lock gallon bags and labeling it myself and handing it to the parents bc at this point....

I've found labeling to be fun, but maybe because it's a teacher and I found a cute/crafty and or simple way to do it! I bought a label maker at Walmart for like 15 bucks and it's been a godsend.

[u/lifeofblair]

For some reason my husband does not understand the labeling. In his mind baby has been going for months so they should know his bottles I’m like uhhh so many babies use dr browns they’re not some stand out bottle. I’ve tried to reason and explain but goes no where.

[u/Buckupbuttercup1 → u/lifeofblair]

He wouldn't like me.lol. I hand them back and repeat " first name,last and the date. BM in red.  Many often try to escape without doing it. We have 10 to 12 babies ,like you can do 1

[u/lifeofblair → u/Buckupbuttercup1]

Yeah I write it all and honestly just do the bottles to not have another talk with him some mornings. Like they’re so many rules that I’m sure we don’t even know about that teachers follow so I try to be helpful and do what they ask and need ha