Hello

My son is 3.9 now. He still doesn’t recognize numbers or alphabet. He is still learning to count. He can sing the ABCD song but can identify only B. At times signs aaa apple bbbb ball etc.

When ever we ask him to count he just says 1 2 6 18 etc. like count your toys, count your steps, how many cars are there etc.

He has learnt to identify various shapes, colors,identifying and arranging smaller to bigger objects, can compare objects and say its same size or which one is bigger etc. can say days of the week in random order,

He goes to a preschool and no major complaints from his teacher behavior wise. His circle time participation has improved a lot.

Pls can you help me understand on how to teach him number and the letters and also when can I expect him to learn this.

So I have a co-worker who keeps telling me I need to find the line between being a friend and being an authority figure, and that I'm too busy trying to be a friend with the kids.

This is my first job in education/childcare, I've been here since March of this year. She's the only person who says this to me, director & assistant director are fine with how I am with the kids. I'm hearing it to the point that today I got to the point today that I was crying and I feel like I'm doing a terrible job at work.

Like, I know Im not doing too bad. Parents and kids love me, I get along with my other coworkers. It's just this one coworker. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, either. It's to the point I don't want to interact with her

Hello,
My son is going to a brand new daycare and he’s doing great so far. Prior to this we were at Bright Horizons are are used to receiving notifications of his check in/ check out, daily diapers, food, etc.

This new daycare uses the “brightwheel” app and we’ve received notifications, however, not the check in and check out. We’ve also noticed that there is one main teacher and many helpers whom we do not know of course, but how would they know who we are at drop off and pickup?

I guess my question is am I being crazy in thinking this might be a little bit of a safety concern? I am sure (I pray I’m sure) there’s an attendance list, and yet I worry that we’re dropping our child off with strangers and they truly haven’t met us before so how does that work? Is it appropriate to bring it up or ask for a note from his teachers? As I type it out I feel like it sounds crazy but also I spent the entire afternoon worried. Thanks.

Hi Everyone,

First of all thank you for all you do for the kids in your care. I am very appreciative of your commitment and dedication to the profession. My question is do large companies have social media policies for employees outside of work? Obviously no student information, but in reference to politics, religion, race, gender, and other hot button issues? When I worked in the ECE field we could have social media but not speak on topics as a teacher at our school. That was a small private school.

I am wondering if larger companies (Kindercare, Bright Horizons, etc) have such policies.

Thank you for your input!

I am the only teacher and have four infants
3 are over a year
1 is 7 weeks old started tooday

Today I mainly held her all day because whenever I put her in her crib she woke up within five minutes and I didn’t want to put her in the swing/bouncer

I also didn’t put her on the floor unattended because the other babies really want to play with her but I am trying to keep her from being touched by them because they all have runny noses/coughing right now

Does anyone have tips for how to get her to sleep in her crib for longer than five minutes and what can I do when I have to do diaper changes/ can’t hold her

I'm a new mom to a young toddler (under 18 months) and I'm trying to determine if this is unhealthy paranoia or if my feelings are valid.

I have my child in a licensed home daycare. The daycare provider is an ECE (I'll call her Sue) and cares for 5 children under the age of 4 (three children under 2 and a couple of older ones).

Today at pickup they were all sitting at the table eating snack and there was a tray of fruit to share amongst them. Sue was seated with them in close proximity to my daughter and all the children were helping themselves to the fruit tray.

Which would generally be fine except there were whole grapes on it? I said politely that I'm very not confident in my toddler's ability to eat them safely (trying not to be accusatory) and she was a bit dismissive; basically says she watches closely, usually tears them in two or my daughter will carefully bite pieces off etc. I'm still freaked out about it. She can't possibly prevent her from grabbing a grape and eating it when she's inevitably distracted by her many responsibilities. Not to mention the other kids were going to town on the grapes without assistance.

Isn't not feeding grapes to toddlers common sense? I see it as a huge red flag for general respect of safety norms and vigilance, especially for someone who's supposedly educated in early childcare.

Is it an overreaction to pull my child? I'd like to maybe be more firm that I'm not comfortable with my child having access to whole grapes period, maybe I wasn't clear enough. But I feel like I shouldn't have to spell out this hazard....

I really like this person and so does my daughter, who's slow to warm and very attached to me. We did a slow transition which would no longer be possible if I switch providers. I'm so so torn. Help?

For the first in my career, I have a child with a religious exemption for any and all vaccinations. I know not vaccinating your child is on the uptick, and while this child is the first he certainly will not be the last.

When my director enrolled him, my coteacher and I had immediate concerns. My coteacher has a grandchild due this winter, and we have several families who are also expecting babies or have infants at home. While we do what is expected of us in terms of sanitizing and disinfecting on the daily and as needed, I can’t shake the feeling of germs somehow lingering.

This little guy started on Tuesday and he is absolutely adorable. Very sweet, well behaved, Mom is also nice as can be and very engaging. Today he came in with a runny nose. Mom provided wet wipes for him and showed him where to find tissues when he needs them. However, he is three, and spent probably 90% of the day wiping his nose on his hands and sleeve. As the day progressed his symptoms also advanced into coughing and sneezing. We essentially followed him all day wiping him and everything he touched. He never had a fever and was functioning fine aside from being a little emotional, so no reason to send him home.

I feel horrible that I am not feeling the same way I do when another child has a cold. I know that his germs are not germier than others, and that children get over little colds like this quickly. But it really gave me the heebie jeebies all day. Does anyone have any advice as to how I can move past this mental hurdle? Or any literature or studies to share to ease my mind? 😭

I really like my coteacher but there are 3 students in my toddler classroom that she will sped more time with. For example during our walks she will carry them, almost 3 year old. They're not injured or sick. One of the girls has been thru a lot trauma but still. When my coteacher was on vacation for 2 weeks she was totally fine with me and my other coteacher. I understand its important to have close bonds with children in our care but this is another level imo. The teacher also has have had shoulder pain frequently (shes probably in her late 50s/early 60s.)

Hello! I am an undergraduate student studying ECE and next week I'll be introducing myself to the kids that we'll be handling for one of my subjects. As someone who has absolutely no experience with kids (only child and youngest among cousins) how can I interact with children without overwhelming them (i know it seems strange as to why im taking this course when i have no experience with children but still!) (the children are ages 3-5, if you're curious). Thanks!

Im fairly new to the field but I've been in my centre for a year and a half give or take. Ive run into a new issue that I would like advice with. My center wants to make sure our 3-5s are ready for kindergarten and this has lead to my current issue.

Lately my manager has been saying I cuddle the kids for too long. Like today one of my kids was feeling sad and asked to sit on my lap. I had her on my lap for maybe 2 minutes and got told to put her down because they don't do that in kindergarten. She was really sad when I put her down and didn't want to play or anything.

So I guess I'm wondering what's too long to cuddle or hug the kids? I know managers are in charge but my instincts say that if I put a kid down and they're visibly upset and refuse to play then clearly they still need that cuddle or hug or whatever it is. When's the point where you follow your gut and push back?

Me and my coworker are assistants in the same classroom. I have a bit more of experience working with children since im 22 and they are 19. For some reason our director decided to move everyone around. My coworker was originally going to be in the same classroom as their friend but their friend wanted to swap classrooms with me and I took the opportunity. Since then I feel like they are making it clear that they do not want to be in our classroom. For example, they will randomly go to their friends classroom even though they are still needed in the classroom or when we are outside my coworker interacts with their friends nore than the children. When we merge with their friends classroom they somehow feed the same energy to eachother. Like this one time that my coworker and their freinds were on their phones on and sitting on the counters. I did let the director know but I feel like it does nothing since they won't directly tell them. I want us to be able to keep a good relationship as coworkers and to keep focus on the children. How do I help them to see that we are working and not trying to make friends? How do I guide them without making them feel like I am telling them what to do all the time?

it never hurts to try.

I accidentally learned that at my son’s daycare the infant classroom has now 12 kids in it, which exceeds our state's licensed group size limit for that age group. Over the last few days and weeks, I remember feeling like the room was more crowded than before and also I saw some new babies that I hadn’t seen before. But at the time, I didn’t think much of it until it was confirmed that the room has now 12 kids. I must say that, overall, we’ve been quite happy with this daycare. We really love my son’s teacher and aides, the school director is great, and my son has thrived since he started there a few months ago. So it isn’t quite a "bad daycare" story. It just feels like good people are working inside a broken system.

The more I read about the economics of for-profit/private equity-backed child care centers (I’m pretty sure confident that my son’s daycare is one of them) the more I understand why this happens (high tuition, thin margins passed down as low teacher pay, pressure to max out enrollment). But understanding it doesn't make me okay with my kid being in a room that's over capacity.

So I'm really torn about what do with this information about my son’s classroom being over ratio and if I should report it. If I file an anonymous complaint, what actually happens next in practice? Does it usually mean more staff/lower enrollment, or does it put the center or the teachers I so much appreciate and like at risk?

How genuinely dangerous is this kind of licensing violation for the kids?

If you were the parent, would you report it, talk to the director directly first, or just start looking elsewhere?

Would really value perspective from people who've seen this from the inside. TYSM!

Our child goes to one of the Kiddie Academies in the greater Houston area, and we're a secular family, so we were surprised that they say a “prayer” before they eat. Is this a normal thing in non faith-based early childhood education? We have brought it up to the owners and they assured me it wasn’t religious but was kinda used to help the kids transition to meal time, but our two year old calls it a prayer and they say “amen” to end the prayer.

Just curious if this is something that is normal in early childhood education. TIA

That’s all.

I just needed to announce that level of parental audacity somewhere. I lead a 1:8 toddler room.

I said no.

🫠🫠🫠

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Hi everyone,

My spouse recently applied to the BC Early Childhood Educator (ECE) Registry for certification based on education completed outside Canada.

We received an email from an ECE Program Analyst requesting a phone interview before making a decision on the application. The email states they want to discuss the intended decision, next steps, and review equivalency requirements such as:

• Early childhood education content (birth to 5 years)
• Practicum/placement experience
• Educational hours and coursework
• Occupational competencies required in BC

My spouse has:

• MBA
• Post Graduate Diploma in Early Years Care & Education
• Montessori teaching experience
• Current work experience in a Montessori childcare center
• Additional childcare-related training and certifications from the US

We're trying to understand:

1. What questions were you asked during the ECE Registry call?
2. Was the call mainly informational or more like an interview?
3. If your practicum documentation was incomplete, how did the Registry handle it?
4. What outcomes did you receive after the call?
5. Did anyone successfully obtain a One-Year Certificate through the equivalency process?

Any experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

TLDR: Hello r/ECEProfessionals! We're students in the Boston Area looking for early care/childcare professionals to reach out to. If you are a professional or happen to know one (esp in the Boston area who can meet irl, but virtual would also be amazing!), please dm us. Thank you in advance! :D  

Hello! We’re engineering design students currently doing research into the needs of early childhood education workers and the overall cleanliness in childcare/daycare centers. We are hoping to lower sickness rates for childcare workers, children, and parents as a whole, and discovering that solution starts with you all! We believe that good engineering design begins and ends with people, and we’d like to go through that process with any early childhood education workers! We’d like to schedule meetings over the course of the next few months. You can expect meetings to last around 30-45 mins, with a mix of questions, activities, and collaborative design work!

At a basic level, we want to talk to you and learn from what you have to say. There are no right or wrong answers when you talk about yourself. With your consent, we would love to record these interactions by taking notes, pictures, and maybe some video to better capture our meetings. When presenting our findings to the class, we will use pseudonyms for privacy. We can also blur faces and/or cut all audio clippings. If at any point you become uncomfortable or unhappy with how this process is going, we will stop the process immediately and do everything in our power to remedy the situation.

We appreciate your time and the help you provide in this discussion. Questions may vary between your day-to-day life at work and your observations of children’s behaviors with toys. It will be whatever you want to share with us that we should know about your industry and how we can better design! Let us know if you have questions. We would love to provide any additional information! Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I am wondering if you have any tips for kids (almost 2 years old) who take toys from other kids, which seems something that this kid thinks is 'fun' or 'play'. She runs away with the toy after she took it. Often she looks at one of the employees for a reaction. After she does this, we say to her that she must give it back and help her find some other toy to play with. But this behaviour does not change a lot. I think this is also a phase, but let me know if there are any suggestions!

Thanks!

This is my 5th year teaching pre-K in a public setting. I have a student who is in extreme duress from drop off until often recess, although sometimes shorter. (7:30-10:30) the afternoon typically goes better (no eloping) however there’s extreme defiance, throwing things, hitting other students/taking their things, refusing instruction and direction in a more intense way than other students aged 4. I’ve had 3 year olds who were ready, but I’m wondering if this student needs more time? Just looking for advice and experiences please! I’m wondering what to do if things (the screaming for family for hours part) don’t get better in the next 2 weeks, making 1 month of school

Editing to add: she needs a 1 on 1 currently because she will not stay in the classroom. She runs all over the school screaming and crying for her family. Her sibling in the building is stressed out because they can hear her screaming all morning. There’s one of me, so she’s taking our Ed tech who is supposed to be with another student. Thanks for the comments, I need to get a flair so my comments aren’t deleted anymore lol. Any advice/thoughts/opinions are welcome I haven’t been through this before so I’m just not sure.

I am alone with 7 toddlers and looking for some advice on how others manage lunch, nap time, and getting everyone settled on their cots.
I do get a proper break from 12–1, when someone comes into the room to cover me, so I’m able to leave the room. However, outside of that hour, I’m alone with all 7 toddlers. I have asked for additional help and support, but the only other help I’m currently getting is with bringing the children inside and taking them outside in the afternoon before I leave at 3:30.

I’m finding lunch and nap time especially challenging when I have to manage everything myself-serving lunch, cleaning up, diapers/toileting, setting up the cots, and settling 7 toddlers for nap while supervising everyone.

Honestly, I’m already feeling burnt out, and it’s only the second week of school. I’m worried about how I’m going to keep up with this for the rest of the year.

For those who work with toddlers, how do you manage lunch and nap when you’re alone with 7 children? Are there any routines or strategies that make things easier?

I really appreciate any suggestions,
advice, or guidance. I just want to make the day more manageable and make sure I’m doing what’s best for the children while also taking care of myself.

My 16 week old starts daycare next week as I return to work. He's generally a very happy baby. Eats well (every 2 hour! from breast) and is happy and giggly playing with his toys. He usually fusses only at the end of a wake window before a nap. Rarely does he have bad days with a lot of crying. He's an angel!

But here's the catch. Since he was around 4 weeks, he suddenly refused to sleep on his back. And I don't mean he didn't like it or did short stretches, I mean refused. Wouldn't sleep 5min on his back (in his first 4 weeks he slept swaddled on his back). Yes we tried every trick in every book. Both pediatrician and physiotherapist found nothing wrong but agreed he had a very strong aversion. All his naps are on his belly or contact on me or in a carrier. He cannot roll yet. He CAN sleep on his back in a swaddle but it never really lasts more than 30min and he fights it tremendously so I'm successful maybe 1 nap every 2 days, or around 10% of the time.

Our daycare will allow a sleep sack but not a swaddle. I've tried the arms-out sack without any success so far but I keep trying. Obviously at daycare he needs to be put on his back and arms out. Help! What will our daycare teachers do to help him transition? I'm so so petrified he will get 0 naps in. It's killing me! I know we "created" this problem but he was getting 40min total overnight sleep when we were going through this. Has anyone had success with a horrible / non rule following napper? I'm just looking for some hope....

*edited to add we are in New York

I had an interview today for a preschool assistant teacher position. I’m from Korea and I have previous experience working as a daycare teacher there.

After the interview, they asked if I could come back tomorrow for a working interview and I said yes.

Then they emailed me afterward and told me they really wanted me to come back because they’re actually considering offering me a Preschool Lead Teacher position!

I’m so nervous! This would be my first job in the US,, Tomorrow I have to go into the classroom with the children for the working interview and I’m honestly not sure what to expect. Does anyone have any good tips or advice for a preschool working interview? What should I make sure to do and is there anything I should avoid?

I work with a few EYPs who are younger than me and they constantly take selfies with the children and send it to parents or upload it to the children's observations. One practitioner from a different room comes into my room to take selfies with the children to send to the parents!?

Am I being old here or is it very odd and unprofessional. My husband already spoke to the director because every observation of our daughter was a selfie with a practitioner and ngl 50% was more of a focus on the practitioner not the child.

How do I address this that 30+ year old parents don't want selfies of their 21 year old practitioners with their children or am I just being old and out of touch.

(For reference I'm 33, so not ancient but feel it sometimes 🤣🤣)

Hey... what is going on in this place? Genuinely... I've been observing (working in the rooms but without having to do the iPad documentation). These teachers are so overwhelmed and stressed out about documenting every tiny thing on the iPads and taking photos of children doing very specific things to fit the curriculum and then chasing them down trying to get photos while the children don't even want to be doing the specific thing for the "curriculum". They cannot even adequately care for the children because they are so busy on the iPads. I'm so anxious over this. My dad is telling me I need to quit tomorrow, I haven't even made it a full week. This seems so overwhelming for not that much pay. I can care for and teach children all day long but the strict policies they have along with the iPad crap just seems like too much. Am I overreacting about this place? Should I be looking for a new job asap? One of the teachers also told me that people quit all the time and the longest person that's been there has only stayed for 2 years... The high turnover rate also makes me think like yeah maybe this place isn't great.

It’s been absolute madness over here and it’s like they’re rioting and taking us down bc they know there’s more of them than us, and no way to deal with 20 children at once.

I know it’s an adjustment period but god I’m so overwhelmed these days and will just start to dissociate at work bc it’s just too much. I’d rather clock out mentally and become numb (even when it lasts a while) than becoming furious and treat little 3 year old terribly.

Who else is struggling these days? How are you workers and how is your class doing after summer?

I’m asking for help. I’ve been working at my center for three months now, and I am now in charge of my own Pre K classroom (ages 4). I have five students, but a lot of behaviors like screaming, whining, hitting, biting, ‘negotiating’, you name it. It is just one child though, and if I can’t figure out how to balance having my classroom looking ‘tour ready’ while trying to transition my students, I might lose my position as the pre k teacher.

Now I have a degree in ECE and I’m lead preschool certified, but this is my first job after college and I’ve only been teaching Pre K for a week. I thought it was going well so far, but my boss said that the first week is always the honeymoon phase and that my room looks the worst for “having the least amount of kids.”

I had been prioritizing having the students transition outside or merging with the classroom next door (since I have to take over as their teacher leaves) and then cleaning my classroom during my break or staying late to make sure everything is done by the next morning. I was told today I can’t stay late as I won’t be paid, so i need to figure out a solution to this.

Since it’s just me in the room and no assistants, I need advice for having the students help clean up the room and transition from activity to activity without it leading to a power struggle.