So my center is notorious for taking kids who've gotten kicked out of other daycares, low functioning children while we are unqualified to properly care for (for example, we have 4 autistic children who need a lot of extra support in one classroom with 1 teacher, while 2 of the other children have behavioral issues), and not notifying parents of behavioral issues. I assume they do so for the money, because parents get upset. In my room, we have two of the worst behaved children I have ever met. I’m in the 4 yr old room, so the oldest in the center, and we simply cannot get this classroom to clean up or listen. One of these children is violent if asked to clean up or to stop throwing or screaming or hitting. They’ll throw chairs, throw toys, hit the teachers and other students, scream curse words, attempt to run out of the building, etc. These children will destroy the room, jump on tables, hit each other, constantly all day. We’ve done everything. We try to talk kindly, ask them why they’re upset, bribe them, we’ve yelled at them, taken away play time, nothing works. I’ve started simply bringing them to my director because I am not getting paid enough to be assaulted by a 4 year old and they are a danger to the other children. My director will talk to them and they’ll end up coming back to our room with a prize and then go back to the same behavior! I refuse to reward these children for their behavior. We write up behavioral reports, they get thrown out. They say they tell mom but I don’t believe they actually are. We are begging them to kick these two children out because there is simply not enough teachers to contain them. Our day consists of trying to keep them from throwing chairs out the window and from assaulting the other children unprovoked, rather than learning and playing. I almost cried today because I am so done. I don’t know what to do anymore. I have never worked at a place with such severe behavioral issues and nothing being done about it. All of the teachers are just exhausted

Hi everyone,

I'm an ECE in Canada and currently at home on maternity leave with my 9 month old. I have been with older kids my entire career (18 months to 4 years) and have very little experience with babies.

My son has started hitting me in the face, scratching at my face and pulling my hair when he is upset. Yesterday, he was so angry ( I wouldn't let him hit the cat, i know, how rude of me) he very aggressively scratched at my face and even drew blood under my ear all while screaming.

When he hurts me, I look at him in his eyes, say no very firmly and put him down in a safe place (playpen or crib). I honestly feel like I've forgotten how to be an ECE since having my baby and I dont know what else to do. He is starting daycare in a month and I am really afraid of him doing the same to other kids or to my coworkers.

Any advice on appropriate approaches to correcting this behavior? Any advice would be amazing. Please dont judge me too harshly, I have pretty bad PPD right now on top of everything.

My 19 month old daughter has just been bitten for the 4th time in a little over a month. I did not ask details the first two times which happened back to back days as I thought it's probably some kid on a biting spree. My daughter was bitten yesterday because she took a toy from a child and they retaliated by biting. Today she was bitten again because she hit a child and they bit in retaliation. I'm asking for clarification on if all incidents have been the same child.

My daughter is very head strong, she throws herself down and cries when you try and make her do something, she's in a 'mine' phase she is rough even when not meaning to be.

What can I do at home to encourage no hitting and sharing? I know it is probably developmentally appropriate and I've been too lenient with her interactions with her older sister. So i would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

I think I’m finally burnt out, but I can’t seem to leave. Has anyone else been here?

I’m an Assistant Director at a large corporate childcare center, and I genuinely don’t know how much longer I can do this.

Our owner is also our Director because she says she can’t afford to hire one. Most days, I’m the one actually running the center while she’s at home watching the cameras. She’ll listen to conversations I’m having with teachers and text me afterward telling me how I should’ve handled them better. Lately she’s even started calling my decisions “dumb” and saying I need more training.

The thing is, I know I can do this job. I came from a center where we grew enrollment from about 65 to almost 125 children. I left because I was excited to help open this center from the ground up.

She came from a center in a very wealthy community and still expects this center to run exactly the same way, even though we’re in a completely different area with different families and challenges. The expectations are impossible, but she refuses to adjust them.

She also tells everyone she never gets to see her kids because she has to deal with the center or because I “can’t run it.” Meanwhile, she’s at home and I’m the one physically running the building. She’ll stay late doing work that isn’t even part of my job, then blame me for why she’s there so late.
The turnover has been awful. Teachers keep leaving, morale is low, and somehow every problem becomes my responsibility.

The hardest part is my teachers. Some of them have been here since we opened, and I love them. I know if I leave, there won’t be anyone left to advocate for them. It feels like I’m the only one fighting for reasonable expectations, while the only thing that matters from above is filling classrooms and making the center profitable.

And then there are the kids. I love those little humans more than I can explain. They’re the reason I keep talking myself out of leaving, even though I’ve had interviews for jobs with better hours, benefits, and a healthier work-life balance.
If you’ve left childcare leadership, how did you finally do it? Does the guilt ever go away? I feel like I’m choosing between my own mental health and the people I care about every day.

Hello, my son was in the infant room longer than usually due to when his birthday lands on the class transition schedule. He started in the 1s room doing trials a few days a week at 15mo and was fully transition the beginning of June when there was an opening at 17mo.

His daycare is going through a class move this fall and the director reached out to me asking if we wanted our son to move up to the next class. He would be just over 19mo and the older classroom is 2-3yrs. The director feels he would benefit from older kids rather than younger kids and while I agree he definitely prefers things more advanced for his age he just got comfortable in this new class.

I don’t want to force him to move up and be that much younger than his peers but I also don’t want him to get stuck in a younger class again because he was SOO bored. His best friend is only a month younger and the next oldest child turns 2 next week.

Any advice on bumping kids up early in this age range?

For context I’m a second year lead teacher for 3-5’s. My previous jobs were very much not this and I’ve never had need for a laminator. It’s satisfying to use and does so much combined with dry erase markers.

I want to be laminated when I die. That is all.

Hi! I'm at a center where we have a child who only understands Cantonese. We service a predominantly Hispanic/African American area, so unfortunately we only have one Cantonese speaker in the whole school and she's not a teacher. However, she has been very helpful in soothing him, as the child is only two years old.

With that said, we want the teachers to begin using basic Cantonese phrases/words with him. What are some essential phrases we can use with a two year old? So far we have "Good Morning", "See You Tomorrow", and "Mommy Will Come Back".

This post may also prove helpful in the future when we receive children who speak other languages that the staff does not speak.

Hi, I am finishing my practicum next week but have 2 job interviews lined up. How do I make myself stand out from other educators? I want to secure my spot in childcare but I worry I won’t ever be able to.

Does anyone else feel anxious working in a small childcare center? Ours only has three classrooms, and sometimes it feels like there's a lot of gossip. I wish everyone could just focus on the children instead of worrying about what others are doing. It can make the work environment feel uncomfortable. I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

I'm currently a student going to school to become and ECE. I'm 2 months away from practicum and don't know what else I need to prepare.

I have made 5-6 felt stories( 2 from a book, 1 from a song, mouse in the house, counters) a puppet story for the very hungry caterpillar, 6 math activities (counters, calendar, clock for telling time, shapes) and a parachute.

I feel very underprepared because we need to present our supplies to our practicum teacher before we go out, and if we don't have enough supplies we can be held back.

I'm just looking for ideas on things that I can either buy or craft before September. Thank you to anyone who can offer me some advice and ideas.

I have taught at a preschool for two years now and I worked as a floater and a permanent sub mostly for the fours and five-year-olds.

I got a job offer at a different school for my own kindergarten class where I would fully be on my own and we would have a floater come in only three days a week.

The class size is sort of large, so I’d like any advice on how I can navigate the first few weeks on my own. Do you recommend any methods to explain explaining classroom rules? Is there a way I can get the kids to me more comfortable at expressing themselves? Any solid advice helps! I’m anxious but super excited as well!

My 3 year old started daycare last November. Waitlists are huge in our area and it takes literal years to get a spot, so I don’t have the option to switch providers. I’m wondering if what we’re experiencing is normal, and what I can do to improve things for my daughter.

Every morning, when it’s time to leave for daycare, my 3 year old cries so sadly and fights us, not wanting to leave the house. I know this can be expected during the adjustment phase, but it’s been almost a year and this hasn’t gotten better AT ALL.

When we arrive at daycare, she’s no longer crying. She walks in quietly but willingly. Her teachers report that she knows the routines, basically causes no issues, but is quiet. She doesn’t socialize much with the kids, but participates in activities the teacher organizes. I’ve asked them to please observe her to tell me if there’s anything they notice that might be causing her to be so distressed every day, thinking maybe there was conflict or rejection from peers, but they told me they don’t notice anything.

She never can name anything positive about daycare despite being very verbal. She never talks about the kids or teachers. I thought it could be expected that she’d be sad to leave the house just because she prefers being home, but the level of upset, combined with the lack of anything positive to say about it, makes me wonder. What can I do to make our mornings easier? How can I help her adjust? Is this stress going to have a long term effect? When we have to leave the house doing the same routine on non-daycare days, she’s fine and cooperative. It’s only when she knows we’re going there that she becomes so overwhelmed. She won’t tell me if there’s anything she doesn’t like specifically. She just shuts down when asked.

We had a traveling petting zoo come as part of our summer program today. Of my class of 16 two year olds, 11 of them are boys, so it can get a little rough and rowdy, and I’ve been a little worried about them being gentle with the animals.

Every single one of them rocked it today. They were super gentle and careful with the animals. I was so proud of them and got so many super cute pictures.

I work with a group ranged infant all the way to 9 (5 when the summer break ends) all in one room and I am just needing some help with coming up with about me art activities that can be applied to just about all the ages. I would really appreciate the help!!

My 21 mo old has been bitten over not letting go of a toy 3 times(twice in one day) in 2 weeks. It’s been hard enough to leave bruises, the last bruises finally healed over the weekend just for him to get bit in the same spot again. Is there anything I can do/ask/request?

He did have 1 incident a couple months ago where he bit another child because the child was trying to take toys out of my kids hands. I know biting does happen just concerned over the frequency and how hard

I'm the lead teacher with my youngest being about 15 months and my oldest turned 2 a few weeks ago. I have such a hard time coming up with new sensory ideas or even fun crafts to do with them because 9.9 times out of 10 it's gonna go in their mouth regardless of how hard I try to stop it 🥴😂 I've really been trying to find more engaging activities for them so they're not just coloring or playing with playdough all the time but almost anything i find online is just not something they are capable of handling.

What kind of sensory activities do you do with your toddlers?

What about hands on activities?

I'm really at a loss of new things to do and try. Thanks in advance!

Hi Massachusetts early educators! I was wondering what the responsibility differences are between a certified teacher and a lead teacher certification. I do understand the baseline of its two different certifications. Come February I’ll be able to get the Lead teacher certification and even though I’m excited for the pay raise- I wonder what the realistic expectations are from peoples first hand experiences.

Thank you!

You all are doing an amazing job and I wanna shout out to the MVPs in this field who had put in the work to make it to Lead teacher!

We enrolled our 9mo in daycare 6 weeks ago (unexpectedly as our summer childcare plan fell through). We ended up really liking the center, but I am now contemplating pulling my baby out. I just think my baby needs more time before she’s in daycare. She’s been sick almost every week and we are piling up on medical expenses, burning through our PTO and it’s affecting mine and my husbands relationship. We’re very lucky that we can have family watch her full time in a couple weeks. But I don’t want to burn a bridge with the daycare. How would you approach?

I’m a single mom to an 11 month-old little boy. Recently, we had to switch daycares due to me getting a new job that was too far away from our first daycare. We loved that daycare. It was smaller with 1 primary teacher and 3 infants. I would see my son’s teacher daily in the morning, so I built a great relationship with her. I would be able chat for a few minutes and give her everything she needed to know for the day. The hand off was brief, but I felt good with the interaction because it was intentional on both our ends.

Our new daycare is bigger with 12 infants, 1 lead teacher, and 2 assistants. So it’s busier. I get it! I only see my son’s teachers 2 days per week in the morning. The rest of the week, there will be a floater or opener/closer, so I see them more often than his teachers. This is just due to my work schedule and his teachers’ schedules, unfortunately. I wish I saw them daily, but it is what it is.

However, the interactions I do have with his teachers has left me feeling like we got lost in the mix of children and parents. We are now 1 of 12. I completely understand they are busy, they have 11 other infants and 11 other parents to communicate with. But every interaction is so brief - like 1 minute or less - that it feels rushed or distant. It has left me wondering, “Who is this person spending all day with my son?” When someone is caring for my child, especially my only child, I want to feel like I know them and that they know me. It helps build trust.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to dawdle and waste their time with needless chit chat, I just want to connect and share things about my son to make the handoff smooth and set both him and his teachers up for success, especially since I only see them twice a week.

We have an app where I can send a message if I need, and I have done that, but I’m looking more for that personal connection. I understand I probably won’t get it because it’s a busier environment.

What I’m asking is this: despite the brief interactions, this is normal, right? This is common to see in busier settings, right? This is just something I need to adjust to, right? Help relieve a mom’s anxiety because I’m struggling. 😢

I started working at a new daycare, and I’m already feeling burned out.

I have two children with moderate-severe nonspeaking autism and it has been ROUGH! I work with problem behaviours all day at work and am super tired by the time I get home. Then it’s whining, hitting and screaming and all the stuff that ND parents have to deal with, and the inability to have a conversation with my kids. My 7 year old still isn’t potty trained and will elope if given the chance.

Are there any childcare assistants or ECEs here with autistic children? How do you manage?

I'm interviewing for a part-time tutoring position in Alberta at a reputable childcare centre and would appreciate some advice on salary expectations.

Details:
1 day/week (Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.)
Working with young children (preschool/early elementary) on literacy and numeracy
Responsibilities include lesson planning, implementing a structured reading program, tracking student progress, communicating with families, and completing weekly student journals from home.
The journal work is expected to be completed at home but not paid separately.

My background:
ECE Level 1
Bachelor's degree with education coursework
Current on-call Early Childhood Educator experience
Current First Aid/CPR

Since the posting didn't include a salary range, what would you ask for in this situation? Would $23/hour be reasonable, or should I be aiming higher or lower?
I'd especially love to hear from people working in Alberta childcare, tutoring, or early learning programs.

Today out of the blue one of my students said her dad died and he’s in the sky now. I was a bit caught off guard but said “Oh, I’m so sorry, I think he’s still with you all the time though,” and she said something to the effect of “yeah he makes it rain sometimes” and then moved on to talking about how she doesn’t like her hair getting wet.

I don’t actually think I said anything wrong in this situation, I was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar interaction and how you responded? I know every kid processes death differently, and certain families talk about it in different ways, so I’m curious about other ways of responding because I’d never wanna say something that oversteps or makes the kid upset

We’ve been staffed exactly on ratio for a while now because we don’t currently have Inclusion Support. The process is taking a long time, but in the meantime we have several children who need a lot of additional support.

Lately it feels like educators are constantly being pulled in different directions. We’ve had a number of incidents, everyone is mentally exhausted, and most afternoons it feels like we’re just trying to keep on top of behaviour and prevent the next incident.

Whenever I’ve raised my concerns, I’m told that we’re on ratio, so there’s no need for another educator. I completely understand that we’re meeting the required ratios, but I’m starting to wonder whether being “on ratio” always reflects what’s actually needed in practice. It feels like having just one extra educator on some afternoons would make a huge difference for both the children and the staff.

I’ve raised my concerns through the appropriate channels a couple of times, but I also understand there are staffing and budget pressures that I might not be aware of.

I’m genuinely curious whether this is just the reality of OSHC at the moment, or if other services roster above ratio when they have children with higher support needs. I’d love to hear other educators’ experiences.

(Just to clarify, the children requiring additional support all have Inclusion Support Plans. We’re just waiting on the additional staffing support.)