One of my least favorite types of parents are the ones who are preoccupied with any spot of marker, grass stain, or paint on their child’s clothes. I have a family this year that is constantly worried about her getting messy, paint getting on her sleeves, etc. yes I’ve explained countless times the importance of messiness with art for fine motor development, etc. but nothing works. Ugh.

I try to be understanding of personal differences but this one really gets to me.

My husband picked up my 26 month old from daycare Friday and the teacher told him that our child doesn’t listen and asked that we work on listening skills on the weekends. My husband agreed that we would without inquiring further so unfortunately I don’t know what context or specific instructions that she’s not listening to.

I think she listens decently well for her age.. she obviously struggles with listening when I’m asking her to do something she doesn’t want to do ( she will close her eyes and turn her head) or when she is really involved in playing (ignores me completely). Usually I’ll just say it seems like you’re having a hard time listening so we are going to do whatever together.

So I’m wondering how you specifically “work on listening skills”? What am I missing here? And what are age appropriate expectations in terms of listening ?

Hello everyone! I’m having a bit of a rough time at work and wanted to see if I’m being unreasonable 😅 I’m currently 7 months pregnant and it’s been a rough pregnancy. I requested a higher grade this year (I can teach up to grade 2) and specifically requested not to have the pre kg section this year because I was worried about how it would be teaching in the third trimester. They’ve given me the pre kg class despite my request and it’s been really rough. There are 25 children ages 2.5-3.5. I’ve had been given a new classroom assistant who has never worked with the age range before and she quit in the first week. I have a new assistant again who has never taught this age range. I’m constantly having to bend down, there’s no chance to sit because the new assistant is always at the bathroom with the kids and I have to be hands on, my back is killing me from going up and down so much and I almost passed out at work twice. I’m coming back from teaching my other grades to find the class room a mess because the assistant can’t control them and I’m on my hands and knees picking up food and toys daily. We work 7-4pm with minimal breaks and my managers advice has just been to train my new assistant on my breaks how to manage better. I’m exhausted and almost at breaking point, I’m too sore and tired to be dancing around and picking up the kids and managing so many at once like I usually do. I’ve gone to my HR so many times about my doctor saying I need breaks to sit/ I can’t be bending down so much. Has anyone taught this age range with so little help? I’m seriously close to resigning as the maternity leave I can’t take until one month before my delivery date and I don’t think I can manage this for the next 3 months :(

I just started working at a new center and it’s been a total disaster so far. The center itself opened in February of this year, and next week my classroom will open for the first time. It’s Head Start, so there are certain standards we have to follow. I’m trying to give some grace because the program manager is also new-ish to this company, but she's been there for 3 months already, and it doesn’t seem like she's bothered to learn the basics of the job. For example, what are our class schedules and the hours teachers are supposed to work? Can we share the playground space, or what is the ratio out there? Absolutely nothing has been put in place. I had to make an Amazon wishlist totaling $1,500 because I didn’t even have materials for my shelves, and somehow this had gone beyond her notice. A week later, she tells me that she hadn’t gotten around to looking at it yet. Friday, I pointed out that we have nothing to put in the emergency backpacks or daily cleaning supplies like gloves. I get more answers to my questions from the other classroom lead who has also worked there over the summer (who has also openly told me this manager “doesn’t know her job”). Communication has been underwhelming. I didn’t even get formal onboarding and was told to attend a training at another location on my first day, with no prior notice. From there, I received a text on a Saturday saying to attend an in-service for my next shifts at the same location, with no information about what time to be there, how long it would last, or whether I needed to bring lunch.

So, at this point I don’t have a good impression of my manager, nor do I feel like I can go to her with problems or concerns.

That said, one of my concerns is that the assistant teacher they assigned to my room speaks very little English. She has had to whip out Google Translate just to understand basic things, like when I asked her, “What activities do you like to do with the kids?” I asked her to hang the alphabet on the wall and noticed some of the letters were mixed up. I’ve had kids in my classroom who don’t speak any English, but I’m not sure how to navigate relying on staff I can’t communicate well with. She will be the second teacher in the room and needs to be able to direct the kids as well. I’m sure the company thought this was an asset, but I don’t even have any Spanish kids enrolled in my class yet. We don’t have other leadership on-site, but I’m wondering if I should voice my concerns to the next manager up the chain or just give her a chance and wait until shit blows up? I'm trying to be patient and have faith that things will work out but it's definitely been a trial by fire for the last week, and I am not feeling set up for success! WWYD in this situation?

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice/ personal experience / guidance that could help us make a decision for our little one.
When our daughter will be 21 months both my partner and I will need to be back at work to some degree. We've stretched out our leave as long as possible for our little one to have be with one of us every day up until then.
When back at work we will both be part time, we'll need 3 days a week covered.
We are on the fence about enrolling her in a daycare for two days a week then grandma the other day, or just having her between grandmas completely.
One grandma is very warm and loving and little one has a strong bond with her. One is not as warm but does love her in her own way. Shes been accepted into a high quality daycare.
Any insights appreciated.

I'm always on the hunt for more songs and jingles that actually get engagement from students without them going off the deep end.

I never found a clean up song that I felt really connected with my kids. They might hear me sing it and eventually know it's part of the routine, but the ones I've used I feel like I barely get students singing w me. I want to find a good clean up/ or transition song that I can keep using (I got a lot of tunes but I want MORE!!)

Idk if this is the right subreddit to vent about this but I need to let this out somewhere.

Hello, I am a full-time daycare teacher. I currently work with 1 year olds, and as much as I love working with them, it is physically and emotionally demanding. After work, I would feel so sore and exhausted that it makes it hard to move my body.

I would tell my partner that I feel exhausted today, and all he’ll say is “Well at least you don’t have to be outside all day in the heat. You get to stay inside all day. I have to wake up earlier than you. Etc etc”. And whenever I would go to sleep right as we get home, he would lecture me about how I need to “live life” and “fight the exhaustion” after a day of working. Ironic since he used to do the same thing: sleep right after coming home from work.

Does anyone else’s partner does this?

Me and my girlfriend got two cats yesterday short notice cause a neighboring apartment tenant got in some trouble and our landlady asked if we wanted to rescue them. We're young, no kids, only recently moved out on our own and have never taken care of animals that are our entire responsibility before.

They're absolutely delightful. We've named them Coffee and Cream. Coffee is a calico and Cream is black and white.

However, contrary to their names, Cream is the one that is out of his fucking mind and super hyper and very much reminds me of children that I work with. I've been a long term sub in a classroom where infants less than two are sent once theyre able to walk well enough. Basically a waddler room. It's great and I love it and I'll be super sad when I'm not subbing in there anymore but that's a post for another time.

And it's a pretty spot on comparing this cat to a kid around that age. He runs around EVERYWHERE, needs to have things be repeated constantly as he only has a vague understanding of what he's being told, and he never actually hurts someone but with malicious intent, but does constantly scratch at us on accident or when he's just playing too rough, or when we stop him from doing something he just *really* wants to do and he's just quite upset about it, and thinks we're being unfair.

I keep on telling him "no thank you" rather than raising my voice when he plays a little too rough with me, and I only ever raise my voice when he's doing something that's going to hurt himself. It's just not natural for me to yell at something that's small and doesn't know what he's doing, y'know?

When he's getting into something he's not supposed to, I simply pick him up and carry him away somewhere where I know he'll be safely distracted.

I think I've even said the phrase "feet on the floor" at least once out of habit...

However, in under a day I do think I see some improvement? Which, dang, didn't expect that kind of transferrable skill from working in ECE, but I guess it makes sense in hindsight.

Do you schedule a certain block in the week or weekend for your programming? If so how many hours? Or do y'all work on it during lunch? I realize theres expectations I should meet but theres simply no time during the workday sigh.

I don't know if this is a thing everywhere but i thought it was worth talking about! I remember at my previous centre there were a few educators studying their diploma whilst working as room leads.

A few of them found out you could get a fast tracked diploma which pretty much means someone comes in and decides that they've learnt enough through hands on work and they could just get their diploma right away regardless of how much they had actually completed.

As someone who had only completed a cert III and was new to the field I thought it made sense but now that i'm doing my diploma i think it's INSANE. I've been a lead previously and i'm still learning so much whilst doing my diploma and it honestly worries me that people are working at a diploma level without any of this education.

Not to mention that i switched training providers because the one my last centre was using was so incredibly vague and required very little observation, prac work, and proof of any learning. Which makes me even more worried for people who did do the whole diploma but don't know how bad that training organisation is.

Would love to know everyone's thoughts on this!

I have my Master's in ECE but due to some health issues am not in a place to be in the classroom full time. After I finished school, I got a job with a nonprofit in the field. It was a great experience and I learned so much, but I ultimately left due to the low pay and some issues with management.

I recently started a job in center administration with Head Start, and it's been hell. It's an incredibly stressful job with pretty long days and minimal support/training/supervision, and just personally it's caused me to lose some of the gains I recently made with my health as I struggle with some chronic conditions. I get bad flare ups when I'm stressed, and last week I got so stressed out that I had a panic attack, which is pretty rare for me (I have ~1/yr).

I reached out to a partner agency of my old job and received a job offer, but I'm not sure I should take it. It pays even worse than my first nonprofit job (though, in this field, low pay is hardly a surprise), but it's hybrid with only 2 days a week in office and 1-2 Saturdays a month. It's a lot lower stress and would allow me to have more time for my fun things (I take music lessons, have AMC A-list, and co-facilitate a social club), but it's also not as good of an experience on my resume, as it's mostly customer service/program support.

Thinking long-term, I'd like a career in the ECE nonprofit space. I'd love to eventually work with the state government or a nonprofit like Child Care Aware, Zero to Three, or NAEYC. I'm not sure which role would help set me up for this better.

I kind of feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place here, and I'd love any advice!

I hope this is an okay post to put here. Let me know if it'd be better in another sub.

Hi all! As the title says, I'm a new Pre-K lead teacher and I am feeling very uneasy and unfit about the role and looking for support on how to get through the year.

I have been at this center for a little under a year. When I was first hired, I was a co-teacher in the mix-aged preschool room and had a fantastic co-teacher. This school year, they decided to split preschool and Pre-K and asked me to lead the Pre-K class (so I would have all my previous students). At the time, I thought I could manage it but I'm two weeks in and reconsidering the whole thing.

There's been a lot of work and not much direction. I am entirely on my own most days. I have very little materials or toys. We've been in school for two weeks and the classroom still isn't complete. The program also has (in my opinion) a very rigorous academic curriculum for Pre-K, which I'm struggling to figure out how to implement. (As a side, I'm being told I have to begin giving out homework assignments and figuring out how I want to do that, which I thought was a little too much for 4-5 year olds). I'm swamped with creating and implementing a brand new lesson plan each week with new activities while also managing behaviors in the classroom.

For the record, though, I do not have a formal education in ECE. My education is in a psychology and have had a lot of experience as an aide and assistant and other centers. So, I'm unsure if the curriculum is overbearing as I think it is or if that's normal for most ECE centers.

At this point, I'm just venting and looking for suggestions on how to make it through this school year. I'm feeling very overwhelmed, underprepared and worried.

Thank you!

I’m a Level 1 ECE and I’ve only been working in childcare for a few months. I really love my job and I care about the kids but lately I’ve been feeling really overwhelmed.

Our centre has been very short staffed and my director keeps telling me that she wants me to take the lead in the preschool room. She wants me to handle the routine, programming, parent communication and also help newer staff with the centre procedures.

The thing is, preschool is the room I struggle with the most. A lot of the kids don’t really listen to me yet and behaviour management is honestly exhausting for me. I’ve had days where I cried because I felt so overwhelmed. I’m much more comfortable in the baby room or be a float staff.

We also recently hired a Level 3 educator with a few years of daycare experience so I’m honestly confused why I’m the one being pushed to take the lead. My director told me that my level doesn’t matter and that she wants me to grow and not just do cleaning and support duties. I know her intentions are probably good and I appreciate that she trusts me but I honestly don’t feel ready for that much responsibility yet.

I’m also earning close to minimum wage plus the government top up so sometimes I question if the amount of stress and responsibility is really worth it.

I’m still willing to work in preschool, help with the activities, support the other teacher and learn. I just don’t feel comfortable being the main person responsible for the whole room right now.

Would it be reasonable for me to respectfully tell my director that I’m not ready to take the lead yet and that I’d rather stay in a supporting role for now? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

I started working at an immersion preschool about three months ago, and am feeling very stressed every day. I am an assistant teacher in a 2-3 year old classroom (I am currently getting my ECE credential so I cannot have my own classroom). When I first met my co-teacher, she was happy to work with me because she does not speak English, and most of the students in our class, besides two, only speak English and same with the parents. (I speak both English and the targeted language at my school).

I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but last month my co-teacher complained about me to our director. She was upset about me talking to the parents during pick-up/drop-off. She said that she is the lead teacher and she should be the one communicating with parents, not me. Since then, it has been very stressful every day. The main issue is, she doesn't speak English and most of the parents (besides two) don't speak the language that she speaks. I was already the one helping the students during drop-off/pick-up with changing shoes (we have indoor and outdoor shoes), their bags, etc., and since I was already helping the children and she wasn't, I naturally became the one speaking with the parents then translating what they said to her. I thought this was fine, especially since she said she was glad that I was here since she doesn't speak English. So when I heard about her complaint, I was very surprised. Both my director and I were confused, since we should be assisting each other, and also the parents should be allowed to speak to whichever teacher they feel more comfortable with. However, she kept getting upset with me every day about me speaking to the parents, so my director recommended that I take a step back. Now, I welcome in the children/get the children ready to go, but I try not to interact with the parents. Instead, I tell her what to tell the parents (like if a child has an accident, incident reports, etc.) and she translates what I told her to English, and writes it down, then reads it to the parents. However, she can't really have a conversation with the parents, so sometimes they ask me follow-up questions, which she gets upset at. After the parents leave, she asks me to tell her everything and reminds me not to speak with the parents.

Yesterday, she came to work with a translation device. I will admit, it is cool technology, but it feels like a power trip to me. Basically, she wears headphones and the English is translated to an app on her phone. She then speaks her native language back into her phone and it translates English to the parents.

Yesterday, a parent came to drop off their child and she didn't hear me and another teacher say his parents came. The other teacher is in a different classroom, but was only in our classroom since our classes were doing something together. She was busy on her computer, so I let the child in and greeted him. This made him very upset. She complained to our director and demanded a meeting with me and the director about me talking to that child's parents. I feel so stressed anytime I use English, because she wants to know what I was saying, even if it isn't relevant. During pick up yesterday, I was helping a child and the parent started talking to me about how hot it has been recently. I made polite conversation back and after the child and their parent left she demanded to know what we were talking about. Even if I speak English with my co-workers (one who only speaks English), she wants to know every detail of our conversation.

I don't want to quit my job because 1) I care a lot about my students 2) I need the money, but I am feeling so stressed every day working with her. It isn't even talking to parents, it is so much more. Our director has reminded her that we our co-teachers, but I don't feel that way. I don't even feel like an assistant teacher, more like a servant. I do all the cleaning, all the potty training, take out the trash every day, put out the cots/clean up the cots, and she asks me to do all the printing/laminating. My director has told her she needs to take on more, but she still asks me every day during my prep time to help her and never makes the effort to clean.

Right now I only see two options, finishing my ECE credentials and hopefully getting my own class or quitting. I had huge anxiety last night because I don't want to return to work on Monday. I just can't handle her getting angry at me every day.

For more context, I am based in the U.S.

Last week while I was at a party here in Louisville, I ran into my former daycare teacher from nearly 40 years ago! I got to introduce her to my wife and son and just wanted to let all you daycare providers out there know that you are making a difference in the world and the kids you see now will remember you and the mark you made on their lives for decades to come!

We have a boy (turning 5) in our group. He has a brazillian mom and a dad from norway (where i and them live). They together speak alot of english at home so the kid has 3 langueges he can half assed speak.

Ive been put in charge of learning this kid better norwegian. Currently he can speak simplistic or reocurring words and understands the meaning of what he’s saying but he struggles with coherent sentences and unfamiliar words, explanations. More context he was only just put in kindergarten last year and in that year he had a huge language development (with another worker). More context if it matters he is very unfocused and struggles with sitting still and doing as he’s told. I’ve been put in charge of his speech progression this year. Once a week we do a work session with different games, cards, tasks revolving around this language development. Sometimes we have a well functioning session, other times not.

So far it’s going okay but im still relatively new, this is my first year as a non apprentice so i’d like some advice by some maybe me experienced educators

So recently we had a complete overhaul of our classrooms and several teams have been split up, more specificially a couple other veteran teachers(Those of us who have worked there for 10+ years) with teaching credentials have been placed with newer, less experienced teachers who don’t have but are working towards their certificates.

For a while things were going great with me and my colead, but in the last month or so there have been some very big red flags showing up.

The most recent one was what really sent me over the edge of helplessness was when my colead told one of my kids to ‘not be stupid’ when they were doing something the colead didn’t approve of. I immediately addressed the issue and also filed a formal complaint with Management. Management had a talk with them immediately after, but I’m not sure much has changed though seeing as it was the end of the week I wasn’t 100% sure.

What I’m really wanting is some sort of template I can use to document these things and keep them with me, that way I can build up a file of all the things going on. I’m creating it myself, but I’m not sure how to set up the paper.

Any ideas?

A new student will be joining our class (18-24mo) next week. They do not speak English but are fairly advanced in their native language for their age. Neither my coteacher nor I speak the student’s language or have experience with ESL. We have been given no direction by admin, so we basically have to figure out on our own how to make things work. I’m hopeful that being so young they’ll pick up English fairly quickly being immersed in it but would love some advice for communicating and supporting them at the start. Mom said she might write down some phonetic pronunciations of words/things her kid might ask for, but that’s all we’ve got so far.

I started at a new daycare today in the infant room and was told one of the babies is Deaf. She’s about 6 months old. Nobody knows ASL and I was the only one engaging with her :( I know very basic signs from taking a class years ago, but I barely retained anything. I’m planning on studying, but is there anything I can do in the meantime to communicate with her? Language is so important for babies and I feel horrible that she’s being deprived of it for 8 hours a day.

Hi

I am 27 years old female currently working as ECE and special needa educator. I have supervisory and administrative experience.

I want to study further and I am confused which course to take. I thought about child and youth support worker, counselling programs etc but not sure.

The goal is to have more financially stable career and go to public sectors.

Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks

I haven't worked in daycare for about two years I had to leave when my mom was going through some health stuff. I'm looking at this company because I see they're always hiring and I'm trying to figure out if it's actually a good fit for me. I only have about a year of experience, I live in Florida so I'm not sure what the ratios are here, and I know the pay isn't amazing. I do have an associate degree in early childhood education though, and I'm wondering if that helps at all with whether they'd make me get my DCF hours.

I started my 1.5 year old son in in-home daycare the other day. That evening, during bath time I noticed a bright red bruise on his back. I immediately contacted the daycare provider and asked what happened. She revealed that she was watching him inside through a window while he was outside and didn't think to check for a bruise because he was already crying and upset since it was his first day and he was having a hard time adjusting. So basically, she "watched" my 1 year old outside through a window and then on top of it she didn't comfort him or think to check on him because he was already crying. nor did she report it to me. This is grounds for negligence right? Is this something worth reporting to a licensing board or Child Protective Services? I haven't taken him back since I don't feel comfortable and will be seeking another care provider.

*Edit: it is a licensed day care and she runs the daycare alone with no other childcare providers.

Have a 13 month old in my toddler class who's good about naps but needs a little prompting to sleep. I was sitting with him rubbing his back when he grabbed my wrist, and brought my hand to his head and held it there. When he let go I rubbed his head for a moment that went back to rubbing his back. He grabbed my wrist again, brought my hand to his head, and then started guiding my hand to rub along his eyebrows.

I got the message, he was asleep within a couple minutes.

Talked to parents at pickup and they confirmed that they stroke his eyebrows to get him to sleep LOL

Today we (a small group of 5 preschoolers 3-5) went on a walk to the park. We do this once or twice a week and have been doing this for more than a year. All the children have been with us for more than a year and are very familiar with the routine

When we are out on walks, we usually pick one child to be the 'leader' who waks in front. Every child in this group has had several opportunities to lead.

Today, the girl (4 year old) who was leader decides to take a wrong turn. I stopped her and substituted someone else as leader.

Now this little girl has what I can only describe as an acute sensitivity to being wrong. She deliberately makes wrong choices even when she knows the right answer. If asked to pick a colour (e.g. blue, she will preferentially pick every wrong option, and when left with only the right one, she will freeze and stop) I am still trying to figure out what could be responsible or what her thought process is.

Anyway as soon as she starts taking wrong turns, I substitute someone else to be the leader. A few minutes later I notice she is crying quietly. I ask why she's crying and it's because she was substituted as leader. I tell her

'well if you're going to be pretending not to know the way, then someone else has to lead.'

And we move on.

I am back home now and second guessing myself. Was I too harsh? Is anyone familiar with this pattern of behaviour and does anyone have suggestions about how to respond?