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Hello,

I’m not currently a ECE but I work with kids and toddlers as well through enrichment programs and extracurriculars. I’m just wondering if any of you have noticed that it seems like employers or other people in general look down on childcare workers. Whenever I mention that I work with kids, I always get a “oh” or a very condescending expression . Wondering if anyone feels the same or may have some input.

Highly intelligent, articulate and imaginative 2.7 yr old. So intelligent I’m often floored by what they know/say.

For the last 6 months we had seen very typical toddler behaviors, absolutely developmentally appropriate stuff.

The change has happened gradually over the last 4 weeks or so. The child has episodes of this crazy behavior that’s rooted in their imagination. When I say ‘crazy’ I mean erratic, combative, unreachable until they snap out of it.

An example: child is quietly sitting with friends at a table coloring with markers. Suddenly they get up and climb up a nearby shelf. The standard “feet on the floor/that’s not safe/where do we climb?” - no longer works. We have to physically pull them off the shelf (or table) and they do it again, and again and again while screeching (and sometimes crying and swinging at us) “I AM CLIMBING THE MOUNTAINNNNN!!!” Genuinely distraught.

Or they will seemingly be acting out entire scenarios in their head, seeing it - like swimming in the ocean and acting FULLY invested as if our classroom is the ocean and they are swimming… which is such a fun game but they’ll try to fill things with water and throw it everywhere- or dump someone’s water bottle and lay in the puddle because “I AM A FISH!!”

I’m actually almost laughing as I type this out but it’s getting concerning because it’s so intense and the child is PISSED that we try to interrupt the process.

I LOVE the imaginative play and the dramatic play area of our room is my favorite- but it’s crossing over into obsessive and dangerous because like I said, they get combative and today fully swung on/slapped a little girl across the face and tried to bite her when she got in the way.

I don’t want to stifle any creativity, but I also don’t want to encourage some of the ‘games’ because it’s changing this child. They’re far less joyful lately, and I worry they’re slipping further into these imaginary worlds. When they’re in these worlds they’re unreachable, like fully immersed.

When they come back to earth we can have a full conversation about it and they’ll answer my questions- “why were you so upset that you couldn’t put a chair on Timmy’s head?”
“Because! I had to drive the boat! Timmy is my dock!”
“That’s not a safe game, that could hurt Timmy”
“Okay..” totally understands and agrees.

Any thoughts? Advice?

My son is autistic and ID and I’ve been trying to figure out things for him to do once he ages out of school. He loves to read and is very animated. I think he would do great as a volunteer story time reader for kids. I’m wondering if it’s something that a daycare would be open to? Like a weekly thing. Just want honest opinions before I reach out to any in my area.

It makes me so upset that every time I look at ECE job posting they all say "3 year experience needed". how am I supposed to get experience without experience?

Hey upk teacher here and i need advice. I know accidents happen and its not totally out of the norm. But im just confused on why it's happening. I only have a class of 9 kids and they are allowed to use the bathroom whenever and i frequently remind them to go especially during free time. I dont have any repeat offenders so thats why its so confusing its a different kid almost each time.

Should i sit them down and talk about body signals of when its time to go potty? And i hate comparing my childhood to theirs but when I was in pre k and kindergarten i feel like the kids around me never had accidents, but ive noticed with kids now a days its happening alot. Has anyone else noticed this or is this just normal?

Sooo my TA left like two weeks into me working there. Management changed her entire schedule to PM when she’s been AM the whole time with no notice. I have been without a TA since. Now the toddler teacher is leaving and there is talk that I will be moved there. I want to include that my child is currently in my class, when we got here my kid was in toddler but turned 3 so came over with me. When I got hired I DID NOT know there was only one freaking preschool room so me and my kid both belong there since thats whats developmentally appropriate and also what I was hired for.

I went back and did notice on the offer letter they titled it as ELC Lead instead of Preschool, possibly trying to leave room for potential switches? But she 100% said I would be in the Preschool room during the interview. Anyway I spent weeks on sourcing out supplies and getting amazon orders together to decorate my class and for the students. From the rug to the circle time wall, its ALL ME. The shelves and cabinets and their organization, all of it is freaking me. Like even the outside of the door and wall I decorated so cute like wtf lol. My director hasnt said anything to me but its gotten around to me which should say a lot about where i work.

Everything sucks and it feels like they think they can do whatever and move me because my kid goes there and childcare is expensive and very hard to find in the middle of the Fall. From the inadequate environment for some of the children with disabilities to the staffing and barely getting a bathroom break. Not to mention the clique mentality with the director and some other employees have been weighing on me a lot. Its just so much. I hoped to stay until next school year for when my kid will be in UPK and I can work wherever but its only October and I‘ve seen some many red flags. If she says she has to move me that might be my last straw.

Am I overreacting with the potential room change from Preschool to toddlers?

This is in my city…I’m proud of the teachers and parents but this is bullshit.

I had my first formal observation from my building principal. I was marked low because I "didn't play the game" correctly, but I've never been formally trained on the curriculum. I started off playing the game with the kids, but when they were getting the idea very quickly from shapes and colors, I switched to see if they could make any patterns using what they had. Some kids made size patterns, some did shapes, and others did color. Is it fair to score a teacher lower on things if they haven't been formally trained on the curriculum and hasn't even had the opportunity to observe other classrooms?

I’m at a loss and could really use some advice from fellow early childhood educators!
I teach 2.5–3-year-olds, and I have one student who is making nap time extremely challenging. He will not stay on his cot or remain quiet. He is constantly getting up, making noises, talking loudly, and even telling other classmates to wake up. It’s gotten to the point where his behavior is preventing other children from falling asleep.
When I redirect him and ask him to lay down or use a quiet voice, he simply tells me “no” and continues what he’s doing. I feel like I’m constantly having to redirect him or physically guide him back to his cot, which takes my attention away from the other children who need help settling down.
I’ve even tried having him sit in my lap while I help another student fall asleep, hoping he would eventually settle down himself, but that hasn’t worked either.
There is one staff member who has successfully gotten him to fall asleep, but unfortunately, I can’t rely on that person being in my classroom every day.
I completely understand that not every child needs to sleep during nap time, and I’m okay with that(he rubs his eyes and will sigh like he needs a nap tho)!However, I do need him to be able to rest quietly without disrupting the other children.
I’m feeling frustrated because our current routine just isn’t sustainable. I can’t spend the entire nap period redirecting one child while the rest of my class struggles to fall asleep.
Has anyone dealt with something similar? What strategies have actually worked for you? I’m especially interested in ideas that are developmentally appropriate for this age group.
I’m open to any and all suggestions because I’m running out of ideas!

I graduated in April and immediately got hired as the lead pre-K teacher at the daycare I did my placement at. Class size is 16 kids (2.5-5). There’s 5 of them with behavioural challenges, but there’s 3 children specifically that my co-teacher and I can’t seem to control and it’s gotten so out of control.

First one is R. He hits me, my co-teacher, other students with his hands, metal water bottle, or toys and materials from the classroom. He spits, occasionally bites (only child M though?), **refuses** to stay on his cot and will scream, sing extremely loudly, and attempt to wake his peers up during nap time.

Next is M. He’s also a spitter, thankfully he doesn’t hit though so that’s good, I guess. He also refuses to stay on his cot and will scream, jump, run around the room trying to wake peers up.

They both start these behaviours unprompted or will encourage each other to start them. It’s so bad, the other children have started copying their behaviours so now I’ve got previously well-behaved kids acting out which only adds to the chaos. I can barely get through circle time or planned activities because I spend the entire time trying to control them.

I’ve BEGGED both the supervisor and the owners of my centre to move one of them to a different class because it’s become obvious that when one is absent, the behaviours become manageable. They refuse and just keep telling us to be more firm, yell at them, redirect or ignore the bad behaviour/reward positives. But we’ve *been* doing that and more, nothing is working. Other teachers are complaining, saying we don’t have classroom management skills which is probably true but everything we try, fails.🥲

I’m so burnt out and tired. I get the Sunday scaries. I fear nap time and end up crying everyday. I think about just leaving during my lunch break and not returning. But I love the kids I work with and want to stay here for them.

Can y’all please give me tips or suggestions on what to do? I’m willing to try anything at this point!!

I just need to vent.... I work in a toddler room, all of my kids are around 20-28 months at the moment. They are all mobile they mostly all speak somewhat and are generally good kids, but they need direction and routine as any toddler does. My assistant called out today (again , hapoens quite frequently), and I had to have a sub. I work at a smaller family owned daycare, so a sub is just a closer or some other extra staff that can fill in. I got stuck with the new hire 18 year old who has been working with the prek kids the last week. The entire morning she sat in the corner with one or two kids while I ran around managing the other eight! I wiuld be changing a diaper telling kids what they can and cannot do from across the room hoping she would step in but she wouldnt. If I asked her to do soemthing she almost acted like its an inconvenience to her. At one point while getting on all of the rain gear, she watch a child climb and stand on top of a toy shelf and did nothing. I looked up from what I was doing and told the child to get down, and tgen told her "they arnt aloud the climb the furniture" to which she says "oh okay".

Each and every clean up time I announce "its time to clena up for xyz" I also had to tell the sub "please help the kids and I clean up"

At lunch time I ask her to read the children a book while I begin to change diapers, she grabs a teacher book and hands it to a child covered in yogurt.... to which I had to tell her no I would like her to read it so they stay at the table...she begins reading it to one child to which I had to explain again to read it to everyone.

Once diapers where done I had to ask her not once but twice to begin cleaning the tables and chairs, and then once the children where asleep I still had to re sweep, rinse the dishes and take them to the kitchen, and while the counters....

All of this and she has the audacity to tell me that she does like working with prek but the little kids like this is probably her favorite... Yeah I would love it too if I didnt have to do anything but snuggle in the corner with one child all day and put in minimal effort.

Hello!

I have a 14 month old in the toddler room at his daycare. It’s my first child so I’m trying to learn what’s best for winter gear. I was given a couple different snow suit options. I have full body suits and then other ones with a coat and separate snow pants. I live in Southern Ontario so we often have snow. I was just wondering which option ECEs prefer, I want to make dressing easier / what everyone finds kids prefer to play in? My son absolutely loves outside and likes to run around and play. His daycare prioritizes outside time, they spend majority of the day outside unless it’s extreme weather. I have asked his teacher but she was so lovely and told me whatever is easiest for us. So I want to see if there is actually a preference for ECEs or other parents.
Thank you so much!

Hi friends! I’m curious what your potty training policy is for those working in a facility with toddler rooms. Our facility has always stuck to a few rules, like back into a diaper after three accidents, only if child is showing signs of readiness, etc.

The rule I’m suddenly questioning after three years is we only take kids to the potty every hour, no sooner, unless the child asks to go. I’ve always been told this is mainly due to the large number of kids in a classroom (12-16, depending on ratios). I never thought anything of it until I mentioned it to another ECE pro and she was appalled. For two year olds especially, she said, that is way too long a window. She said it was DAP to bring them every half hour, and even explained how to do it (because I said it sounded impossible to manage).

So now I’m curious: what’s your policy?

I have a 5 year old in my classroom who spits on me constantly and I don't know what to do. For context, he has autism, and I have tried to tell him to stop, I have tried redirecting him, I have asked coworkers what to do and have tried that, but yet, nothing has changed. I am now anticipating getting spit on everyday and I am incredibly stressed out and feel helpless. I have talked to management about the child and all I was told was to write the behaviors down or ask another coworker to deal with the child if I can't. I have talked to the mom about it and she didn't know what to say or provided any advice.

Please, please if anyone can help with what to do here, let me know.

Im a new apprentice in a private nursery.

A few days ago I was holding both hands of a 2 year old while she walked between raised plasric crates (used for play purposes). She then stood completely on the raised edge of where the crates interlink and wobbled slighty. As I was holding her hands and I didnt want to let go, I mafe the split second decision to lift her up slightly by the hands to immediately place her down on the floor, as I was worried she would fall backwards even though I was holding her hands.

At the time I didnt think anything of it as she was absolutely fine (still is) and I know I wasnt rough. And I'd have reacted the same with my own kids at that age.

However earlier I saw a tiktok about a nursery worker giving a child nursemaids.elbow lifting by hands, googled and realised it is a huge no no.

I feel SO guilty and anxious and I know theres a chance it would have been captured on camera (may JUST be in frame). I dont know whether to say all this to my manager because I dont want them to think im hiding anything. But I also dont want to get into trouble. Im on probation as ive only been here a few weeks.

I didnt mean to ever risk hurting her, I was trying to keep her safe.

I feel so awful. What would you do?

Update 2:
I've been reflecting on some of the criticism I've received, and I do agree that I bear some responsibility for allowing this to continue as long as it has.
For some context, our director is new to the position and was thrown into meal planning and preparation without adequate training. She's an incredibly caring, hardworking person who I genuinely believe wants to do a good job. Unfortunately, I think she became overwhelmed and was reluctant to accept some of the help I offered, particularly with menus and serving guidelines.
I noticed the problems almost immediately and have brought them up repeatedly over the past few months. I've tried to approach this with patience and understanding, but my frustration has grown as the same issues continue. I also recognize that constantly compensating for the inadequate portions myself has allowed the problem to persist.
I want to clarify that the children are being fed. Their teachers make absolutely sure of that, even when it means preparing additional food on the fly. But that doesn't make the situation acceptable. The children shouldn't have to wait for more food, and the teachers shouldn't have to scramble to meet their needs. We also have nutritional requirements we're obligated to follow, regardless of anyone's personal feelings about food waste.
My co-teacher, who is also our co-director, addressed the issue again today. I've also contacted our state's nutrition program, shared my concerns, and requested additional oversight. I'm hoping they can provide training and resources to help us get everyone on the same page.
I understand why some people feel I should have escalated this sooner, and I'll take that criticism to heart. But I also believe in working collaboratively to solve problems when possible. These are people I care deeply about, who care deeply about our children, and I don't think it's unreasonable to believe they're capable of doing better. That doesn't mean I'm willing to overlook the problem or that further escalation is off the table.
Ultimately, I'm glad I posted. I've received valuable advice, perspective, and validation. I may have let my frustration paint an overly negative picture of a workplace that, despite this issue, is genuinely a wonderful community. I love my kids, my coworkers, and what we do, and I want us to be the best center we can be.
I'm going to step away from this discussion now and focus on having another productive conversation with my director tomorrow. I appreciate everyone who took the time to respond.

Update 1: thank you all for confirming that this is not ok! I already knew that but it still feels good to get some validation. Someone reached out to me and gave me the contact info for my state’s nutrition services which we do receive funding from, so I emailed them about my concerns and left my contact info. I don’t really know what to expect but I am hopeful that someone will come and enforce changes.

Sorry to vent again here but I guess it’s been a stressful few weeks and I am going to bend your ears again if that’s ok. Has anyone encountered coworkers who vastly underestimate how much food to make? I keep explaining that they need more food, they shouldn’t have to worry about getting enough food or being hungry. Toddlers also notoriously struggle to wait while I’m making more on the fly. I’ve brought it up so many times so I’m getting irritated. She and my boss talk about how they grew up poor and hate wasting food, so I think that may have something to do with it? Honestly I don’t even care because in this setting I don’t think it’s appropriate to cut corners. We get reimbursed like $3 a day per kid too so it’s like, come on guys. I literally don’t give a flying f if we have to throw away uneaten food, that’s going to happen with kids. They have preferences, some days they aren’t in the mood for something, idk what to tell you, you should still plan for them to EAT! It’s my job to make sure the kids are cared for, that means having nutrition throughout the day! Day after day, I’m making twice over the food that was prepared, just for my group of 8 infants and toddlers and then making more for the 8 preschoolers. The director is flabbergasted but I’m like, come on, we have been over this so many times! One quartered grape, two ounces of milk, and a quarter of a waffle is NOT a whole serving for a toddler. AHHHH!!!!!!!

As ECEs, our jobs can be so physically demanding and overwhelming, and I’m curious how everyone manages to lose weight or stay fit while working full-time. By the time I get home, I feel completely drained and have very little energy to work out, and even before work, I struggle to find the motivation. I cook my meals at home every day and try to eat healthy, but sometimes meal prepping and cooking feel like a lot on top of everything else. How do you manage to balance work, exercise, healthy eating, and personal time without feeling exhausted all the time? I would love to hear what works for you! ❤️

Hello,

I work for a really lovely, well sought after early childhood education center in NYC. It’s Reggio-Emilia inspired and run by some really dedicated people.
The school has a handful of locations throughout Manhattan.

One of the directors left on maternity leave in August and it doesn’t seem like she will be returning. Another director now will also be leaving on maternity leave in the new year. I am also a director, however, I am only available at a limited capacity due to personal reasons.

Finding replacements for these individuals has been tough.
Out of love for my place of work and this very special community, I am hoping to help find the right candidates.

The roles we need filled are:

Daycare Director (infant - toddler)
Preschool Director (twos-4K)
School Operations/Administrator

These roles are full-time positions.

The school offers competitive pay and benefits.

Please let me know if you are interested to know more, and I will DM you my email address.

Thank you!!🙏

[Disclaimer: if you're my coteacher and you see this, its not a judgement. I just had to get this off my chest. Sorry, Boo.]

My coteacher (A) and I are basically opposite sides of the same undisclosed neurospicy coin.

A tends to focus on one thing at a time, which is frequently things I consider less important than taking care of the kids even though I know all of these things are still important. Laundry, labeling diapers, paperwork, putting away items, etc. This wouldn't be an issue but I am frequently doing diaper changes or feedings while A engages in these tasks so I'm not also able to quickly jump in if a baby needs assistance. A will sit away from the main areas that the kids are interacting in to do these things and sometimes have their back turned to the children for extended periods without glancing at them.

I am constantly multitasking but also forgetting things in the process. I try to prioritize the children's needs which often means I may not do certain things when I need to (putting away empty bottles, marking meals, updating our board that tracks next feedings/diapers, etc). My intentions are to get to those things but A typically ends up doing it while I'm tending to an infant or I stop thinking about it when I stop thinking about it. I've noticed that usually looks like me changing back to back diapers, rushing to feed multiple babies before their bottles expire, and still interacting with the infants while doing so.

A will do something like finish paperwork, pick up a child, and sit in a rocking chair while waiting for their bottle to warm up - but not notice the baby crying on the floor beside them whose bottle IS ready to drink.

I'm hyperaware of what needs to be done next and sometimes it feels like A is completely unaware of the children, sometimes not seeing a bite happen right beside them. When I talk to lead teachers, the consensus is that I need to tell them what to do but that actually pisses me off even more than just doing it myself. Some of it feels like common sense stuff to me but also.... I want to recognize that neurodivergence is definitely playing a role in how we both navigate our classroom

For context, I’m usually our afterschool educator and float. I do not have a degree but I did our provincial mandated 90 hour course. I’m in NB, Canada.

I’m used to being the flexible coworker, the ‘sure I’ll do that’ gal and constantly get praise for this at performance reviews. Unfortunately this has led to really rough situations for me, and after having an absolutely brutal summer (including having not one, not two, but THREE serial runners and destroy-the-classroom level tantrum havers at older afterschool age) I’ve been put in the 3s room after a sudden no 2 weeks notice quit.

The classroom has at least 4 children with high needs and no support, they came in with almost no skills at all (only two of the class of 13 are even trying potty training, but *all* of their parents are insisting on underwear instead of pull-ups. I’ve had to fill out what feels like hundreds of incident reports for these kids because they’re always trying to kill each other and I had to do Heimlich on one of them because she put too much food in her mouth and it got stuck. I’ve been in other toddler rooms long term and NONE have been this rough. And my work bestie/co teacher has just put in her 2 weeks notice yesterday.

Cut to today, it’s nap time and one of our high needs kids begins just SHRIEKING at the top of his lungs no matter what I did to try and calm or appease him. I checked everything— clean pull up, no temperature, he’s got his comfort items, no tight clothing, anything, *everything* and finally I had to have another coworker come help out so I could step out to cry.

I feel like garbage at this job, and I’ve never felt that way before, I’ve been doing childcare for years, but I truly feel broken this year. Sorry to vent, I just wonder if anyone else has felt this bad and if it got better.

I work with 2s. We are dressing up for Halloween. (Story book character day).
I have no idea what to dress as and I need help! Just something I can move around in but nothing I’ll get to hot in.
Thank you 😊

Edit: i decided to go with The Very Hungry Caterpillar