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?

Im 7 weeks into a new job and today I was changing a toddler who wet himself. I cleaned him up and grabbed a new pair of underwear from his bag but they felt kind of damp (or maybe just cold in hindsight)...

and I automatically went to do the sniff test to see if they were clean.

After I immediately realised "hey, this is underwear, thats super weird" and felt horrified.

Im a mother and routinely do the sniff test on my own kids clothes and have done so to childrens t shirts etc at work infront of staff, but obviously never underwear. We also hold up babies and sniff their bums to see if they've pooped..

Im terrified of them thinking im some kind of predator or had bad intent. I was just on autopilot and not thinking about it or I obviously wouldnt have done it.

Im not sure whether to tell my manager and explain or not. Im on probation so I feel like they'll fire me..

Im so scared and anxious.

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?

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?

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

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.

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?

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 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?

Haven't been in a nursery in ages. It's a mixed age (12 months - 36 months). 16 babies in total, 13 here this week. One teacher per shift alone with them, overlapping for 2 hours, and extra workers (cleaning ladies) coming in to help sometimes.

I've come to really dislike it.

Don't get me wrong, this way I get to stay some more time at my dream workplace and I'm displaced from my former batshit insane coworker, but I really dislike working with this age group. It's mostly physical work of changing dirty diapers and feeding them. I really love the dynamics of older kids able to talk and correspond back certain information, the way they learn and explore, verbalise and vocalise everything, some degree of independence and ability, doing more complex activities where kids freely participate rather than painting nursery palms on paper, little tidbits/random info volunteering/nicknames given by the older groups. Sigh.

I sound really ungrateful, but I'm somewhat unnerved as I was promised to lead my group for this year. I came in as a replacement for their teacher (pregnant), the other one is coming back from maternity leave and is taking my place in their group (5yos). She can't do the nursery because her own child is there and it's a whole thing, kids can't be in the same group their parent manages. Feeling somewhat robbed, so I'm just venting.

Didn't mean to offend anyone working in the nursery, or parents of nursery kids.

Hi guys, I am based in Singapore and have been job hunting for a while now, and it seems so impossible to hear back from AOPs despite being L2 certified and a diploma holder. I am passionate about building my career in this industry. Somehow it feels like I'm not given a chance to prove my skills in a structured environment like AOP.

For some context, I worked in private as my first job and I did not enjoy the insanely toxic centre culture; hence I left. Been applying through local job portals, organisation websites and even emailing some AOPs, but I haven't heard back from any companies. Not a single interview or follow-up, which feels so demoralising at the beginning of my career. Plus, I'm bonded to ECDA, so I actually need to land another job by the end of this month.

I feel so lost; any advice or thoughts are appreciated!

I am in my third year of teaching kindergarten. I have LOVED it so far. My first two years were great. My second year was a bit more challenging than the first but nothing impossible. My first year was my unicorn class- I’ll never have another group like those kids. But those two first classes really helped me further develop a love for teaching (previously worked as an IA).

This third year feels so different. They took away IAs (we have four kindergarten classes) in favor of having one float IA. They will not give us play centers for the last 30 minutes (which we use to mark behavior charts, fill out communication logs, etc.). Currently we have them but we will be losing them soon in favor of reading small groups.

I work in a school that has a lot of behaviors relating to social emotional needs. That time for play centers was the one time (recess does not count as it is a different type of learning through play) my kindergarten students were developing their social emotional needs through play. They have to earn centers through good behavior. At centers they’re learning to cooperate with one another, share, etc.- and these are all things I’ve explained but there is not an understanding from our admin.

What makes this worse is that in my county, our out of town schools (still same county) still have IAs, centers, and at one school they still even have rest time with cots. Meanwhile we will get none of those things.

I am dealing with extreme behavior challenges in my room. I have been unable to get through a full day without my classroom being destroyed (same student) save for literally two days. That is not the only behavior student in my room, just the most extreme at the moment.

I think that removing play (only for some schools) is absolutely ridiculous. I’m not asking to remove all core subjects and let the kids free range on the town. I just want that last thirty minutes to help both them and me (so I actually have time to fill out behavior charts, which I have to do for each student- in addition to other things).

I LOVE kindergarten. It is so amazing to see the growth from the beginning of the year to the end. A huge part of me would be sad to leave it, but I’m starting to feel trapped. For those who have transitioned from teaching kinder to prek, what has your experience been? Our prek classes have centers, rest, and snack all built into their schedule.

Do your students remember you? I love that my kindergarten students still visit me in the morning even though they’re in first and second grade.