Basically the title.

Kids have been going there for two years previously.

I was notified of the violation by my kids' teacher. (As they're required by law to tell us).

The event occurred in a different class.

They have a fenced in outside area.

The kids came in. They did a count.

They were supposed to have 15, but they counted 14.

They did another count, but a kid moved behind someone's back, so they did a third count. Still got 14.

They found the kid outside. Kid was playing with a toy not in view of window.

Additional training was provided.

Is this an unfortunate event or something that I should be genuinely concerned about?

I work in K-12 education and thought I'd ask here to check against my gut feeling.

Edit:

Thanks for your help and feedback. A lot of the comments in here are similar to my gut reaction.

The teacher told a group of us parents at checkout (as required and so we could sign the form). My initial thought was "Eh. Stuff happens." (I think if it were my own kid I would have been really frustrated with the kid for not listening to the teacher more than the staff)

A parent next to me seemed a little shocked and said something similar to "A couple minutes is kind of a long time, if it were seconds I wouldn't be as concerned".

That made me wonder if I was being too cavalier.

I will definitely check and follow up and see who made the report.

Thank you for all you do.

My 4 year old boy is the class bully. He seems to delight in hitting, pushing, throwing toys at other kids, taking things from them. We challenge the behavior at home by making him apologize, do gentle hands, interrogate him as to what he thinks that makes others feel like, and by taking toys away as punishment. We have been getting him exercise and putting him in soccer to get him discipline. We are, I’m sure, one bad day from being kicked out of daycare.

He has an identical twin brother who is very sweet and has many friends. They love each other, but the other kids can’t stand the bullying twin. It’s breaking my heart. He is otherwise very intelligent and on track.

I’m a FTM and thinking of changing daycares. Am I overreacting?

First of all, the enrollment process was awful. I had to follow up via phone and email many times to just get the form to pay the deposit to secure a spot. After sending in the form I got no follow up so I showed up a week before he was supposed to start and the director asked if he was still starting on Monday. I was like yes I hope so?? Then received an email thanking me for touring the center (weird) and another payment form which I responded to and said I already filled this out.

Another red flag when visiting was when I first toured there were randomly elementary age kids hanging out in the infant room (my son is 2 months old). I asked why they were there and was told that it is summer break so they like to hang out in there. When I visited the second time before he started it was nap time and again there were elementary age students in the room hanging out. It freaks me out because my baby is so little that having bigger kids hanging out in there seems like a safety issue right?

On his first day my husband was let in to drop him off and when I went to pick him up my door code didn’t work so I had to bang on the door for 10 minutes before another parent let me in. They also told me I’d have access to an app that I never got access to. I went to get my baby and a worker was holding him and one other baby was in the room being carried around by an elementary aged little girl and that really freaked me out.

I called and spoke to the center 3 times the next day because they kept saying they would make sure my door code worked but never actually confirmed it did work. Also said they would send me a link to the app. I arrived that evening and my door code was still not activated. The director let me in and said she was sorry she wasn’t there the day before so couldn’t set me up but I don’t understand why she couldn’t have done it ahead of time or at least communicated. Again I went to get my baby and he was in there with a worker and two elementary aged kids. The director set up my door code and the app then and there and it took no time so I don’t understand if I’ve called so many times that day why it couldn’t have happened before I got there that evening.

I picked my baby up today (Wednesday) and he was in a swing while the classroom was filled with older babies that were walking. The workers said they wanted to stay on the clock so combined classrooms with him and the older babies, maybe this is normal? Also every picture they have sent over the last 3 days (6 pictures) he has been in a swing and every time I’ve picked him up he’s been in a swing. That is concerning but also maybe I’m grateful since there are so many older kids in there doing who knows what.

I called another daycare and they are farther out of the way and more $. I feel like I should change daycares but is this normal for a daycare?

My one year old class has recently started the dreaded “everybody scream for no reason!” hobby. As soon as one starts yelling, two more start, and a minute later it’s the entire class. My coteacher and I have successfully stopped it a few times with suddenly singing a song really loud to match the energy, turning off the lights, and gently holding their hands and saying shhhh. Sometimes we literally can’t hear eachother over it and have to just wait til they get bored. We do not like raising our voices or yelling at the class to stop. Does anyone have any fool proof methods to curb this behavior?

There’s a girl who quit and left for 3 months. I took her spot in her room (I asked as I’ve always wanted to be in that room). She decided to come back, now I’m no longer in the room. I’m sure this is probably common in the daycare world. Just wanted to vent for a second, it’s very frustrating as I had built a bond with the kids.

I’ve only worked in centers that heavily use apps and i’m curious what the line of communication with parents looks like in low tech centers. For example, I am expected to document/ notify a parent if their child developed a diaper rash during the day, was coughing a lot during nap, or tugging at their ear. Are these concerns documented on paper and the parents are made aware at pick up? I struggle to use my work app but also couldn’t imagine not being able to share the happy moments of the day in real time with parents. If there’s an incident report do you have to call or is texting acceptable? We are only required to message parents in the app unless the injury is really bad. I’m just super curious!

Basically what the title says. I know our profession has a high burnout rate but I’ve only been working there five months and I’m not even fully certified as a full ECE. I’ve been working as an ECEA and have floated from one room to the next. My mental health has gotten bad from life stressors and the 9 hour days. I guess my question is is it just an adjustment period or is it not gonna get better? I was having a great time before I loved everything it’s only after this recent room switch that’s it’s begun taking a toll on me. My bosses are amazing and super understanding and have been supporting me where they can and listening to me but I just need some none bias points of view. Any advice?

Last week Tuesday, I was on the ground at circle time before one of our special extracurricular classes. The extracurricular teacher was running late, so I was having the children do a pretend play activity where we were making strawberry jam sandwiches. Everyone was super into it and having a blast. All of a sudden, a child in my class with some behavioral challenges stood up, climbed on the teacher chair behind me, jumped off the chair, landed on my low back, and started kicking my mid and low back while pinching my arms. This all happened so fast neither myself, my assist, or a floater teacher acting as their 1:1 aide could catch them before getting several hits on me. I used a calm voice to tell them “Ouch, [THEIR NAME], no thank you. That hurts my body.” I reached behind me to try and swiftly and gently remove them, but the floater had to pry them off of me cause I couldn’t get a good grip. After this, my mid and low back were in pain all day. It was low grade at first, but persistent. An hour before end of shift, it sharply increased, and by the time I had closed my classroom and headed home, I was struggling to walk and feeling horribly dizzy. I had to have my boyfriend help me walk home from the train, and I could barely sleep because my entire back and both legs felt like I’d been hit by a train. I had to call out next morning, and wound up in the ER for several days, having to receive multiple muscle relaxers, opioid pain meds, and benzodiazepines to get the pain down from a 9-10 to a 4-5.

I got cleared to go back on Wednesday. However, my boyfriend then had a very traumatic seizure on Monday night, and I tweaked my back more when I had to lift him and move him to his side. I’ve had to call out two additional days, and am going back Friday no matter what.

I’ve got accommodations from my doctor that admin approved so I don’t have to run or lift any children or heavy objects. I’ve also communicated this to my classroom assists, and they’re very willing to help out. However, I’m so worried about my ability to focus on the children and do my job justice while my back pain is still hovering around a 5 most of the time. I’m off my strong pain meds and just on Tylenol and lidocaine patches now. For anyone else who has sustained a back injury and continued to work ECE, are there any tips and tricks to managing the pain, still being able to focus on your work duties, and ensuring you can do your part to maintain your classroom? I just want to re-enter class as capable as I can be. It’s hard for me to focus on basic day-to-day tasks right now, let alone an entire ECE classroom.

I've worked as an ECE for about 3 months, and I ended up quitting because of the amount of stress I was under. I was coming home every day completely exhausted and crashing as soon as I got home. On top of that, the daycare was dealing with a lot of licensing issues, which made the job even more overwhelming.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience. Did you leave the field, or did you try working at a different centre? If you gave it another chance, was it any better?

Edit: I should mention that I worked in Edmonton

What callbacks or audio cues do you like to grab your class’s attention for transitions, etc.? I know some people like a doorbell or a chime. I used to use a rhythmic clap for kinder. Just looking for ideas.

I’ve been working at this nursery for a year , and like an idiot decided to recently start an apprenticeship for a higher qualification. My thinking was incase i’m here another year or so then at least i’ve got a qualification out of it. But i didn’t realise how burnt out i’d become so quickly. I’m completely over it, and i think knowing childcare wasn’t my first choice and my degree is in something unrelated makes me feel worse. i’m earning minimum wage and i feel like an absolute failure, whilst caring for the children of literal millionaires and have them pick at everything. For some reason today feels like a breaking point even though the work day wasn’t even that bad,

i’m just done. I came home and snapped at my

mother and she later said to me this is all because you hate your job and feel stuck. i feel awful and i feel like it’s turning me into a person i don’t recognise. i’d just like some words of encouragement or understanding. i feel like if i quit now ill never find anything else since non childcare roles never show interest in me. I am diagnosed with depression and anxiety btw

EDIT: I just wanted to thank everyone who responded and I appreciate all the helpful feedback.
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My son is now the oldest in his class, 31 months. I was told last month that he and 2 other classmates (his friends) were all a bit too old for the class, but that they would be moved together once the older class had space. Now, they moved those other two students without him, and he is the oldest in his class by, I think 2 whole months. Many of them being much younger.

First I was told this was due to capacity. He is younger than one of those 2 classmates for sure, but I don’t know about the other one. Still, I understand that nothing can be done if he is in fact the youngest. But capacity wasn’t an issue when they mentioned all 3 moving together. When I inquired further about this, I was told that actually it was due to a behavioral issue in the older class. So they don’t think adding my son to a class with behavioral issues is a good idea? Then I was told that he would move up next month when all the pre-k left to go to kindergarten there would be a huge shift. Who knows what they’ll say next.

Well now my sweet boy is struggling. He talks all evening about how he’s a big kid and asks me if he can go to the big kid class, and it breaks my heart. He asks if he can see his (older) friends by name every morning at drop off. And I’m so sad for him.

Is there any reason this could be happening that I’m not seeing? I asked if he was developmentally ready and they said he is. So why would they separate him when they said they wouldn’t?

I am requesting a meeting with the director sometime this week, so I want to go in with an understanding of all the possibilities, because now it sounds like there is room but that they don’t want to move him up for some reason.

And really, how do I make him feel better? Because he is too young to understand why he can’t see all of his friends. (I don’t even know why he can’t see all his friends). He’s been much more emotional and volatile than before. He has always been a really unproblematic kid so this behavior is unusual for him. Any advice would be appreciated.

Worked in a center today and it was kind of stressful for many reasons. I picked up a shift at this center so first time being here. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the teacher then the issues. The teacher kept raising her voice everytime she talked to one of the pre-k kids. They were doing stuff they shouldn't have but the way the teacher talked was loud almost everytime.

Next, now the main issue because the teacher was stressed clearly and this was why. The pre-k kids majority of them and there were 28 so about 20 did not listen to majority instruction. I mean they didn't listen at all and instructions were repeated more then multiple times to them. Also, since majority of them didn't listen at all it was chaotic trying to focus on each because almost each kid would do something they shouldn't. Example 2 kids are fighting over a toy and three others are running in the classroom, then 10 are getting extremely loud and very loud while playing or sitting.

Those were some of the examples of the kids behavior but it astonished me because majority really didn't listen at all. Some kids at a point started throwing items in the room and making a whole mess. Also the orginal teacher actually left for the day. She got so overwhelmed because of her yelling at the kids and ended up arguing with the director. It was honestly stressful because I understand the teacher's point many of the kids simply don't listen.

In addition, there were some kids with special needs that had to have a eye on specifically. This wasn't a issue in terms of me watching the kid but since it's only two people it was hard. The kid just runs throughout the room and gets into stuff. Someone constantly has to stop him because he will make a huge mess. The other kid didn't really speak but she wanted to be held constantly or she would run away.

Yeah so imagine those 2 students and 26 more and 22 that don't listen and repeatedly have to be told to stop fighting, yelling, running, hitting, and pushing others throughout the day. Now this was a job so I always can hold ot together but it was stressful because I can't imagine being the teacher to these students daily.

Lastly, though I always do my best and contribute and help as much as possible. The director wants me to come back and me being nice suggested days I am available but I honestly have to rethink if I come here again. Also another teacher quit while I was there. Have no idea when but yeah she quit. I love working with children but the lack of staff is a issue that has to be fixed here. Especially when having multiple kids that need more attention then others.

Yeah but what would anyone else do in my position. I mean I helped and observed but coming back have to rethink. The staff was great though in regards to helping me though which is always appreciated.

​

I just started an assistant educator position at a daycare about two months ago. I just graduated university with an unrelated degree and had never worked in ECE prior. I started as a volunteer about a month before being hired in an official capacity. This is the closest I had to “practical experience”. The more I work here, the more I am absolutely terrified about how little I know and how honestly completely unprepared I am to handle these children. I volunteered mostly with the oldest kids (4-5 year olds) but now I’ve been working with kids as young as 18 months old. There’s a child in the youngest group who still can barely walk, and I’ve been tasked with being his 1-on-1 supervisor at all times. I’m in charge of taking him up the stairs, crossing the street with him, watching him on the play structure etc. They yell at me when I pick him up so that he’s safe in more dangerous situations (ie crossing the street) but I just don’t feel comfortable essentially putting his life in my hands. He likes to throw his head back and basically flop backwards. A couple times he’s done this in the middle of the street or on the play structure. I’m terrified that something is going to happen to him on my watch, because frankly I just don’t know how to handle a kid that small. I feel like a lot of my more experienced coworkers don’t like me. They frequently yell at me in front of the other educators and children both for making simple mistakes or not knowing certain rules (no one has told me anything!!) and for pretty innocuous things like stopping and listening to a child when they speak to me rather than ignoring them to give my undivided attention to the whole group. It feels like I’ve been set up to fail. The way they call me out is so humiliating and I really wish someone would just take me aside and tell me stuff rather than embarrass me in front of everyone. Idk where im going with this and I know this is just a crazy wall of text but any advice for a new educator with very little experience would be so appreciated.

I have a 4.5 month old that is starting daycare in August. He’ll be 5 months old when he starts!

We have been working on introducing a bottle since 2 weeks old and have had almost no luck. He went from completely refusing a bottle, to drinking 1/2 to 1 oz consistently. But he has only ever taken 2 oz a handful of times. We’re working with a feeding therapist and have been for almost 2 months now but the progress is slow. She believes it’s behavioral at this point. We have tried every bottle under the sun but are currently using MAM size 2 nipples because it’s the only one he has consistently drank from. It takes him about 20 minutes to even finish 1 to 2 oz, I tried MAM size 3 nipples but the flow was waaayyyy too fast for him.

He has a bottle at least once a day, but usually closer to 2 to 3 times. We’re also working on straw and open cups, and plan to introduce food early. We’ve also tried leaving him with family, different people giving bottles, different environments, different times of the day, different temps, fresh vs frozen vs refrigerated milk. I haven’t tried giving formula yet but I’m actually doing that this week just to see - it’s probably the only thing we haven’t tried!

Just looking for some reassurance that this will be fine. I’m so incredibly stressed. His daycare isn’t close enough for me to go nurse him on lunch and he’ll be there for about 8 hours a day. The daycare told me to just send in multiple nipples and bottles so they could experiment with him.

Has anyone had a baby THIS difficult that ended up taking bottles? He’s stressing me OUT! Also open to any other random suggestions for things we can try!

So quick little rant

If you read my previous posts I’ve been in a bit of a silent feud with one of my coworkers.. the reason? Only she knows.

Anyways there was another situation with her involving the children.

I work with three years old. Our outside time is supposed to be for 30 minutes we stayed out for one hour and 45 minutes in 80 degree weather…no water no bathroom breaks.

This is not the first time this happened but it’s the first time it’s happened for this long. She doesn’t care about the children and it shows. I’ve went to the director and was told she’d do something about it and i ultimately got ignored.

If you read the previous posts you know that this girl I work with doesn’t talk to me and today we were actually working with an aide that’s been working there for a while, so they were the only ones talking with each-other. So we had no communication whatsoever about the kids and what time we were going in.

I ended up just doing what I thought was healthy for the kids and I started taking as many as possible in with me that I could have which is 6. I let them use the potty and I gave them lots of water and we stayed inside until they finally came in.

Also just to note, my co worker I guess was trying to make time pass by by keeping them out that long because as soon as we came in her shift was over.

Thinking about quitting.

so today I sent a note home with a parent letting them know about their child’s behavior for the first time ever. I told the parent how the child has not been listening to me & has been spitting & just out of control & asked if they could pls talk to him (because he’s in my group.i stay upstairs w the younger kids & my mom stays downstairs w older) & usually I’ll open the door for parents at the end of the day but today my mom did for this specific parent & she told that parent that her child’s been doing good. & I got mad at my mom after they left & we had a huge argument & I asked her why did she lie & told her how I sent a note home. & she told me it wasn’t my place to be telling the parents about their kids & that I’m not the director & it’s like girlll so was I in the wrong??

Hello, like the title says, is this acceptable? The child is one of the biggest ones I’ve seen at this daycare ~6-7? I am just wondering if this is alright? I know this is bad now that I am thinking about it but am I going to get fired cause I need to tell my supervisor something that happened while this occurred. Thank you! For further context, i was alone with the child.

Hey everyone, my name is Robin! I graduated high school a year early at 17 and just landed a job as a resource teacher working with infants, toddlers, preschool and pre-k. I'm super excited for my new job. I'm starting in a few days. I would appreciate some advice on what to expect and some kind words to hype me up! Thanks!

I need help. My 2yo was expelled from playschool last month because of she's just biting her friends too much. (She's still at the school until end of month)

She's an only child, has gone to daycare since 3 months and has been in this playschool since January. Class size is 5 studsnts to 1 teacher although they'll usually combine two classes but with the same. 1:5 ratio.

School has been incredibly patient, but it's just happened way too often (over 20 biting incidents + a few scratching incidents)

Daughter is pretty verbal with us, can use up to 4 words pretty regularly and talks to teachers pretty well too

But teachers have indicated her classmates (all 2yo) may not be as verbal as her and she doesn't appear to talk to her peers. But she supposedly plays fine with them though prefers to play on her own.

The principal tells us that most incidents are unprompted, that my daughter will just randomly attack a friend. Sometimes its because a friend bumped into her or they were fighting over a toy.

We have tried to teach her to ask for help from a teacher (she can say the words), we've read the Biting Solution, put on the puppet show, tried to teach her that it hurts when she bites and that it makes people sad, played We Don't Put Our Teeth On People, gotten her those silicone biting toys meant as therapy tools for kids with autism, tried to get the teachers to help teach her to ask for help, but nothing seems to stick,

She knows she's not supposed to bite her peers ("Bite friend no no/no bite friend") that she's supposed to bite the toy, but the lesson doesn't seem to stick.

She has also recently started hitting at home, mostly during bed time. Again she knows its a no no, and we try to teach her to stomp (she refuses to do so) or to ask for attention another way (shaking me if i fall asleep before she does instead of smacking me).

Worse she has started to refuse to say that biting/hitting is a no no, and becoming quite willful. Like she will actively ignore me if i try to talk to her about this.

I'm really at a loss. She has had four sessions with an occupational therapist who suggested we try to give oral stimulation, (she also suggested the biting toy)

The therapist even visited her class once and maybe because my daughter managed to recognise the therapist, she behaved quite well but was quiet. She then scratched a friend not long after the therapist left.

Therapist said that she might have selective mutism but couldn't make a conclusive diagnosis.

We find that she's just shy with people she hasn't interacted with in a while (like grandparents or cousins) but once she warms up she'll talk.

We're sending her to a different school next month that's meant for 3 yo (we were planning to send her in January but the school is willing to take her in) and we're hoping having older morr well behaved peers will be a good example.

But i want to try and fix this before she goes there. I don't want her to be kicked out again because she loves going to school (absolutely no tears on the first day, didn't even look back to say goodbye).

The current school while patient, i don't think is equipped to help. Teachers are caring but inexperienced. When i suggested an action plan (as per The Biting Solution) i didn't get a committed answer. I had to remind them during a parent teaching meeting to at least try to teach her to say "teacher help" if she encounters frustrating situations.

They've only just recently managed to consistently stop biting attempts (once today and two last week).

Sorry for word dump and if its all over the place. Help.

Additional info if relevant, i have adhd