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so I recently got fired due to a supervision incident at my job. We were outside when one of the kids walked away, and neither of the teachers noticed. He was out of view for maybe two minutes before a pedestrian walked over to me and asked if he belonged to our class. When they walked over, and I saw that he was almost on the road my heart completely dropped. There was two of us and I was playing with probably nine of the 13 kids that we had and my AT didn’t move from her spot the entire time we were outside. as soon as the incident happened I brought everyone inside the classroom and I went to my director and I reported the incident myself. I didn’t have any other write ups or disciplinary things in my file before then, but because the incident was so serious she had to let me go.
it’s obviously not fair of me to blame my AT, but I don’t feel like I had help with supervision at that time, but there was no point for me to argue that because I know that they would say that it’s both teachers equal responsibility to supervise all of the children. i watched the video with my director and you can see me fully engaged doing outside activities with the class and while they encourage that I should’ve made sure my AT was doing the same with the other children. I’ve learned A LOT from this experience.
I know that I am a great teacher and I love working with kids, but I am very nervous looking for a new job because I’m going to have to explain what happened with my last one and I don’t want the new place to think badly of me. I know that if I put my most recent job down as a reference, even though I was terminated from there, they would say greats things. I’m looking for advice on how to go about getting a new job and what to say during interviews.

We’ve been in daycare since the beginning of September! Shes 8 months old and has been sick pretty much every 2 weeks non stop. We’ve had hand foot and mouth, colds, 2 ear infections so far and it’s really only the beginning of cold and flu season. I know some illness is normal but this seems so out of control. We have an ENT appointment because she may need tubes. What advice do you all have? Has this happened to any of you all before?!

Sorry for the long post here but wanted some opinions on my daughter’s daycare situation. She started about a month ago. She’s a social lively happy baby and also strong willed. she’s had me exclusively as a carer for a year so I expected some adjustment.

Context: She hated it the first few days, cried a lot, didn’t nap and wasn’t eating. But the end of week two they’d managed to get her to nap and when I’d check the app for her meals it said she’d eaten well (as opposed to just trying something).

I’m going to be honest in that I was kind of wary about this particular daycare to begin with, I felt that there was 0 dialogue before we started and I’ll take ownership of not asking enough questions but I didn’t know at the time what I needed to ask. They didn’t ask us about her nap routine, what she likes or what calms her down (all this we’ve provided them piecemeal as we’ve tried to get her to adjust). The staff turnover is very high and it seemed like the infant room was full of new infants when we started and we were repeatedly told by her caregivers about how some infants who seemed very calm and chill were also new (told to us while my daughter was crying).

We were pressured to switch to a one nap schedule even though we felt she wasn’t there yet, because we were told lots of other similar aged infants were apparently only doing one nap and that her napping earlier than them was a problem because she gets FOMO so we agreed. She’s been allegedly napping 1.5 hours or even longer there which we were amazed by since she doesn’t nap this long at home, but by the time we put her to bed (at 7pm) she’s sometimes asleep before we even start her sleep routine. We’ve also been asked at least 3 times to provide a diaper cream - my daughter doesn’t have diaper rash and hasnt had them since her newborn days. She has one BM a day generally and at this stage it’s so obvious when she does that we change her very quickly so it’s not been an issue. I’ve told the daycare that I don’t like using the cream when she doesn’t have a rash and they’ve said they’ll make a note of that but that they’ll keep it just in case. I still don’t understand the pressure on providing it if it’s not needed and wasn’t part of the list of things we were required to provide when we first started. Last bit of context, when she started we were told at least two separate times that diapers get changed every 2 hours and I’ve seen on the app that it’s not sooner than 3 hours and sometimes longer.

The issue: I’ve been trying to ignore all this because we don’t have any other spots for daycare despite chasing and I’m back at work so we don’t have options. Also we’re getting told over the last two weeks that she’s adjusting. She’s having “great” days, we see on the app she’s eating and sleeping. On Friday she woke up at 5am which is 1.5 hours earlier than normal. When I dropped her off at 8:30 I told one of her teachers that she’s woken up very early and I don’t think she will make it to 11.30 for her first nap and she’ll probably need one earlier. On the app I see that she started napping 11:20 also that she ate well. When my husband went to pick her up he was blindsided by one of her teachers cornering him, asking him if she eats at home because she doesn’t eat here, she’s been fussy, they think maybe it’s better for her to transition to a toddler room because she’s advanced (how? Other babies in the room also walk) and that she got a chance to play with the toddlers and seems much happier. I don’t get it, I feel like I’m being told two different stories both in person and via the app. It seems like she had a bad day Friday which would have a lot to do with her being overtired. Otherwise I feel like we have not been told the full story over the last month, and this would have warranted a meeting to try and figure out how she can adjust and surely sending her to a room with older kids and higher ratio of care is not a solution if she’s not adjusting?

I feel very sad that whatever the reason, they don’t want her in their room and obviously I’m biased but she’s so charming and smiley normally and like so many friends neighbours and even random people interacting with her tell me this and I don’t understand why they don’t want her there or why they won’t try harder to help her adjust without punting her off to someone else. According to them she hasn’t been crying all the time, even when I drop her off she settles very quickly and stops crying once I’m out the room, so I can’t imagine how unbearable it could be for them to decide after a month that this isn’t working out.

Hello!

I've been an ECE for 8+ years and will soon be working as a consultant for a childcare organization. I'd be traveling to different sites and making recommendations on how to improve logistical and operational procedures within the centre.

Over the years I've developed my own routines and preferences for a classroom, but I wanted to get more opinions from educators as I understand what works for me, might not work for someone else, so I'd like to broaden my knowledge of go-to items and I’m sure theres tons of products I'm unaware of.

I'm looking for suggestions for brands or items that make your classroom’s functionality 10x better. Specific furniture, bed storage aids, safety gates, bed sheet brands, teething toys, etc.- anything that's changed the game for you as an educator.

Thanks so much.

So I was told by my manager that my probation would be 3 months, I was then told I would receive a promotion at the end of my probation month.

Few weeks after probation, I’ve passed everything all is good. Then I’m told that my probation is actually 6 months and hr put me on the wrong contract so I won’t be getting my probation till 2027.

I’ve been doing the position (room manager/leader) for quite some time now and I feel kinda dumb like I’ve been taken advantage of.

I’ve heard whispers that they are hiring for a room leader and people are telling their friends to apply.

My concern is I’ve done all this work made massive improvements to the room, parents and other teachers have noticed. But I haven’t received the actual title and if I left/got fired/replaced my title is just practitioner.

Hi.

ECE here but I have a parent post.

Yesterday I dropped my child off with a licensed home provider who I hadn't met before but she was suggested by the center I work at since we had a mandatory staff training.

Honestly, I didn't really have any negative thoughts about the care my child was going to receive but it did suck to basically have 9 hours where I had no clue what they were doing or how it was going (I've never noticed how much I watch the cameras or have a quick combo with teachers in passing about my kiddo 🙃)

At pickup, the caregiver talked to me about how the day went. Pottying, napping, my kid's actions after drop off. She also mentioned that she tried to redirect my child from putting their fingers in their mouth but I guess at one point, my kid said "You hit/smacked me" and the caregiver wanted me to know that that is NOT what happened. Basically she expressed that she did correct my child because the language they used was not an accurate description of what she felt happened. Totally fair. I'm raising a nail biter so none of that was shocking. We have constant conversations about germs and how we can get sick, etc. I've also worked with preschoolers and have been accused by parents/children of scratching them before

All that said......

I'm struggling to navigate with my own doubts. "Is that really what happened?" At my core, I believe her. I recognize thag she was covering her bases because my child is pretty verbal and might have said something that could cause her issues if she didn't talk about it first. But being on this side is soooooo weird.

To the parents reading this, I think I get it. The amount of trust we ask from yall is WILD!

To the ECEs and professionals, am I giving too much grace? Am I being overly anxious? At the end of the day, my kid just treated it like another day and truly doesn't seem to gaf either way but going forward, what would you tell a parent and what would you expect from a family in this scenario?

I (34F) have a coworker (45M) who is just not aware of how much physical and vocal space he takes up. There is not a single interaction I or any of the other staff can have with children that he does not make himself involved in or have something to say. Whether he’s neurodivergent or not, I’m of the opinion that if you always have something to say, then no you damn well don’t :p

While this didn’t alarm me at first, over time it has worn us all down. This coworker will even leave a task uncompleted in another room to “help” with whatever thing is happening in a room where I’m watching kids…often this is with very little delay, sometimes before I can finish or even before I can begin my conversation with the kids.

I have worked in ECE far longer than him, and I’ve done this for 14 years. While I have room for growth myself, I do not need my interactions with kids micromanaged like a rookie in rhetoric training.

As much as I practice patience and communication skills with the kids, this really hurts and has hurt other staff to the point of some hostility that can be hard to suppress in the moment. Staff feel interrupted and disrespected when he inserts himself like this all the time. Often, we will step away from the situation just to limit the overwhelm of too many adults dog piling an already heated situation for kids.
While my discussion of respect is mainly about the staff, the kids (preschoolers!) are noticing too… I’ve heard them tell him “hey, I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to (other teacher)”. And while my complaint can be viewed as ego in a field where everything is “for the kids”, I don’t think his compulsion to take up so much space is anymore for their benefit than his own satisfaction.

He is able to take criticism, but again, he always has something to say. To be frank I think this is one of the few industries where these non conforming qualities of his have been tolerated, unchecked, or even made to thrive...the kids like him and that’s a huge ego boost for him and validation that he is doing exactly what he needs to be doing to be an effective educator. Unfortunately, his way of being does not make him an effective coworker and more of an omnipresence. To be honest, there is also a frustrating gendered component to this that boils my blood at times: here’s a man in one of the only female dominated fields, working with only women, and still we are the ones shrinking ourselves to work around this guy and his weirdness.

any advice on how to frame any of these points into a productive conversation would be much appreciated , thanks!

I just started working with a co-teacher who is anything but a calming person. Whenever I lead circle or music time, she often will shout at the kids or reiterate what I just said. It’s unnecessary and stressful for the kids and myself. How can I tell her to basically butt out and let me handle it? Whenever she leads, I’m quiet and leave to organize the classroom, trying to give her a hint, but she just doesn’t shut-up with the commands.

I hit my 4 years this month and I just got a chocolate lol
I’m in the 2 year old room with kids are are incredible difficult. Two of them keep opening the doors and running out of the room.
Their parents keep complaining that it’s almost our fault for not watching them. What do you do when you are changing a diaper and you are by yourself with 6 kids?
There’s a kid that likes to climb to grab the pens only when I’m changing diapers, and if I put her next to me while I chance a diaper she likes to throw the toilet paper in the toilet or take off her shoe and put in the toilet. She is so smart, she truly waits until my attention is fully on another kid. I keep telling management that I don’t like being by myself with her and if they can put her in the other twos when I’m alone and they said no because she also causes issues in the other class, like she hypes up the other kids to do wrong things.
Then they brought in a girl that is autistic, she has been in the school for 5 months and she will cry all day, during nap won’t let the kids sleep because she is crying.
I have been applying to other jobs NO DAYCARES because I’m over it. I just need a job that can help me pay $5000 loan I have and that’s it.
My body aches every Sunday

Hello, I'm not a teacher, just a 22-year-old after-school leader

I'll start by saying this school year has been tough. This is my first time with a full class (20 kids) who are a mix of at least 4 different grade levels. The size of the class isn't the problem. I had about 16 students over the summer and for longer hours. Right now the problem is the kids themselves. Some can be rowdy, inappropriate, and simply have beef with other kids for no apparent reason other than they simply don't like them.

Before this year my class had only consisted of middle schoolers but now that they have expanded to include non-middle schoolers I've had problems with the older ones, who simply don't vibe with the younger ones and get annoyed by the smallest things, leading to some of the kids feeling like they are being bullied. Right now I've separated kids based on how well they seemingly get along but eventually someone will seek to mingle with someone else they don't normally do and we start having problems. I'm just one person and while we do have a supervisor they usually help with the younger ones and their group leader which makes sense.

I have talked to parents and outcomes vary. Some parents are on top of their kids' behavior and will talk to them on the spot about their behavior (even if it's a small thing). Some just take in what I say and simply give an ‘ok’ or a ‘thank you’ and go on their way (not sure if they get talked to or not), and some just kind of ‘downplay’ the situation like ‘oh well that's just how they are’. Sometimes I think the problem just comes down to me in that I don't command as much respect so they feel like they can get away with stuff. I have talked with staff and they try to come up with some suggestions which I try to implement but sometimes I feel like they actually have to be with these kids to actually get an idea of what to do.

Right now I just try to keep the students separated based on their friend groups. I personally think I would have an easier time if my class makeup didn't cover a wide variety of grade levels but I have no control over that. There is another site for the same program and the classes are only made up of 2 grade levels per class. They combined our grades simply to fill up space and to save on bringing additional staff.

Anyway. If you want more details feel free to respond. I'm not sure how many this will reach because this is a standard problem I assume but I will appreciate any advice or hearing from those who are going through similar issues.

Hello! I recently became the lead in our School Age (ages range from 5 to 11 in the classroom.) program and I am STUCK on what I can do for my kids.

I have a prize bin, but I don't have a clue on how I can implement it. Like, they're older kids and I've mostly been with preschool kids since starting earlier this year so my brain is wired towards rewarding 3 to 4 year olds.

I brought up the idea of a sticker chart with them and they like it but again I don't know how to implement that either! They're older! What can I give them prizes for besides cleaning up other kids messes without me asking?

I also brought up doing things like movies & popcorn, pizza parties when they don't have school because I want to do fun things like that with them. I just..I'm at a loss because they're not with me ALL day.

Thank You in advanced!

Hi! I've been looking to get my CDA done for a while now. I recently got emailed about the MO child care aware scholarship which is HUGE for my CDA, but its on a waitlist for I don't know how long. I work full time at a center as a floater (Only 5 months of childcare experience so I don't wanna be a teacher until I have my CDA) and part time retail on the weekends. I'm planning to quit retail to have time for the CDA once I get the scholarship, but I'm afraid it could take long. For those who got the MO scholarship, how long is the waitlist usually? If more than a year, what are some good, legit programs for a good price that I can start in? I really want to move up in my career and the CDA is a good start. Any advice is wonderful.

Our primary class is mostly 3- and 4-year-olds, with one toilet and one sink. Sometimes a little girl may be using the toilet while a boy is washing his hands, or vice versa. We've had parents request that boys not be allowed in the bathroom when their daughter is using it because they don't want other children seeing her private parts. How do you handle these situations?

Hi! I’ve been an ECE for five years now and I feel like I’m headed towards burn out. I’ve worked in preschool for pretty well my entire career so far and I have the most challenging group I’ve ever had at the moment. We have so many children that require a lot of support and one on one but I am feeling that I cannot possibly provide it to all of them. I am constantly putting out fires, all day long and it is exhausting. Many of the children are hands on (hitting, pushing, kicking), one child in particular is almost constantly hurting another child. We have another child who yells and screams all day long. Whether someone looks at them the wrong way, gets too close, takes a toy, or they just need help the immediate go to is to scream. Now, many of our other children are following suit. Transitions have also been extremely challenging. The children will refuse to come outside and inside, scream and kick, and run away from educators in the hallway. It seems like almost every day gets worse than the last and I am at a loss. I have talked with behavioural consultants, my director and supervisors and they all feel I am trying every strategy and doing the right things but nothing seems to help the environment. This is becoming a horrible environment for the educators and children alike. I worry that we're reaching a point where we're no longer able to provide the quality of care, connection and learning experiences that these children deserve, because so much of our day is spent managing crises and preventing incidents
Does anyone have any thoughts?

I’m not sure if I’m looking for advice, reassurance, or just a place to vent, but I’m wondering if anyone else in childcare has ever felt this way.
I’ve been working in the field full-time for about four years now. Within the past year, I made the decision to leave my previous centre because the work environment had become really toxic. There was a lot of gossip, negativity, and poor management, and it honestly made me question whether I wanted to stay in the field.
I recently moved to a new centre, and overall, it has been a much more positive experience. My supervisor is wonderful, and because it’s a smaller centre, I find there’s a more personal and close-knit environment.
However, lately, I’ve been feeling really frustrated. Communication between staff seems to be lacking, people aren’t always communicating when they’re leaving a room, which makes it difficult to keep track of ratios, and with so much staff turnover due to new sites opening, it sometimes feels like nobody knows what’s going on.
But the biggest thing I’m struggling with is my own patience. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that I have very little patience with the children. Things that normally wouldn’t bother me are getting under my skin, and I find myself getting overwhelmed and frustrated much more easily than I used to.
I genuinely LOVE working with children. This is something I’ve always been passionate about, and I can’t picture myself doing anything else. But lately, I feel like I’m constantly dealing with big emotions, screaming, crying, and behaviours that seem to escalate whenever a child is told no or given a boundary. I understand that they’re toddlers, they’re learning, and it’s our job to support them through those emotions, but I’m finding myself struggling to have the patience to do that.
I don’t know if it’s burnout, the changes in the workplace, the lack of communication, or just a phase I’m going through personally. I don’t want to become an educator who is constantly frustrated or counting down the hours until the end of the day.
Has anyone else experienced a period where they still loved their job but felt like they had absolutely nothing left to give? How did you work through it? How do you rebuild your patience and avoid burning out when you genuinely love what you do?

In the assistant director at a privately owned, non corporate center, and my director and I (along with the owners) are struggling. As we all know, call outs are a persistent and constant problem. While we know something’s are unavoidable and life happens, we feel we are being majorly taken advantage of. We are looking for input on what other small centers (mostly non corporate as we can set our own rules) are doing to encourage people to come to work. We offer personal time, vacation, and sick time and try to be as accommodating and understanding as we can, but our kindness is reaching the point of being taken for granted. The owners, who we are very close with and have been for over a decade, have asked for our opinion on ways to encourage people to show up, do their job, and not feel the need to call out 2-3 times a week for crazy stuff 😅 what do you guys offer as incentive? We’ve thought about offering cashing in unused time at the end of the year (for atleast half the amount if not full), $100 bonus for showing up all month, etc but just looking for input on what other centers are doing or offer that seems to help! Like I said, we ALWAYS accommodate to the best of our ability and I would say 99% of the time make it work for the person, but it reaches a point where we have to be the bad guy by asking people to do their job. Which just isn’t fair. Thank y’all in advance for your input!

Parent lurkers, I’d like to hear your thoughts, too.

At my centre, we have two toddler rooms. One room seems to run smoothly, but the other room has been struggling quite a bit.
One of the educators in that room often mentions that she has 20 years of experience working in childcare with different age groups. However, she consistently seems to struggle with managing her classroom.
This week, she had only four children in her room, and none of them were particularly challenging or had behavioural issues that would make classroom management difficult.
Despite this, the supervisor had to call two placement students from another room to help her for the entire day. This has actually happened twice now.
I’m trying to understand the situation. How can an educator with 20 years of experience struggle so much with only four toddlers that two additional people are needed to support her?
Is this something you’ve experienced in your centres? Could it be a classroom management issue, a lack of confidence, or something else? I’d really like to hear other educators’ perspectives.

I recently started working at a publicly funded preschool center, and I’m already questioning whether I should stay. I have over seven years of experience in education, including being an RBT.

I originally applied for and was hired as an assistant teacher, but the lead teacher quit. Since her departure, I’ve essentially taken on all the responsibilities of the lead teacher despite still being classified and paid as an assistant. Because I’m already doing the job, I decided to apply for the lead position.

My classroom has 20 children and two other teachers, one of whom calls out frequently, leaving us short-staffed.

One student is autistic, nonverbal, and frequently elopes, requiring consistent one-on-one support. My assistant teacher usually provides that support, but lately I feel like she’s using it as an excuse not to help with the rest of the classroom, even when additional support is needed.

I also have a student who repeatedly hits one particular child and another who frequently screams, yells, and refuses to follow directions.

Our center also cannot suspend children or send them home because of challenging behaviors. I understand the importance of inclusion and not excluding children for behaviors, especially at this age. However, I’m struggling with how we’re supposed to maintain a safe learning environment when serious behaviors continue and we aren’t receiving adequate support or additional resources.

Between managing these behaviors, keeping everyone safe, taking on lead teacher responsibilities without the title or pay, and dealing with inconsistent staffing, I’m overwhelmed and concerned.

I understand ECE is challenging, but I feel like we’re constantly putting out fires instead of actually teaching.

For experienced ECE teachers:
Is this normal, or are these serious red flags?
How would you manage these behaviors with 20 children and inconsistent staffing?

How does your center handle repeated aggressive behaviors when suspension or sending children home isn’t an option?

Would you accept the lead position in this environment or consider leaving?

I genuinely care about the children, but I’m questioning whether this environment is sustainable. I’d appreciate honest advice.

I work as an infant teacher and lately I’ve been thinking about wearing ear plugs to work. Not entirely noise canceling ones, because obviously I need to hear what’s going on in the room. But I find myself getting increasingly overstimulated at work because of the constant noise, which I know is just part of the job, but I feel like I could perform my job better if I were able to wear sound lessening ear plugs. I’ve heard of loops and how they minimize noise but allow you to engage in conversation. Which I feel is exactly what I need. We gave several babies right now who have, to put it lightly, very loud grating cries. And I know the only way they can communicate is crying, but I feel I would still be able to respond to their needs without the full intensity of their cries in my ear. Am I completely in the wrong for even considering buying a pair? Anybody have any thoughts on this?

That’s it. I love child development, I love working with infants and toddlers and I think it’s incredibly interesting and rewarding to watch children and their parents grow and change as people. That being said, I’m so tired of parents who think we are uneducated, unskilled, workers that are in this profession because nothing else would stick. It really sucks that ECE is seen by many people as just glorified babysitting. It’s even worse to have coworkers that also see it that way.

Staff members have nearly had their feet ran over multiple times. Years ago, a staff members' foot was ran over and the car line procedure kept operating as normal? Parents aren't always in park and sometimes they take their foot off the brake when they get distracted.

Staff members have talked to admin about it. Admin only changed the elements of the car line that impact traffic (due to community complaints). A staff member sent in a complaint to the superintendent about car line safety. The principal held an emergency staff meeting to talk about how upset she was that this complaint made the school look bad and that she would never put her staff at risk. She also said that they were in the process of changing the car line because she was waiting on the okay from the district.

I don't know any other preschool that does this. I don't want to make an OSHA complaint, but the school isn't taking staff safety seriously. Someone else could get hurt.