This community is not here to provide your company with free market research or to advertise your app idea.

Just a curious parent. It's wild to think people go to school, get a degree in ECE and any number of specialties to best serve and understand children, but most parents are just out here roughing it with no education in the field whatsoever, just leaving the hospital and raising our nations children on vibes, childhood trauma, and reddit posts lol

So out of curiosity, do you think that having an ece background has made parenting your own children a smoother/easier/more manageable experience? Either in the age range you work with or just as a whole?

Thanks for all the hard work you do!

I’m so mad. I’m the lead teacher and have had this foster child for only about a month now. My coworker came excitingly up to me to tell me she found how his bio dad is a third cousin of her ex boyfriend?? And has been messaging him. She told me, “the foster parents told him he goes to our daycare and he’s coming to the Halloween parade” and has been sending him links to baby clothes he should buy.

I’ve told the director and all I’ve been told is “I know, they’re cousins” no. They’re not.
It’s not a coincidence she reconnects with a long lost “family member” we all signed NDAs

I want to let the foster mom know.

I feel like this is a trivial thing to complain about but I work in an infant/toddler room and I feel like we’re constantly running out of bibs. I just recently bought a brand new pack of 10 bibs and not even two weeks later only three out of the 10 I bought are left.
We also have spare clothes for when a child doesn’t have extra. The parents are supposed to return the borrowed clothes back along with their own extra clothes for their cubby, but most just keep them, and we now have almost no spare clothes. We’ve given noticed in the past about this too, to please send it back as we have limited supply of extra clothes for the classroom, but no one listens.

Also, when we ask for donations for bibs and clothes, it’s very rare that we actually get any. Yet when we buy things with our own money the parents just keep them for themselves.

I work in a Montessori daycare with toddlers, and on Sunday I woke up with pink eye (which I mostly likely got from a toddler).

I emailed my boss/director letting them know that I wouldn't be able to come in on Monday (today) due to being highly contagious, especially because I hadn't started a course of antibiotics and by the time I did, it wouldn't have been 24 hours by the time I had to go into work.

My director tells me that I can still come in despite pink eye being highly contagious, but understands that I would want to take the day to rest and get better.
I get an email addressed to the whole daycare (other workers and parents) that there is a case of pink eye at the school (me, lol) and that kids are still allowed to come in as long as they're not in pain or discomfort.

This email made me really angry! Why are we allowing highly contagious diseases to spread so nonchalantly? Especially when pink eye is so easily transmittable.

For reference I work at a pretty bougie daycare... Parents would be able to easily afford keeping their children at home for a few days while their child stops being contagious. Also, I just started working here about a month ago, so I'm fairly new to what is passable for daycares compared to public school.

Anyway.

What are other people's experience with pink eye / other highly transmissible viruses in day care?

I want to start by saying we normally love our sons's daycare and haven't had any issues thus far. However, there are two new kids in my son's daycare class (he is in the 2-3 year old room). They are twins and having a hard time adjusting (understandable, not a big deal). Today, the teachers told me my son wouldn't nap because of the noise from the other kids. When I went to pick him up at 2:30, one of his teachers was laying on the floor next to his cot playing a game on her phone, and he was hanging over the side of his cot watching her. I'm not sure how long they had been like this.

I understand that the nap time is also the teacher's break, but I don't like the idea of my son just watching someone play games on their phone when he isn't able to sleep.

I don't think it happens often, but is it worth bringing to the lead teacher? Or the admin? Thanks!

Hi all! My 3 y/o daughter (turned 3 in Sept) just started at a preschool 2 days a week at the beginning of this school year. When she was a baby, she never took a pacifier and what ended up soothing her was touching her bellybutton. Ever since, whenever she is anxious or bored, she will touch her bellybutton. She says it helps her “feel safe”. I haven’t thought of it as an issue, just a weird quirk, but if it helps her feel better I don’t mind.

She told me that recently at school, her teachers have been telling her to stop touching her bellybutton. It’s never been a behavior I’ve discouraged and I’m wondering if I should be? Her teachers haven’t said anything to me about it, but I was thinking it would be something I would start discouraging when she was a little bit older.

Hi all, I have a strange new problem in my life regarding stress and dreams. (Remove this post if it's not a good fit for the forum, I am not sure if this is too heavy!)

Short and relevant background:

I have always experienced vivid dreams and sleepwalking. I started this position as a floater at a local center in my city 6 months ago. I had not never worked at a center before and while it was overwhelming, I thought I was starting to settle in and find my footing. The center has had a lot of turnover since I started and we have had a lot of very stressful weeks of bare bones, just enough to meet ratio, staffing. I am already looking at other jobs but I know that the longer I stay, the better it looks for job-hunting.

The Dreams:

I have developed a case of work week anxiety (starts in the evening on any day I'm off and have work the next) every single week since I started. With this anxiety, I also have started having really strong and vivid dreams regarding work. Like, thinking and "seeing" kids from my center that I need to keep track of and care for. This keeps me in a state of really poor sleep/pseudo wake all night and I'm usually fried the next day. These dreams end up waking my partner up at night as I'm walking around my house and talking to kids that aren't there or rattling around in the bed. They remind me of "school dreams" but I never walked around my home because of them, nor did they cause me so many nights of poor sleep.

Weirdly enough, I hardly ever experience them on nights after I worked a shift. Perhaps it's due to just being so exhausted I don't dream or something else. I fill my off-days with lots of activities and make a point to work out. My partner has been encouraging me to look for another job and get out of this place before it causes a nervous breakdown.

Is this normal for a first-time ECE job or do I need to get out? What do you do to disconnect and de-stress after work?

Edit: thank you for the feedback! Will tell my director to get new cots

Really dislike how the mesh cots leave marks on their face.

Also when the younger toddlers try to roll over they get stuck because the dip is so deep.

Considering requesting nap mats but what do you guys think?

I posted a while ago on here about how I was hired for the role of assistant teacher but thought I was training to be a floater, but I was right. I’m a floater working 4 hours a day. This is incredibly frustrating because it’s a 20 minute drive to the center and I thought I could justify it by working full time, but I work 20 hours a week unless someone calls out.

The directors have repeatedly disregarded my schedule and hours I’m available. I work a second job at 5 three days a week, and they said they were totally fine with that during the interview. I even wrote down my hours available each day that I’m available AND made sure I got verbal confirmation from the directors that they understood. Now, they keep scheduling me until close (6) on the days I said I’m unavailable, and I keep having to have the same conversations with them about my availability to which they act like they had no clue. I have these same conversations with them at least 3 times a week and it’s maddening.

My hours are also very inconsistent. If I work from 10-2, they have me doing lunches and then the last hour if nobody needs potty I leave early so I’m not getting the full 4 hours anyway. They keep telling me that once they have enough kids in one of their mobile classrooms they will add me to that room immediately, but I have no idea how long that’ll take. Do I stick around for a bit and see if that happens or should I just start looking for other jobs just in case?

I know in any job really you have to be flexible, which is why I said I can do early mornings instead of the late afternoon on those days but they continue to ignore it. I’m left feeling unsupported and although a floater is the low end of the pole, I need something full time and can’t just wait the next 6 months until they’re ready for me.

i was accused of abuse and cleared of the charges. I was removed from the work environment for 2 months. I was cleared and now am returning to the childcare environment. So today was the first day back and I was out in with one classroom where the manager trusted that I would be treated well. The manager called me into her office today and told me without saying names that of the four age groups only one has shown no ill feelings towards me. she has addressed the rumors and issued consequences if she finds out someone is gossiping. There is only so much she can do. she also said that it’s going to be a long road if I choose to stick it out. So she asked how I was doing, I said the day was quiet. I need the pay check but I also want to keep my mental health in the positive zone. I was thinking of giving it two weeks, to see if things balance out. Is that long enough, or is it a waste of time. Any help is good thanks.

Hi you all!!

I have a child in my current class of 3’s who has very frequent accidents—mostly pee but occasionally poop. Our center is the first center he has been at and he started this past August. He is completely capable of using the potty, but we have noticed he is very shy. During his first day in our care, he was talkative and happy. On the second and third day, he felt very sad all day and it was hard to calm his tears down after drop-off. After that, he started barely speaking. Up until late last month, he hardly spoke at all. He will now raise his hand to answer questions during circle time and will respond to his teachers when directly spoken to. Which has been a HUGE WIN for us and we are so proud of him, though he still will not speak to us unless spoken to. And will not speak to friends unless spoken to as well. We brought it up to mom and she said she wasn’t sure why because he was talkative at home. He doesn’t seem to have any issues talking when mom and his brother are in the room during pickup. The main issue is that he has constant accidents—multiple times a day per week. And he doesn’t let us know when he does have an accident. My director suggested letting him use the bathroom alone because maybe he’s shy to use the potty with other boys in the bathroom. So we’ve brought him to the bathroom by himself multiple times per day. My director also suggested that maybe he’s embarrassed to tell us that he’s had an accident, so we’ve shown him “signs” he can use without speaking (putting a finger up or tapping us). My director also suggested maybe he’s afraid to let us know in case we have a negative reaction. Which is what stuck out to me most—we have both been using a less firm tone when reminding him it’s okay to tell a teacher if he needs to use the potty or if he’s had an accident. We’ve both been very careful when approaching him when we’ve noticed he has soiled pants and have been reminding him that “accidents happen”, and have also been gently reminding him that it’s okay to ask us to use the potty because we can take him, and it’s okay to have an accident because we can help him. Nothing has seemed to work.

Mom is very apologetic about it and it sort of makes me feel bad because it’s literally not her fault…she’s had conversations with him about it at home and all that. Im wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences and/or can offer some advice or any other ideas or suggestions.

My 12 almost 13 mo old will be starting daycare in one week. His is my first child and this is his first time in daycare. He is still not off bottles. He refuses to drink milk from anything but a bottle and I'm starting to panic spiral.

We've tried since 12 mo to get him off the bottle. We've tried straw cup (drinks water fine from this), traditional sippy cup, silicone sippy cup, different style straw cup. Different temperature of milk, different ratios of breastmilk to milk. He may take one sip at most then rejects it and gets upset if I try to push it.

I'm concerned because we start daycare in one week and have had no success at home with this transition. I'm concerned he's going to get dehydrated with the lack of fluids and also not get enough calories since we've had weight gain issues since birth due to CMPA.

Any recommendations on how to make this transition? Is it possible for him to see other kids drinking from the cups and he will copy? Or will he get thirsty/hungry enough to drink it while at daycare? Will the workers help him or give him more water during the day instead?

Hi! I'm a FT nanny (former ECE teacher) and I do babysitting on the side.

I know it's common for ECE teachers to also do babysitting, so I was wondering if any of you would be willing to share any babysitting policies that you have?

Things like:

*Your sick or cancelation policies

*What you need from parents before booking

I am planning to go to community college and major in ECE after I graduate. I am absolutely terrible at math. completely terrible. I am not taking a math class for my final year in HS so I wanna take the extra time I have to study math and get better before I begin college so I won't struggle as much as I have in the past. What math classes did you guys have to take and what classes do you recommend I take if I'm given the option to choose?

Before I was a preschool teacher, I was a lawyer, so I often lurk around the legal subs. Now, if someone bit my kid (who does not attend my school), I would not be thrilled about it. I also don’t think I would shove the toddler on the ground to “save” my kid. I’d like to think I’d use my training to intervene appropriately. Just curious what others here think.

I think I’m putting in my notice tomorrow. I have multiple children with high needs in my classroom of 8 and my TA keeps getting pulled. Fine because I’m in ratio… except one elopes, one punches himself and the other hits kicks and punches me and throws toys all over the room and guess how I’m supposed to handle this.. AI sticker sheets and prizes! Cause extrinsic motivation works so well... Easy to handle all by myself and not dangerous at all. I’m given 10 extra kids in my room some days because the room next door has no lead and only a TA. So it’s me and my TA our 8 and 10 3 year old kids we barely know. the last two leads in there have been terrible and only lasted a few weeks. One lasted one day. The kids both mine and the ones next door all nap in my room every day. Except they don’t nap because they have no routine and don’t even know what classroom is theirs. My child with Autism is struggling because of lack of routine. When I express I need help I receive passive aggressive statements from management because I had two other people in the room to help me put them to sleep. The assistant director tries to help and says she has no idea what to do because it is so out of control. The parents are all mad because their children aren’t in their classroom. The management is rude to me and my TA despite us taking on significant extra work without being asked, literally went around and took pink day photos in every room except mine. My final straw is a parent is now mad at me because the zipper fell off her child’s coat, I had it in my pocket for one or two days and when I found it in my pocket I threw the zipper away.

I know that PSU offers free ones, but where else do you find trainings that aren’t crazy expensive? The center I’m at doesn’t pay for trainings.

SAHM is caring for my baby in her home with her baby (3 weeks older than my child). The contract we have doesn’t say anything about her providing food and until he started solids I was only providing pumped bottles of breastmilk. We pay her a nanny share rate (higher than an in home daycare).

When her son first started solids I broached the subject and she didn’t commit herself to it (understandable). Before I ask again (if I do), just curious for other opinions. It’s kind of a gray area where in some ways she’s like my son’s nanny in terms of the contract, we gave her a week’s pay for a holiday gift, etc. But it’s also in her home and in home daycares tend to provide meals and snacks.

Plus, she’s making the food anyway for her son and it’s homemade like what I am sending in anyway. So it would be easy for her since she’s preparing it anyway? It would be fresher and easier than me packing food everyday but maybe I’m overthinking. Thanks!

Not sure how it is elsewhere, but in my country, infant ratio is 1:4. I’ve heard of some centres who do 1:3, and while it sounds like an absolute dream, I’m wondering how it’s even possible. Seems there aren’t enough good educators around to make such a thing possible.

What’s your current ratio, what’s your ideal ratio, and do you think your ideal ratio is plausible?

Parenting young children can have its challenges!

As certified and experienced early childhood development and education professionals, ECE teachers are expertly qualified to share our perspectives.

We can help with the following:

- Clarification on ECE policy and practice

- Strategies for supporting behaviour

- Developmentally appropriate practices and understanding

- Tips on choosing a high-quality centre

- Ideas on how to support teachers

- To sense-check something before asking your child's teacher

- And so much more!

Parents: this will be a monthly scheduled thread. Ask your ECE-related questions to ECE professionals here. You can also use the search function to see if your questions have been answered before.

Teachers: remember: you can filter out parent posts if you'd rather not participate at the moment.

To all participants: please remember- this is a diverse, inclusive community, with teachers from all over the world. Be respectful and considerate.

I work in the toddler room at my center (12-24 months) and one of my co-teachers had the idea of doing some sensory exploration with pumpkin guts. I think the kids would love getting to explore that but I want to make sure we do it safely. Has anyone does this before with this age group?

For some of the kids I think we'll definitely need to just let them touch it in a plastic bag, as they are currently exploring EVERYTHING with their mouth lol. I think some of the older ones could probably handle actually touching the pumpkin guts with the seeds taken out.

Ok, I know the title is TMI but I am absolutely freaking out. I managed to achieve a dream of mine and purchased a preschool. I closed on it this past Friday. My first official day as an owner is tomorrow and YALL!!! When I tell you I am so so nervous! I just want to be a good owner for my staff and families. I’ve worked in preschools for over 10 years but something about actually owning a facility just feels crazy and different. I have a mortgage to pay every month on the place now (obviously but I’m just writing it down because … you know 🥴🤪)

Anyways I really would like advice, stories anything anyone can offer on how to not screw this up. I’ve been reading books on running small businesses and I have worked in preschools before but I’d like to hear from others.

Did you go thru an ownership change? What did you like, what did you hate? I’ve never gone thru an ownership change when I worked as a teacher so I don’t know how the feels are and how families react. I had to also change the name of the school as the seller didn’t want me to keep it, so now the school has a new “identity”. 👀

HELP! And thank youuu