Good evening
I have a couple parents in my preK class that would rather celebrate at home than trick or treat. Can you give me some activities to facilitate this as an exciting thing when their peers are chattering about going out.

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?

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.

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?

Hello, I’m a teacher assistant and I’m currently debating if what I did was the right choice.

So yesterday we had an accident where neither me nor my homeroom teacher noticed that a kid was scratched. I was the one who saw the scratch and notified her, her response was very dismissive and said it was probably the kid who scratched himself (personally didn’t agree cuz I checked his nails but I digress).

Cut to later in the day, we were having a play date with a new kid and the kid’s mom comes in asking if both of us could talk to her. My HT tells me to take the parents to their car so she could talk to the mom. I did and when I come back she tells me the mom asked about the scratch, I asked her what did she respond and basically she denied that the scratch happen in the classroom. I was baffled but didn’t say anything.

So today my principal comes in and ask about the situation, because this was escalated with head of campus, so she was asking questions. My HT denied that it happen in the classroom and was acting very dumbfounded that they were saying that it happen in the classroom. Again, I was baffled and it didn’t sit right with me. After school ended, I went with my principal and told her the truth, that we did see the scratch after it happened and that I did reported it. She thanked me and I left, but now I’m debating if I did the right thing by telling the truth.

Sorry if there is a lot of run on sentences, English is not my first language.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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

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!

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.

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!!

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.

Not much a vent more like just sharing my feelings

Currently thinking about stepping down from my current position as a lead teacher. While I’m happy to have had this amazing opportunity and really was able to challenge myself I’ve realized my heart isn’t in this anymore. I want to be in a classroom, I love the children and I love seeing their development but I hate doing it in a lead position. I honestly feel that I still need more time to truly understand the curriculum and the mindset of what it is we do ( not a traditional daycare).

A few months ago I experienced two unexpected losses, after those losses I’ve started to think about myself and my happiness. I think also the response of my coworkers was also a factor as some were understanding and others were talking badly about me behind my back. A veteran teacher asked me a question recently that really sat in my mind “ are you really here for the children or are you here to just go with flow and leave” of course I know she didn’t mean it in a negative was but more as a reflection for me. As I reflected I realized while I want to be for the children I cannot kept doing it in a position that I’ve been dreaming about leaving. I love being an assistant I love being in a supportive role and most of all I no longer want to be that face of communication - parent emails and conversations actually don’t stress me I’m very comfortable to have parent meetings but I just don’t want to be that person anymore.

I’ve also noticed changes in my body that just scare me so much I know it’s because I just feel so much on my shoulders. I have no assistant of my own and I feel like in doing the work of 4 people with 1 person pay. I want a better work life balance, I don’t even have my license and I never have time for it because I’m either lesson planning outside of school or working on my training ( I don’t even have a planning time 😭). I know stepping down will allow me to have that time I need to do all of that.

Just needed a space to share my thoughts but it’s a move I’m considering

Hi everyone! I'm planning to open my own daycare in a few years and want to enroll in an online university program. However, I was wondering if there are any highly recommended programs that focus especially on the business aspects, such as grant proposals, business plans/structure, and child well-being? I'd prefer only accredited school programs. Thank you !

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

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! ❤️

Would you consider a sensory table with water (maybe like 8 cups?) mixed with a tiny bit of unscented hand soap (like 1/4 teaspoon) unsafe for a 1 year old? The argument was that the soap was unsafe because they might ingest some of it.

So I have to do a PDP and one of my goals is to learn more about ECE. Is there any specific trainings yall would recommend for EHS, preferably free.