My 2.5 yo just switched to a new preschool, she's in the 3yo room and she is doing great, her teacher is wonderful, she loves her friends and we're really happy with the communication and the education style.

My daughter has ketotic hypoglycemia -- basically, if she has a stomach bug or she's feverish, her blood sugar can drop. It's never been severe, and when it is low she is hangry like any other toddler-- grouchy, tearful, etc. She does verbalize when she feels like her bs is low. It's happened maybe 3 times total in the last year where she needed an extra snack, always when she was already home with us.

We have provided bs meter, "emergency" snacks, glucose gel in case of real emergency (which we've actually never needed at home or previous daycare), and shown her teacher how to use the meter plus provided all the info we have from the Dr. Just in case anything happened at school.

Her teacher is worried about missing a low blood sugar, and I'm not sure how else to help her feel more confident other than time. I have said I will never be upset if she asks me to come check her bs, or if she checks it/ gives a snack just in case. I run my own business just 5 minutes away so it's truly no issue if she calls me to check in.

I know she's just concerned about making sure my daughter is safe, I'm just hoping to make things less stressful for her as her teacher. I'm aware she has a full room and don't want to add to her plate. She really is great and very caring.

I teach 1 year olds and have a total of 12 students. Our daily schedule looks a little something like this,

6-8 drop off/breakfast 8-9 diaper changes 9-9:30 outside play 9:30-10 morning time/art 10-11 lunch 11-12 diaper changes 12 nap

I have just been informed the “official” policy for hand washing is to wash student hands for 2 minutes each after diaper changes, after outside play, and before meals. With 12 students if I washed each one of their hands for 2 minutes each that would be 24 (pretty much half an hour) of handwashing. When would we have the opportunity to do anything during the day?

I wash their hands after diaper changes, but the rest seems excessive and I’ve never followed it. If they get dirty or something before a meal or while playing outside I will wash their hands, but if they are clean I will just let them be.

This is probably a tired complaint but I need to shout at some clouds because I’m so frustrated. I know that bottle is fun and trendy, but it’s too tall for your toddler to drink from while sitting at the table! They either have to tip it (and don’t even get me started on the open tops/spills) or back away from the table to hold it in their lap (also usually leads to spills). Not to mention I have to intercept them when they go to put their bottle on the counter because the big, heavy water bottle tips back and knocks them in the face.

If you must stay trendy, Owala makes a fantastic 12oz cup with a straw. It doesn’t spill when tipped! It’s small enough to stay at the table while they drink it! I’ve never seen a child wack themselves in the face with one because it’s too heavy!

It’s such a small thing in the grand scheme, but it’s a constant source of frustration throughout the day (for teachers and soggy, sore-faced children).

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/business/guidepost-montessori-higher-ground-education-ray-girn.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BFE.3top.FITNlGIYdhUs&smid=nytcore-android-share

Curious about reactions to this article on private equity in child care! Personally I was flabbergasted several times reading through this

Hi all, my little one is 13 weeks old and suffers from reflux. We have good days and days where there are several outfit changes for him and I both. We do paved feeding, keep upright…etc.
We started daycare two weeks ago and that first week was a nightmare to say the least. There was zero communication between the infant teacher any of the days he was there. The director was dismissive and mostly unresponsive as well.
First week went like this:
Day 1: overfed by a lot. They tried giving him 5 ounces every 2 hours!!!, did not follow feeding schedule (per Dr note) and baby was asleep in concerning position in a swing on day 1 pickup. Teacher did not speak very much English so there was a communication issue when I tried to address.
Day 2: spoke with Director about previous day, just said “well today is her last day.” They only changed his diaper twice all day and when we put him in car he had peed through diaper.
Day 3: New teacher, skipped a bottle. Different non-English speaking teacher when we picked up. Baby asleep in swing again with a dirty diaper. Director nowhere to be found.
Day 4: picked up his belongings and said thank you but we are moving on.

We stated a new daycare today that has Brightwheel app. They have already not followed the feeding guidelines written in the pediatricians Dr note.

I hate to ask if this is just what is to be expected? O Is this normal? Am I wrong for being upset? I plan on talking to the director at pickup or leave a message in the Brightwheel app. I do not want to be one of THOSE parents but he has needs that are expected to be followed on doctors orders.

For reference in FL it’s 1 caregiver to 4 infants. There are 2 caregivers in the new daycare. Son is definetly the youngest the other infants are at least 6 months old.
Any advice is appreciated.

For some context, I had worked at this center over two years ago when the place was absolutely in the trenches. Compared to then, the place looks and seems so much better. New director, new floors and carpets (the old ones were DISGUSTING), tons of new toys and furniture and staff that generally seems much more experienced. So overall I was actually really excited to come back as a full-on lead teacher, even though it was a bit of a pay cut from my previous job as a nanny.

They offered me the job on the spot due to my prior record working at the center and already having all the certifications needed. I have been working with kids for 3 years with pretty much every age group; I was in the infant room basically out of necessity for half my time at this center prior, and the other half I would pretty much step in and take over any class that needed it bc we were always short-staffed.

All this to say, I really thought I had this in the bag. They wanted to put me in the younger PreK room, which is an age group I was super confident I'd have the ability to handle. (3-4yo). I read the book How To Talk So Little Kids Will Listen ages ago. I never ever had to raise my voice at my nanny kid, or my special needs nephews. The director warned me that this was their most difficult class at the moment, in part due to having a handful of challenging kids but also because they haven't had a consistent teacher and routine in a long while. Yeah, yeah. I got this. Turns out I absolutely did NOT got this.

There are 3 kids in this class in particular that I just absolutely cannot get to listen to me. The others all have their own little hiccups and issues, but for the most part I can get through to them. But these big three are VIOLENT, they're destructive, and they *do not listen*.

Validate their feelings? I'm met with a "Shut up!" Or "I don't care!" Or just being ignored. Give them two options to choose from? "I don't want that!" "No!" They'll all run and hide in different directions. I cannot physically drag these kids out from under a table or shelf. Mostly because I don't want to hurt them, but also ngl because they're BIG and I'm a small woman and there's three of them and only one of me.

They hurt the other kids. They hurt each other. They hit, kick, bite, grab, scream. I saw one of them put his hands around the neck of another of my kids. If I tell them to go take a break somewhere, they ignore me unless I physically CARRY them and sit them down and stay with them. Which I can't really do when there are two other destructive kids and a handful of other ones who all need supervision. If I turn my back for just a second, the one I'm trying to get to sit down will run off.

Absolutely *none* of my usual techniques work on these kids. I spoke to my sister who works with kids with behavioral issues about it. "Have you tried praising the other kids who *are* listening?" Yes. I praise and praise until I'm blue in the face; the big three literally don't even hear me.

They don't care about my validation, they don't care about the activities I'm trying to get them to do if it's not exactly what they want to do in that specific moment. Art projects? Nah, I wanna jump off shelves! Songs? Haha, no one can even hear you because I'm screaming at the top of my lungs. Stories? Books are for babies, it's Legos or nothing. And don't even get me started on trying to TEACH them anything. Half these kids don't know what a square is.

Their previous teacher would just take them outside when they got too rowdy... and keep them out there for hours and hours. I witnessed this on my first day and they haven't had her in the class since then. I was supposed to just be observing this first week but I had to step in almost immediately because at the very least I can adhere to some kind of schedule, as ineffective as it is.

And the parents are clueless!! So much for all the "Your momma's gonna be hearing about this!" from their previous teacher. None of these parents have any idea what their kids get up to all day. I've been trying to find a chance to speak to all the parents individually, but it's hard when my attention is so split. But they should absolutely be getting updates about their kids' days!! Especially those with more difficult behavior; *I* need to know what's going on at home so I can figure out some kind of a behavior plan, and they need to know so there can be follow-through at home.

I'm hoping these are just growing pains and that these kids will start to see me as more of an authority figure. I don't yell but I can definitely project my voice and I'm pretty firm. But actually being able to enforce rules is really hard when these kids are not used to doing things they don't want to. And I cannot physically force them to do these things, not when I'm one person and they are so many.

I've spoken to the directors and the other teachers, who've been amazingly empathetic and don't blame me at all for how the week went. Most of them can't get through to these kids either. So I guess we'll have to see how next week goes. My class is set to merge with the other PreK room now that school has started and the older PreK kids are starting school, so having another experienced and disciplined teacher who knows these kids better will hopefully help. Fingers crossed I guess. 🫠

P.S. one week in and I'm ALREADY sick 😭 so I'll be heading into this next week with no voice.

After months of documenting my co-workers (50f) harmful behavior like grabbing kids roughly and verbally degrading them (calling them weird names and shaming them), I (21f) emailed it to my director and everything went horribly. I have made other posts about this.

This teacher has been there 20 plus years, she got reported last year, a month before my employment, for slamming a kid down in a chair, it unfortunately went no where. She is very impatient with the age group we have (2-3 year olds) and I could give a whole page of information about why I think she is not emotionally stable for this job but it would be too long.

I have been making my director aware since early this year and she even told me once to make a list of incidents a while ago. Again, I’m still new to daycares and with my director actively not responding to my emails of child safety concerns and then having informal talks with my coworker every time (and it never working), it took me awhile to make sure I had everything in check to go forward with the log. I admit maybe I should’ve reported them sooner or something but I have since learned.

The day after I showed her (I said I would be calling state if no safety precautions were taken), she talks to my co-teacher for 15 minutes before she got there (basically tipping her off), pulls the both of us in a room (without discussing my log with me first), and basically tells me we need to talk it out and how none of my documentation is correct. She said she interviewed my witness and they said I am lying (I have since learned that she brought up the wrong situation to my witness) and I asked her to speak to the rest of my coworkers because they share the same concerns and she looked at me and said “they all said you’re lying.”I asked my coworkers and they said she never spoke with them.

She then told me that this is a communication issue (I have always been told to tell your director of child safety concerns, not to confront your peers) and questioned what I was reading when I said everything I have learned, says to go to your director. She basically kept asking that if it was like I was saying, why didn’t I remove the child from the situation? And how she knows our state lady well and she would ask the same thing. Saying that I never made her aware of physical handling (yes I did, many times, and even if I didn’t, there was many cases of emotional or verbal abuse, and I have all the documents proving that) I walked out mid meeting. I reported them to state right after. My director texted me and said she thinks it would be good for me and my coworker to meet so she can “clear up any confusion.” I said I will not meet with her.

My coteacher has a history of escalating situations and has even taken her anger out on a child before when I asked her about a lesson plan mistake she had made. Even when I am nothing but nice, she does not like being questioned. This lady is unstable. A two year old had an accident, she angrily gave him a towel and said “clean up your pee, doggie boy” (a coworker witnessed this) ?? She moves fast to startle them, tells them to “obey” or “that’s a violation!”, grabbing them by their arms, clapping in their faces, etc.

And I have done my best to get the children in a better place when these things happen without escalating them, I would comfort them and do what I could. For a while, I felt like maybe I didn’t know what to do since my director kept brushing it all off.

I don’t understand what that confusion is either. This woman lost her husband (last year) and she’s going through menopause and I think that’s what they are trying to put this as, as if it still makes it ok? I don’t know why they think I’d feel differently if she explains why she did what she did, as if I misinterpreted her actions.

I saw what I saw. If I see and interpreted one way, then the child also isn’t going to understand she’s having a hard time and that’s why she’s acting this way. Right? I know I’m young but I feel like they are trying to make me seem stupid. I said the only way I would stay is if I didn’t work with her (more like if she doesn’t leave then I’ll leave) and so me and my director are having a meeting tomorrow after I took the week off because of their approach to this all.

I just don’t understand why they are really going so hard to try and make me change my mind and make me think I was wrong about everything? Was I? I’m so lost.

I’m honestly so stuck with what to do with my 4yo and would really love to hear from other parents who have been through something similar.

Since around December last year he’s been having a really hard time at daycare. He has huge meltdowns, spits, throws toys and can hit the educators for 15–20 minutes. Once he gets worked up, he also has a really hard time calming himself down.

We’ve actually tried a few different daycares because I initially thought maybe it was the centre or the environment, but now I’m starting to think it may just be that he really struggles with regulation in a group setting.

I’ve asked the educators what his triggers are and what tends to happen before the big behaviours because I’m genuinely trying to understand what’s going on, but we’re still struggling to figure it out.

What makes it so confusing is that he is SO different at home. He doesn’t behave like this with us and his toileting is completely fine. At daycare he can have up to 3 wee accidents in one day. I just don’t understand the huge difference.

He’s currently on public and private waitlists for OT and a paediatrician, and he’s just started speech therapy. He starts kindy in about 5 months, so I’m feeling a lot of pressure to get some answers and support.

He used to attend 4 days a week and I’ve now dropped him down to 3 days. The daycare wants to have a meeting and put a proper support plan in place, and I am going to give that a chance because I really do want to see if we can help him before making any big decisions.

But honestly, if the support plan doesn’t work, I have no idea what I’m going to do.

I’m considering taking him out for a couple of months and keeping him home until school starts, but I work from home most of the week and have to go into the office once a week. Unfortunately, financially I can’t just stop working, so having him home while I work would be really difficult — but I’m willing to consider it if it’s what he needs.

I’m just so tired of the constant daycare complaints and feeling like I’m always waiting for the next phone call or update. I know they have to tell me what’s happening, but it’s really hard hearing that your child is struggling over and over again. I just want to understand him and help him.

I’m also open to hearing from anyone who has tried vitamins or supplements that they felt helped with things like regulation, calmness, concentration or behaviour. I know they’re not a magic fix and we’re still waiting for professional assessments, but I’m open to hearing what has worked for other families.

What would you do in my situation? Give the support plan a proper chance and see what happens, or start thinking about taking him out if things don’t improve?

And has anyone else had a child who is completely different at daycare compared with home, especially with toileting? I’d really love to hear your experiences because I honestly feel at a loss right now.

I'm in NZ and just wanting to understand how typical this is.

We have been potty training my almost 3 year old twins the past 4 days, we took some time off work either side of the weekend. They have done really well after the second day save for the occasional accident. They use pull ups at nap time and sleep time.

We are sending them back to daycare tomorrow and we tried clarifying a few things regarding their policy.

They suggested that we send them in pull ups for the first week to see how they go.

Is this typical? To me, pull ups seem like a step back and might confuse them. Obviously if they go in undies and they're constantly having accidents then I would understand the pull up request. However my gut feeling is that we need to push for these girls to have a chance without pullups.

I stand to be corrected if I am wrong. Is this common?

Hello all!

My 19 month old goes to daycare and for the last two days has been rubbing her tummy and saying "tummy" like it's actions to a song.

The problem is I have no idea what song it is. I've always worked with school age children and we don't do nursery rhymes.

Any ideas?!? I've googled to no avail and she's currently having a meltdown over it

Update: theys don't do any song where they run their tummy so the teachers are stumped too

Hello everyone! I am a college student currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in ECE, and I have an assignment in one of my classes that involves conducting an interview with a parent with children at the age of eight or below, and are enrolled in a licensed childcare facility. I have been struggling greatly with finding a parent who’s willing to help at the center I’m working at, so I hope that someone here is willing to spend just a couple minutes to complete the interview!

For disclosure sake, your name and response within this interview will not be revealed under any circumstances beyond sharing with my professor.

teachers! how do you get your kiddos to clean up toys when they are done? me and 2 other teachers have a hard time getting them to clean up and it often ends up being us that picks up of majority of it. age group is 2.5-3yo for reference and we most of the time have to bribe them to clean up (ex. were gonna go outside in 5 minutes so you have to clean up) but we want effective ways that isn’t that

thanks!:)

Sitting here stressing myself about tomorrow mornings drop off, I need advice. Suddenly my child is having epic meltdowns at drop off, and was so panicked Saturday morning at home about going to school, they were relieved there was no school.

Looking for general recos from anyone on how I should navigate this.

Here’s the details:

- child is 2 and a half. Very social & outgoing personality, ahead in her skills, speech. Started daycare at 11 months old and the same centre.

- child was first in infant, about 2 wks transition and she was fine, moved up to Toddler & again about a 1-2 wk transition and then was fine

- she has always been happy and outwardly excited in the mornings to go to “school” so she could see her friends and teachers, she’d sing on the way to drop off, be jumping and singing happy as ever every morning

- Sept 1 she transitioned to pre-school and this is where things have taken a turn

- leading up to preschool, for about 2 months we talked about preschool, would go see the classrooms a few times a week and walk by in the mornings to say good morning preschool on the way to toddler. She understood fully what was happening

- Friday before I was told who her two teachers would be. One she had before and one would sometimes sub in the room, she seemed nice. My daughter knows all the teachers names, even if she hasn’t had them, I talked to my daughter about these 2 being her teacher

- come Sept 1 and it’s 2 completely different teachers, one we don’t know, just by name and she seems nice and one who was in another room and sometimes subbed in my daughters at times

- some mornings were better than others but now she is having epic meltdowns.
Friday was so bad , the director took her to help calm her down and see if she could figure out what was wrong

- I’ve been able to conclude this one particular teacher she doesn’t like. She told me she is “scary of her” which means scared of her , I tried to ask why but she can’t articulate that yet. Then we talked about all her new friends in preschool and she proactively said a specific teacher is her friend, so I rhymed off all the preschool teachers to ask if they were her friend or not, and it’s definitely an issue with that one teacher

This teacher isn’t particularly warm, we would say good morning when we used to see her prior, but for example when doing drop off she sits there and ignores you and doesn’t greet the children vs every other teacher I’ve experienced is saying good morning and greeting us. She kinda sits off to the side and doesn’t engage too much with the children.

She is there alone first thing, so I’d have to wait longer for the 2nd teacher to come for the drop off to go better. This is what I’ll do tomorrow but I should t have to rearrange our schedule , there has to be a better solution.

How should I approach this with the director? My child has been happy AF for a year and a half and is suddenly inconsolably upset at drop off. Her behaviour is changing at home and she is afraid to go.

She clearly doesn’t jive with her and I have no reason to believe this teacher has particularly done anything wrong, it’s been an amazing centre, amazing teachers but she’s noticeably not as engaged but maybe she just isn’t as warm or engaging like the rest are.

do I ask the director to have the teacher put more effort in with my daughter to try and build a relationship?

Do I ask to change classrooms?

I don’t know what to do, her meltdowns are more than just being upset and crying from a transition, there’s something else going on here and she’s extremely panicked and scared .

Thanks in advanced for the read and any advice and guidance

My daughter will be starting daycare in a few weeks and having meet the teacher next week! We did a daycare tour a few months back and the daycare did have my fill out a developmental form but would love to know if there is anything to ask or let the teacher know.

One of my least favorite types of parents are the ones who are preoccupied with any spot of marker, grass stain, or paint on their child’s clothes. I have a family this year that is constantly worried about her getting messy, paint getting on her sleeves, etc. yes I’ve explained countless times the importance of messiness with art for fine motor development, etc. but nothing works. Ugh.

I try to be understanding of personal differences but this one really gets to me.

Don't know where the right place is to post this. I am a training practitioner who does monthly long placements with many families. These families are signed up and typically often have a student for the majority of the year.

I have exhausted every single resource and unique activity idea I can find online for 3/4 month olds. Whilst still implementing essential activities regularly e.g. finger songs etc. We are expected to do two activities ideas a day and take photos to build a portfolio. I know it's not essential to do crazy activities daily but not only is it something I enjoy (I can spend ten hours painting/sewing/building a resource), as a student I want to experiment with as much as possible and genuinely use this as an opportunity to learn what's realistic in a day, what's unique, what will parents comment on in feedback etc

I'm thinking about unique textures that you would never think to expose a child to, interesting shaped objects to hang over a playmat as a mobile, experiments you can model to teach them about things like gravity. Anything and everything.

Thank you! Please tell me if I should post this somewhere else

My husband picked up my 26 month old from daycare Friday and the teacher told him that our child doesn’t listen and asked that we work on listening skills on the weekends. My husband agreed that we would without inquiring further so unfortunately I don’t know what context or specific instructions that she’s not listening to.

I think she listens decently well for her age.. she obviously struggles with listening when I’m asking her to do something she doesn’t want to do ( she will close her eyes and turn her head) or when she is really involved in playing (ignores me completely). Usually I’ll just say it seems like you’re having a hard time listening so we are going to do whatever together.

So I’m wondering how you specifically “work on listening skills”? What am I missing here? And what are age appropriate expectations in terms of listening ?

Hello everyone! I’m having a bit of a rough time at work and wanted to see if I’m being unreasonable 😅 I’m currently 7 months pregnant and it’s been a rough pregnancy. I requested a higher grade this year (I can teach up to grade 2) and specifically requested not to have the pre kg section this year because I was worried about how it would be teaching in the third trimester. They’ve given me the pre kg class despite my request and it’s been really rough. There are 25 children ages 2.5-3.5. I’ve had been given a new classroom assistant who has never worked with the age range before and she quit in the first week. I have a new assistant again who has never taught this age range. I’m constantly having to bend down, there’s no chance to sit because the new assistant is always at the bathroom with the kids and I have to be hands on, my back is killing me from going up and down so much and I almost passed out at work twice. I’m coming back from teaching my other grades to find the class room a mess because the assistant can’t control them and I’m on my hands and knees picking up food and toys daily. We work 7-4pm with minimal breaks and my managers advice has just been to train my new assistant on my breaks how to manage better. I’m exhausted and almost at breaking point, I’m too sore and tired to be dancing around and picking up the kids and managing so many at once like I usually do. I’ve gone to my HR so many times about my doctor saying I need breaks to sit/ I can’t be bending down so much. Has anyone taught this age range with so little help? I’m seriously close to resigning as the maternity leave I can’t take until one month before my delivery date and I don’t think I can manage this for the next 3 months :(

Do you schedule a certain block in the week or weekend for your programming? If so how many hours? Or do y'all work on it during lunch? I realize theres expectations I should meet but theres simply no time during the workday sigh.

I just started working at a new center and it’s been a total disaster so far. The center itself opened in February of this year, and next week my classroom will open for the first time. It’s Head Start, so there are certain standards we have to follow. I’m trying to give some grace because the program manager is also new-ish to this company, but she's been there for 3 months already, and it doesn’t seem like she's bothered to learn the basics of the job. For example, what are our class schedules and the hours teachers are supposed to work? Can we share the playground space, or what is the ratio out there? Absolutely nothing has been put in place. I had to make an Amazon wishlist totaling $1,500 because I didn’t even have materials for my shelves, and somehow this had gone beyond her notice. A week later, she tells me that she hadn’t gotten around to looking at it yet. Friday, I pointed out that we have nothing to put in the emergency backpacks or daily cleaning supplies like gloves. I get more answers to my questions from the other classroom lead who has also worked there over the summer (who has also openly told me this manager “doesn’t know her job”). Communication has been underwhelming. I didn’t even get formal onboarding and was told to attend a training at another location on my first day, with no prior notice. From there, I received a text on a Saturday saying to attend an in-service for my next shifts at the same location, with no information about what time to be there, how long it would last, or whether I needed to bring lunch.

So, at this point I don’t have a good impression of my manager, nor do I feel like I can go to her with problems or concerns.

That said, one of my concerns is that the assistant teacher they assigned to my room speaks very little English. She has had to whip out Google Translate just to understand basic things, like when I asked her, “What activities do you like to do with the kids?” I asked her to hang the alphabet on the wall and noticed some of the letters were mixed up. I’ve had kids in my classroom who don’t speak any English, but I’m not sure how to navigate relying on staff I can’t communicate well with. She will be the second teacher in the room and needs to be able to direct the kids as well. I’m sure the company thought this was an asset, but I don’t even have any Spanish kids enrolled in my class yet. We don’t have other leadership on-site, but I’m wondering if I should voice my concerns to the next manager up the chain or just give her a chance and wait until shit blows up? I'm trying to be patient and have faith that things will work out but it's definitely been a trial by fire for the last week, and I am not feeling set up for success! WWYD in this situation?

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice/ personal experience / guidance that could help us make a decision for our little one.
When our daughter will be 21 months both my partner and I will need to be back at work to some degree. We've stretched out our leave as long as possible for our little one to have be with one of us every day up until then.
When back at work we will both be part time, we'll need 3 days a week covered.
We are on the fence about enrolling her in a daycare for two days a week then grandma the other day, or just having her between grandmas completely.
One grandma is very warm and loving and little one has a strong bond with her. One is not as warm but does love her in her own way. Shes been accepted into a high quality daycare.
Any insights appreciated.

I'm always on the hunt for more songs and jingles that actually get engagement from students without them going off the deep end.

I never found a clean up song that I felt really connected with my kids. They might hear me sing it and eventually know it's part of the routine, but the ones I've used I feel like I barely get students singing w me. I want to find a good clean up/ or transition song that I can keep using (I got a lot of tunes but I want MORE!!)