#daycare work

[elijones94]

🐾 At the daycare and preschool where I work, I often get drawing requests nonstop. This morning, a little boy asked me to draw a cat for him. Though they’re often challenging at times, I do enjoy giving drawings to my young daycare and preschool friends. Drawings have ranged from sharks to monster trucks to superheroes and princesses. 🐈

[bumblebeerror]

Quick tip from your local daycare worker:

If you decide to work at a daycare or learning center: you need to more than like kids.

You need to love kids.

And you need to be genuinely interested in them and their welfare.

You need to care about kids, no matter how irritating they can be.

Thinking they’re cute? Not enough.

Liking kids? Not enough.

You will not last more than a few months if you just like kids.

[violent-optimism]

5 Lessons I learned from Working at a Daycare

Hello, friends!

Yesterday was my last shift at my summer daycare job. Overall, I am very grateful for the experience of working there. Some days were not very fun, but I learned a lot, and I just thought I would share some of the most important (and funny) lessons from my time spent there.

So if anyone is interested in working with kids, or wants to have kids of their own, I think these will be valuable lessons for the most part!

1) The kids you work with can either make or break the daycare experience

This one is pretty obvious, but I feel it needs to be said. You wouldn’t think that a single, poorly behaved child would turn your work day into a nightmare, but it is possible and has happened to me. On the flip side, when certain children are not in attendance, the day can flow like an absolute dream! Everyone listens, no one throws a tantrum, the kids are respectful, etc. Those days were my favourite, and it’s a shame it couldn’t happen every single day. I’ve had a full spectrum of different children, to kids who behaved like perfect angels with the best manners I’ve ever seen, to kids who are violently aggressive towards both other kids AND teachers. I think it’s important to remember that violent children are not inherently “bad”, but at the same time, when they are not in attendance, the day tends to run much smoother.

2) Kids can make you laugh and make you cry

Fortunately for me, I only cried once during my whole time working at the daycare. I’m lucky that it wasn’t a case of being harassed or abused by a child in my care because I know that has happened to some of my co-workers. Basically, a child got injured right in front of me before I could stop it from happening. She was hurt pretty bad and would not stop crying/screaming. Fortunately, one of my co-workers took over to help with the injury while I started to fill out the mandatory incident report. When I was writing the report I just started to cry and I couldn’t stop. I just felt so bad for the girl and I wish there was something I could have done to help her sooner. Two of my amazing co-workers gave me some supportive words, and five minutes later the girl was playing and it was like she had completely forgotten about getting hurt. Needless to say I was very relieved.

As I’m pretty sure most of you know, kids can say some ridiculously funny things (see: random daycare stories 1-3). These are the moments that make daycare work worthwhile, because nothing is funnier than hearing a very random/ridiculous comment and having it brighten up your whole day.

3) Get used to gross tasks!

If you’re someone who gets squeamish at the sight of bodily fluids/functions, I might suggest an alternative career path.

Prior to this job, I had never changed a diaper before. It always seemed really complicated for some reason and I just never had a chance to learn. However, now at the end of the summer, I’ve changed so many diapers it doesn’t even phase me. I might not be the quickest at it, but I can now do it properly and without feeling grossed out.

Apart from this, I won’t get into details or anything but I’ve done some pretty icky things during my work haha you just kind of get used to gross things after a while. Although that being said, I still don’t like the sight of runny noses.

4) Don’t forget about self-care

Most of the time (like 90% of the time), daycare work can be chaotic. If there’s 20+ kids playing in one room, it can be really hard to speak or even think. That being said, it is also extremely easy to forget that you need to use the washroom, or that you haven’t eaten in 3 hours. While there may be some moments where you literally cannot leave the room (if other staff or busy), please remember that your self-care is extremely important and you need to look after yourself too. If you aren’t performing at your best, you won’t be able to supervise the children effectively.

5) Daycare work is not for everyone

I cannot stress this enough. I think it takes a very particular type of person to not only deal with multiple kids five days a week, but also accomplish the daily tasks that go along with daycare work (cleaning, laundry, making snacks, etc.).

I’ve prepared something of a checklist for those who might be interested in working with kids. Someone who works in a daycare needs to be:

- Patient, like...SUPER patient and understanding with kids

- Able to diffuse conflicts between children in a calm, mature way

- Caring, gentle, and empathetic

- Unafraid of disciplining children (verbally) and confronting problematic behavior

- Someone who genuinely loves being around kids. Like, don’t say that you do when you actually don’t.

- Someone who isn’t afraid to be silly when playing with kids (they love it!)

And there you have it, folks!

I will be happy if I was able to bestow at least a bit of wisdom onto someone. Keep in mind that I am by no means an expert in early childhood education, all of these tips and points come purely from my experience working in a daycare this summer.

It’s a bittersweet resignation for sure, I will miss most of these kids dearly. I’m sure I will see them again someday!

Sorry this was a bit longer than I intended, thank you for reading!

[elijones94]

🍫🍭 Happy Valentine’s Day from Lake Land College!! 🎁🎩

[grand-romantic]

Happy teacher appreciation week! Shout out to my students who are active baby geniuses!! My fave reason to smile! 💖💖💖💖

[grand-romantic]

Even tho my job sucks, knowing the parents would abandon the center for me is always a confidence boost.

Me: im thinking about leaving-

All of my parents: WHICH DAYCARE? PLEASE TELL ME. CAN I HAVE YOUR NUMBER?

[uniquely-tired]

Work makes me crazy but sometimes a parent text you that their kid on the way home yells "I LOVE MISS GRACE!" out of nowhere and then I love it again

[iwishiwasntreal]

I was just informed by a kid at daycare that it takes him 19 minutes to poop, guess I'll be here awhile 💀💩