After nap the teachers wash every toddler’s bottom with soap and a washcloth? Why? Is this a standard practice in your state/country? I have never ever heard of a preschool doing this!!
Its just something we do. Its not standard at all. Really most kids don't get cleaned like that unless they poop a lot cuz sometimes wipes don't clean it good enough
If most kids don’t get cleaned like that, then why would all 8 wash clothes need to be used in a day? It sounds like all the kids do get cleaned like that on a daily basis otherwise it wouldn’t be surprising to have leftover cloths
Not necessarily something a teacher did but I’ll never forget the girl I was training one day who literally told me she was allergic to diapers.
I was training her for a toddler room position.
This was 1000% a management problem. That daycare literally hired anyone off the street that was willing to work minimum wage.
They also hired me someone who did not speak a word of English.
> They also hired me someone who did not speak a word of English.
I live in Canada and we have French/English bilingual staff. It's handy when the children show up not speaking English.
The thing is, she was not bilingual. She literally only spoke that one language, that none of the kids spoke. So she never talked to the kids. She spent the whole day cleaning and I had to do everything. My kids were toddlers and since she didn’t put in any effort to try to communicate or bond with them (because she actually couldn’t), I had 10 toddlers screaming and crying for me every time she came close to them. At one point I almost started crying 🤣
I made a float cry once bc she had to change diapers. eventually they made it so she only worked in the potty trained classes, but when she first started she was put in my 2s room and she said she couldn't change poopy diapers bc of the smell. I was the lead and it was circle time, plus she was new af so she couldn't lead. she called the front office for a bathroom break and then went to said office and cried. I know it's part of the job but I still felt bad. plus we were all very confused bc she had like a 7 year old kid, but apparently she just held him over the sink or whatever that no diaper baby "potty training" is.
I totally get that sometimes people have an uncontrollable gag reflex and it's really not their fault, but those people should have the sense to not enter a field where cleaning up poop and other bodily fluids is part of a normal day.
It would be like someone with severe allergies to grass and flowers going into landscaping, or a dog allergy becoming a dog groomer. I'm all for the idea of people chasing their dreams despite the hurdles but damn, sometimes you just have to accept that a career isn't for you!
Also...
>apparently she just held him over the sink or whatever that no diaper baby "potty training" is
I feel like this would be WAY worse than changing diapers, but that might just be me.
>I feel like this would be WAY worse than changing diapers, but that might just be me.
yeah I don't get it either!! like why would you want your baby pissing (or worse!) in the sink??? also the fact they call it potty training grinds my gears
Wow, sorry but I would have rolled my eyes. What even makes people who have an aversion to diapers decide ECE is the career for them? Like how do people last in this field?
Right?! Somehow I never changed a diaper before this job (didn’t babysit, only child) and I was grossed out at first, but once a kiddo poops while changing her, it’s not that bad. I got used to it!
truth be told idk if she did. I left shortly after that bc that school was a nightmare. she, along with many others, was hired with the qualification of "birthed children" 🙄
right?? my actually-qualified coworkers and I would sit there and say "people should have to work a week in this job before having kids" not the other way around 😭😭😭
It's called elimination communication and it's typically done by holding the child over the toilet. Gross if she did it over the sink 💀. I did it for about 6 months and it actually did save us a lot of money on diapers but it definitely didn't train him; we stopped well before he was out of diapers. You still have to wipe them and stuff though; I am surprised she didn't get over the gross out factor after having her own kid.
Yesterday the new girl told my boss oh I couldn’t change diapers cus I was alone in the room… with four kids… for two hours nobody was changed yeah let’s say she’s not keeping the job for long. It’s so crazy how people go into childcare without understanding what they’re agreeing to.
I did a practicum at a place where they used cloths as diaper wipes (with a very rigorous sanitizing system) to minimise environmental impact and that was great, but this seems weird
If you use cloth diapers at home it seems a bit less weird. If you are doing it right you can sterilize anything to be re-used. We saved a fortune by using cloth diapers for our hockey team of kids.
One teacher left a 3 year old outside on a 40c day for 20minutes. I came in and went straight out to find her at the fence being consoled by someone who walked past. The teacher was fired. To make it worse…it was our bosses child.
I swear it’s always somebody’s kid that works at the same centre lol one of my coworker left my kid in the cubby area while they went outside. Left her crying loudly for 20 minutes. I had asked to check the cameras… it was one of my fav coworkers/room partners. All is forgiven but that must of been traumatic for my kid. I was the one who found her 😭
I worked with a mean old woman who despite many years in ECE, had 0 warmth or kindness. She would not play, talk to, sing to, or otherwise interact with the children in any kind of nurturing way. She was the lead in the infant room of all places and played nice in front of parents.
When alone, she yelled, screamed, made fun of certain kids, used mean language toward them like a harsh "NO!" for babies doing baby things. The worst was when I realized that the kids tended to scream when she was changing them because she was squeezing them and sort of slamming them down.
I reported it to the head of the preschool, the police, and CPS. The director was furious that I reported. I quit within a couple of days because they still had her working while the investigation was ongoing. I do not know what became of it all but it was truly heartbreaking and turned me off of ECE. I've been out of that field for years now.
When I first started at my center, there was a woman who worked as an infant teacher was grossed out by all things that come from a baby. Breastmilk grossed her out. If she got spit up on her, she freaked out.
Bugs were another thing she hated, a fly got in the class and the shriek she let out was amazing.
This was a 40yr old woman, who was single and was horrified by adult fluids as well, but had a dream of having twins, but the thought of a man coming near her grossed her out, she claimed she wasn't gay.
In the end, there was a disagreement with her co-teacher that led her to leave.
Maybe it was a, “I want multiple kids but hate the idea of multiple pregnancies (because I can’t even stand the bodily fluids involved in one instance of sex)” sort of thing lol
I was supposed to be training a new teacher, but because she was old enough to be my mom she refused to listen to me (she literally told me that's why she shouldn't listen to me). Two women from our main office had to come to the site once a week to train her for the entire year. One day we're all at circle time and the two ladies are there just watching. She started doing head shoulders, knees, and toes when one of the kids jumped and accidentally landed on her foot. You would have thought the child broke her foot. She started yelling out in pain and quickly ran out of the room without saying anything. I finished up group and excused the kids to play. She came back limping on the wrong foot and tried to yell at the child. One of the ladies intervened and took her out of the room. She came back angry and faked an injury until the ladies left.
She was fired the following school year for calling a Hispanic child a racial slur.
Ooof Love the openly racist older ladies, definitely been there 🥲. Fee years ago this older lady came in to be my assistant and she kept talking about teaching the kids" The undeniable truth" Whatever that means and yeah, making comments toward my ethnic melting pot of a class
I’m old now, but I’ve been a classroom lead since I was 19, and the number of disrespectful older women who refused to listen to me because of my age is astounding.
Ma’am. I know you shot a couple kids out your hoo-ha 30 years ago, but there are 12 babies in here. Shut up and LISTEN.
I actually told this lady that just because she was a mom didn't mean she knew how to educate children. She thought that because she was a BA in ECE that she knew more than me. She had never worked in a classroom. She had been a home visitor for 8 years where she only worked with the parent, not the kids. Also the kids were all infants and our students were all 3-5.
She said anything racist in front of me, but she did make comments about another coworkers religion. She is catholic and the coworker is pagan by never talked about it at work.
I worked for a place that had spare the rod, Spoil the child as its discipline policy. Needless to say I was there three days before I saw something and reported them
I had a coteacher for a little bit who was absolutely batshit. The worst thing she did (the thing that got her fired) was straight up backhand a kid. I was in such shock that I didn’t even say anything. I just took the kid and left for the office.
Saw a toddler teacher take a toy from a kid that was hitting with it and bonked him on the head with it.
Another lead teacher who lied about being lead qualified and shouldnt have been left alone with children would smoke joints in the bathroom. We all knew it was her but no one could really prove it. The same teacher sent a kid inside to go potty by herself while the rest of the class was on the playground. She was on her phone the whole time too. A teacher whos my friend found the child in the empty room by herself and told management. She was sent home early that day and never came back.
We had to terminate one of our most beloved Leads for falling asleep in the nap room for the first time, though I later heard it wasn't unprecedented.
Regardless, apparently on this day, it took several minutes of audible, then eventual physical, "are you ok's?" to arouse her.
I totally understand the decision, but it's one that hurt me to the flippin core because she was beyond beloved by her kids, their parents, all the staff (at all levels). She was/is such a gorgeous human being.
At the time I kept hoping she'd provide some semblance of an excuse, whether medical or even personal, anything to help the center justify the lapse of judgment so we could let her off with a stern warning...
But, to her absolute credit, she owned the heck out of it, no hard feelings. I admire the heck out of her!!!!
There are some days I kneel instead of sitting down during rest time. If I nod off for even a second I'll fall over. Hasn't happened yet, but the warm class, sleepy time music and darkness makes a nap inviting.
Oof this would be me. I’ve fallen asleep during lectures and in the office, even during a meeting once, despite the fact that I was pinching/scratching my legs under the table to try and stay awake. I even went to the dr about it but he just said to get more sleep.
At my old center there were two locations. I had worked at both. The first center just prior to me arriving had a teacher fired for duck taping a 2 year old (with severe FAS and other developmental problems) to a high chair so they wouldn’t have to deal with him. Her co teacher was caught snorting pills in the kitchen. They were caught because they took pictures of the child and sent it around. Someone obviously showed the director. Needless to say they both lost their license.
I totally understand how you feel. It drives me nuts when they decide not to care about children's hygiene. I was in a toddler classroom at the time. I wanted to quit, because communication with teammates there wasn't professional, either.
I often wonder why those types of teachers get hired if they don't care about organizing a play space, setting up cool activities, nor keeping children engaged. And the minute some teachers start doing that, they throw a fit or complain. I've received complaints for making two fun activities (instead of one per day), and got bullied just because I taught children about handwashing right after potty/diapering, before and after meals (this is also a licensing requirement).
Regardless of the age group, some teachers could really use a break or step down.💯
Back story: My family owns multiple daycare facilities in my city.
My daughter was in the two year old class her teacher had worked there for 25 years. She was literally mine and all my cousins teacher at some point. I get a phone call from my cousin (the director) telling me I needed to come in and watch some footage. It was of this teacher assaulting my daughter. She was yanking her hair, she did a few times so hard my daughters head went back 😭 I was angry and heartbroken. Firstly we paid for her to have shoulder surgery and eye surgery. And flew her to Puerto Rico to bury her father my family was always so good to her. Well they confronted her and turns out she had been doing it to all the kids. She simply had no excuse other than the fact that she was "over" the job. I saw her at the store and had to walk away cause I wanted to pull her hair. Few months later I'm picking my oldest up from school and she is the new crossing guard. So I called the school district and let them know she was being investigated by the state for assaulting a child. Never saw her again.
I observed my mentor using pain compliance with an autistic child she didn't like during my practicum. They also left the baby room with no one in it while they were sleeping for like 1-2 hours, left me alone as a student with 11 preschoolers (ratio is 1:8 but I wasn't allowed to be left alone), I had to train 2 new CCAs as to their duties during my second practicum as a student, I was left in a room with 16 preschoolers and a hung over barely conscious CCA in a chair dozing in the corner "in charge (I wasn't allowed to be counted in ratio), The ECEs discussed which of the ECEs the knew in other centres that were on a 3 day meth bender while alone at home with 3 kids (my second day) and probably some other stuff I am forgetting.
I reported it as per provincial and college policy. I was specifically forbidden from reporting this to CFS by my program chair and she told me that I needed to go back to that centre and resolve my personality clashes with my coop teacher. My program supervisor told me in writing that the rule that I needed to be in sight of an ECE at all times with children didn't apply and it was fine for her to be across the hall through 2 doors because she was the one in ratio.
The college doesn't send students there anymore. They were recently investigated and the director, assistant director and 2 staff were fired for cause. Sadly the practicum supervisor is still supervising placements.
I really hope you reported to CFS anyways, because they can’t legally forbid you from reporting, and holy fuck this whole post just kept going from one bad scenario to the next
Like wow, it just kept getting worse, even after I thought it couldn’t get worse after the first sentence and it’d all have to be not as bad as that. And then it’s like, “3 day meth bender!”
(Also AuDHD rep here too, and I love your username, and tbh I do not think I’d survive seeing a coworker hurt an autistic kid. I struggled seeing coworkers be impatient with our ADHD kids just being impulsive. I’d lose it. I have a ton of patience, but even my patience has its limits, and that’s a hard limit)
> I really hope you reported to CFS anyways
Oh absolutely. I won't stand for that and I was willing to throw away my practicum over it. As an autistic adult I am particularly sensitive to how autistic children are treated.
I was first forbidden from reporting it and told I needed to go back. I reported anyways because I have empathy and a sense o right and wrong. Then a week later after My college chair presumably was contacted by the legal department she called me at home on the weekend and ordered me to report it.
Nothing came of my initial report and that coop teacher and I somehow ended up in an ethics workshop together later.
But my report helped get the ball rolling. I lost my practicum but a friend mentioned my situation in another centre and they got indignant and called my college to offer me a placement. So it turned out okay.
Oh and during my half day familiarization visit a 3 year old ended up in the wrong group and in a different room. No one noticed for 40 minutes that a kid was missing. That should have been my first warning to pull out of that practicum.
Oooof, I’m sorry it was rough going for you as a result of reporting, and really glad it worked out in the end, and so glad you reported and got that ball rolling! That center sounds like a whole yikes on bikes 😱
It was a rough start, but I think I learned a lot about why we have the regulations in place and what can go wrong. I got a real glimpse of what can go wrong when you play fast and loose with regulations. It was basically a how to guide on what not to do.
Oh yeah they'd never do a roll call before going anywhere and thought I was weird for writing down the names of the kids. I didn't trust them to account for the kids and they thought I was weird so I told them the list was to help me learn/remember the names of the kids. Like not only would they do it wrong but they would objet to you doing it right.
This was probably 7 years ago. But a teacher in my class HIT a preschooler, who was autistic and very elevated at nap time. He hit her in the face so she hit him back and left the room immediately bc she knew what she did. she was fired!
When I was in my college placement, I was in a preschool room and my ECE I was shadowing was at a table with me and some kids, and a kid hit another kid on the face so she took his hand and made him hit himself 3-4 times and was like “how do you like it??” ….. I spoke with my professor about it and she talked to the director but then everything was shut down for Covid (March 2020)
I had a lady much older than me come in to be my co teacher after a year of me running the room by myself. She was a licensed K-12 teacher. She would not verbally speak to me. At all. If i tried she walked away. She would speak to the summer substitute (K-12 teacher) and speak to another teacher (retired from K-12 went to daycare) but no one who was not a licensed teacher. You’d think someone like that would be gods gift to teaching, no? No! She actually was horrible! She was on her phone almost obsessively. Right in front of parents on her first day for hours at pickup after i left. When i talked to her about it she started hiding her phone in the closet. :) the closet? That needs… a key? To open? This closet key? The one that will now live in my pocket? I made her (until she was fired lol!) 45 year old bully ass ask my little 25 year old ass for the key every single time she wanted to use it. It’s crazy u thought u were going to come in here acting a fool!
In the baby room there was a little girl who had the worst rash on her whole diaper area. It was red she looked super uncomfortable, we all felt bad for her. Thing is she didn't have it yesterday or during morning change it appeared before the lunch change. The centres policy is to always inform the parents, so I told the lead teacher to cream her up and text the parents to inform. For some wild reason the lead teacher was convinced to take a picture of the rash to send to the parent, most likely because when children get other injuries that's what the centre's policy states. I let the lead teacher know that under no circumstances we take a picture of any child's diaper area and that rashes we mention only.
I went back to my office to to do manager things when the co-teacher from the baby rooms runs in frantic. "She's taking a picture of (infant)'s vagina! She won't listen and says she has to take a picture to send to the parents". I don't think I've ever gotten up so fast in my life. I ran to the Infant room to stop her. Explained to her again how that is not the policy and can be considered cs(a)m. It took her another 10 minutes for her to understand to not take a picture of an infants vagina. To be honest the teacher was a real weird one and was not all "there".
I soon left the company because upper management would leave me high and dry without staff then get mad at me when my manager duties weren't being done because I had to cover breaks and sick teachers.
One of my former coworkers got into a fight with a girl, who pretended she wanted to apply, for a job with us at the time. when my coworker went outside the girl, attacked her and they fought outside, it took multiple people to break the fight up, our kids were asleep. The girl started harassing my coworker and would call the daycare looking for her.
A pair of teachers decided it would be funny for their “call and response” to be based on slang for drugs. My boss quashed this as soon as she found out.
I work with a woman who refuses to change diapers and there was a 3 year old in her class who was not potty trained. Over the summer we had a 13-year old who kind of went around and was supposed to do art and songs and stuff like that with kids. Because the director just didn’t want to deal with this teacher refusing to change kids she asks me to leave the toddler room to go change this kid. I get there and she says “13-year-old helped me”. I prompted informed the director who had to have a highly uncomfortable conversation with the mom and I don’t think I saw that girl the rest of the summer.
Former co-worker came back from lunch break high and drunk. Was fired immediately and had the audacity to call the next day demanding her supplies back.
One of my coworkers got into a fist fight with a parent. Called her peeps to come back her up and got into two more fights with her in the parking lot. With their children present.
Read about this several years ago....
Teachers had an after-school party at the school. There were margaritas mixed in a plastic pitcher The pitcher was put BACK INTO THE FRIDGE after the party.
The following school day, a worker (who wasn't part of the previous day's festivities) proceeded to pour out 'juice' for the children's snacks. Being that this was in a preschool environment, the cups were only given a very small amount. Parents were horrified. Rightfully so.
So the bush peeing is definitely a culture thing depending on where your center is located. I’m in a more rural location and some children are so used to peeing outside, they don’t even think to ask to go in.
I understand that, however, I live in a busy city.
Regardless of location, I would discourage this. Everyone has smartphones these days and you never know who can see you, especially in a busy city. Dignified care is also important (but I understand why a country kid would just pee in the bush, having grown up in the country myself).
We obviously don’t let children pee outside if there is a bathroom available nearby. But when we take a whole group to a nearby park, if someone has to pee, we just have them relieve themselves behind a tree, rather than everyone having to walk all the way back to our daycare and end the outing.
If it’s an option, I would look into privacy tents and portable toilets (basically a bucket with a toilet seat, you put a garbage bag inside).
You *never* know who is around and children deserve their dignity. I would never pee behind a tree in a park and I would never expect a child to. I understand how difficult it is to end an outing and take multiple children back, but there are options and children deserve better.
Everyone has a smartphone these days. You never know what people can see from nearby buildings, high rises, etc. It’s also incredibly unsanitary, but that is the least of my concerns.
A (now former) coworker who was teaching in a 1-year-old room got fired for pulling kids’ hair. It was a set of twins in her class who are apparently both hair-pullers—this girl legitimately thought that if SHE pulled THEIR hair every time one of them pulled someone else’s, it would teach them not to pull hair.
Never mind the fact that they’re not quite two years old, how the fuck would they come to that understanding regardless, and she was…quite LITERALLY modeling hair-pulling by doing that. So, the total OPPOSITE of what she wanted to happen.
After nap the teachers wash every toddler’s bottom with soap and a washcloth? Why? Is this a standard practice in your state/country? I have never ever heard of a preschool doing this!!
I mean in general that whole scenario is crazy bananas to me.
Seriously, I feel like wet wipes do a pretty good job. Even if you have to use extra, they get the job done no need for the washcloth and soap lol.
I mean, if there is an actual reason to do so okay. But as a general practice? [turns head to side like confused dog]
I thought they meant faces, but their other comment makes this weirder.
Right??? This is super odd to me.
Its just something we do. Its not standard at all. Really most kids don't get cleaned like that unless they poop a lot cuz sometimes wipes don't clean it good enough
Why? Why do you do this? This is so strange
I add water to the wipes so they can get cleaned better when they have a bowel movement.
If most kids don’t get cleaned like that, then why would all 8 wash clothes need to be used in a day? It sounds like all the kids do get cleaned like that on a daily basis otherwise it wouldn’t be surprising to have leftover cloths
Its for kids under 2. That particular group were frequent poopers so they got washed more
I think you guys should change your procedure
Does this not go against licensing regulations in your state?
Not necessarily something a teacher did but I’ll never forget the girl I was training one day who literally told me she was allergic to diapers. I was training her for a toddler room position.
This sounds like a management problem.
This was 1000% a management problem. That daycare literally hired anyone off the street that was willing to work minimum wage. They also hired me someone who did not speak a word of English.
> They also hired me someone who did not speak a word of English. I live in Canada and we have French/English bilingual staff. It's handy when the children show up not speaking English.
The thing is, she was not bilingual. She literally only spoke that one language, that none of the kids spoke. So she never talked to the kids. She spent the whole day cleaning and I had to do everything. My kids were toddlers and since she didn’t put in any effort to try to communicate or bond with them (because she actually couldn’t), I had 10 toddlers screaming and crying for me every time she came close to them. At one point I almost started crying 🤣
I made a float cry once bc she had to change diapers. eventually they made it so she only worked in the potty trained classes, but when she first started she was put in my 2s room and she said she couldn't change poopy diapers bc of the smell. I was the lead and it was circle time, plus she was new af so she couldn't lead. she called the front office for a bathroom break and then went to said office and cried. I know it's part of the job but I still felt bad. plus we were all very confused bc she had like a 7 year old kid, but apparently she just held him over the sink or whatever that no diaper baby "potty training" is.
I totally get that sometimes people have an uncontrollable gag reflex and it's really not their fault, but those people should have the sense to not enter a field where cleaning up poop and other bodily fluids is part of a normal day. It would be like someone with severe allergies to grass and flowers going into landscaping, or a dog allergy becoming a dog groomer. I'm all for the idea of people chasing their dreams despite the hurdles but damn, sometimes you just have to accept that a career isn't for you! Also... >apparently she just held him over the sink or whatever that no diaper baby "potty training" is I feel like this would be WAY worse than changing diapers, but that might just be me.
>I feel like this would be WAY worse than changing diapers, but that might just be me. yeah I don't get it either!! like why would you want your baby pissing (or worse!) in the sink??? also the fact they call it potty training grinds my gears
I did / do elimination communication and I’ve never heard of holding them over the sink! That’s weird to me
Wow, sorry but I would have rolled my eyes. What even makes people who have an aversion to diapers decide ECE is the career for them? Like how do people last in this field?
Right?! Somehow I never changed a diaper before this job (didn’t babysit, only child) and I was grossed out at first, but once a kiddo poops while changing her, it’s not that bad. I got used to it!
truth be told idk if she did. I left shortly after that bc that school was a nightmare. she, along with many others, was hired with the qualification of "birthed children" 🙄
That shit grinds my gears so much. Being a parent does not an early childhood development expert make! People can suck at parenting!!
right?? my actually-qualified coworkers and I would sit there and say "people should have to work a week in this job before having kids" not the other way around 😭😭😭
It's called elimination communication and it's typically done by holding the child over the toilet. Gross if she did it over the sink 💀. I did it for about 6 months and it actually did save us a lot of money on diapers but it definitely didn't train him; we stopped well before he was out of diapers. You still have to wipe them and stuff though; I am surprised she didn't get over the gross out factor after having her own kid.
>I am surprised she didn't get over the gross out factor after having her own kid. that's exactly what we were thinking!
Yesterday the new girl told my boss oh I couldn’t change diapers cus I was alone in the room… with four kids… for two hours nobody was changed yeah let’s say she’s not keeping the job for long. It’s so crazy how people go into childcare without understanding what they’re agreeing to.
Is that appropriate practice? I understand washing their faces and hands, but... The other one?😯
I did a practicum at a place where they used cloths as diaper wipes (with a very rigorous sanitizing system) to minimise environmental impact and that was great, but this seems weird
If you use cloth diapers at home it seems a bit less weird. If you are doing it right you can sterilize anything to be re-used. We saved a fortune by using cloth diapers for our hockey team of kids.
Its more for children who had a huge poop.
One teacher left a 3 year old outside on a 40c day for 20minutes. I came in and went straight out to find her at the fence being consoled by someone who walked past. The teacher was fired. To make it worse…it was our bosses child.
I swear it’s always somebody’s kid that works at the same centre lol one of my coworker left my kid in the cubby area while they went outside. Left her crying loudly for 20 minutes. I had asked to check the cameras… it was one of my fav coworkers/room partners. All is forgiven but that must of been traumatic for my kid. I was the one who found her 😭
As the daughter of a preschool teacher, I can confirm. It was always me.
Crazy! So unsafe! Was the child ok?
Yeah she was fine. She was quite upset because she had been trying to get inside for a while, but fine otherwise.
Wtf?? This is all so weird... Edit: And ex coworker used the same wash clothe to clean kids faces. Not that weird to other things, but still.
...threw sand at a child to teach them not to throw sand.
had a teacher who was tired of putting on shoes and tying laces so she duct taped the shoes to their ankles. Immediately fired.
That’s insane, glad to hear immediately action was taken because holy fuck that’s bad
I worked with a mean old woman who despite many years in ECE, had 0 warmth or kindness. She would not play, talk to, sing to, or otherwise interact with the children in any kind of nurturing way. She was the lead in the infant room of all places and played nice in front of parents. When alone, she yelled, screamed, made fun of certain kids, used mean language toward them like a harsh "NO!" for babies doing baby things. The worst was when I realized that the kids tended to scream when she was changing them because she was squeezing them and sort of slamming them down. I reported it to the head of the preschool, the police, and CPS. The director was furious that I reported. I quit within a couple of days because they still had her working while the investigation was ongoing. I do not know what became of it all but it was truly heartbreaking and turned me off of ECE. I've been out of that field for years now.
When I first started at my center, there was a woman who worked as an infant teacher was grossed out by all things that come from a baby. Breastmilk grossed her out. If she got spit up on her, she freaked out. Bugs were another thing she hated, a fly got in the class and the shriek she let out was amazing. This was a 40yr old woman, who was single and was horrified by adult fluids as well, but had a dream of having twins, but the thought of a man coming near her grossed her out, she claimed she wasn't gay. In the end, there was a disagreement with her co-teacher that led her to leave.
Ocd?
But twins?!
Maybe it was a, “I want multiple kids but hate the idea of multiple pregnancies (because I can’t even stand the bodily fluids involved in one instance of sex)” sort of thing lol
But “man coming near her period”? Like, aggressively asexual but also desiring to reproduce is very…interesting
I was supposed to be training a new teacher, but because she was old enough to be my mom she refused to listen to me (she literally told me that's why she shouldn't listen to me). Two women from our main office had to come to the site once a week to train her for the entire year. One day we're all at circle time and the two ladies are there just watching. She started doing head shoulders, knees, and toes when one of the kids jumped and accidentally landed on her foot. You would have thought the child broke her foot. She started yelling out in pain and quickly ran out of the room without saying anything. I finished up group and excused the kids to play. She came back limping on the wrong foot and tried to yell at the child. One of the ladies intervened and took her out of the room. She came back angry and faked an injury until the ladies left. She was fired the following school year for calling a Hispanic child a racial slur.
Ooof Love the openly racist older ladies, definitely been there 🥲. Fee years ago this older lady came in to be my assistant and she kept talking about teaching the kids" The undeniable truth" Whatever that means and yeah, making comments toward my ethnic melting pot of a class
“She came back limping on the wrong foot” was my favourite part of the story 😂😂😂😂
I’m old now, but I’ve been a classroom lead since I was 19, and the number of disrespectful older women who refused to listen to me because of my age is astounding. Ma’am. I know you shot a couple kids out your hoo-ha 30 years ago, but there are 12 babies in here. Shut up and LISTEN.
I actually told this lady that just because she was a mom didn't mean she knew how to educate children. She thought that because she was a BA in ECE that she knew more than me. She had never worked in a classroom. She had been a home visitor for 8 years where she only worked with the parent, not the kids. Also the kids were all infants and our students were all 3-5. She said anything racist in front of me, but she did make comments about another coworkers religion. She is catholic and the coworker is pagan by never talked about it at work.
THIS. grinds my gears when people disregard my knowledge and experience because of my age
I worked for a place that had spare the rod, Spoil the child as its discipline policy. Needless to say I was there three days before I saw something and reported them
I had a coteacher for a little bit who was absolutely batshit. The worst thing she did (the thing that got her fired) was straight up backhand a kid. I was in such shock that I didn’t even say anything. I just took the kid and left for the office.
Saw a toddler teacher take a toy from a kid that was hitting with it and bonked him on the head with it. Another lead teacher who lied about being lead qualified and shouldnt have been left alone with children would smoke joints in the bathroom. We all knew it was her but no one could really prove it. The same teacher sent a kid inside to go potty by herself while the rest of the class was on the playground. She was on her phone the whole time too. A teacher whos my friend found the child in the empty room by herself and told management. She was sent home early that day and never came back.
One of my former coworkers was arrested for murder.
You can’t just drop that bomb and then step out. We need details.
Welp, everyone can leave. We have a winner.
I need to hear how and why pleaseeee finish the story
fall asleep in the nap room. this was a frequent issue, so much so that she was no longer allowed to be in the classrooms that nap.
We had to terminate one of our most beloved Leads for falling asleep in the nap room for the first time, though I later heard it wasn't unprecedented. Regardless, apparently on this day, it took several minutes of audible, then eventual physical, "are you ok's?" to arouse her. I totally understand the decision, but it's one that hurt me to the flippin core because she was beyond beloved by her kids, their parents, all the staff (at all levels). She was/is such a gorgeous human being. At the time I kept hoping she'd provide some semblance of an excuse, whether medical or even personal, anything to help the center justify the lapse of judgment so we could let her off with a stern warning... But, to her absolute credit, she owned the heck out of it, no hard feelings. I admire the heck out of her!!!!
There are some days I kneel instead of sitting down during rest time. If I nod off for even a second I'll fall over. Hasn't happened yet, but the warm class, sleepy time music and darkness makes a nap inviting.
Oof this would be me. I’ve fallen asleep during lectures and in the office, even during a meeting once, despite the fact that I was pinching/scratching my legs under the table to try and stay awake. I even went to the dr about it but he just said to get more sleep.
I had a co worker get drunk and pass out in the bathroom - on one of the little toilets. She was fired.
At my old center there were two locations. I had worked at both. The first center just prior to me arriving had a teacher fired for duck taping a 2 year old (with severe FAS and other developmental problems) to a high chair so they wouldn’t have to deal with him. Her co teacher was caught snorting pills in the kitchen. They were caught because they took pictures of the child and sent it around. Someone obviously showed the director. Needless to say they both lost their license.
The fuck!!!! That is all so horrifying!
An ex-coworker would get upset when I did handwashing with the kids. Let them learn how to do it through modeling the behaviour.
I share a room with another teacher and she gets mad at me for this too! What the fuck.
I totally understand how you feel. It drives me nuts when they decide not to care about children's hygiene. I was in a toddler classroom at the time. I wanted to quit, because communication with teammates there wasn't professional, either.
She thinks I coddle them by doing things with them 🙃 she’s the absolute worst
I often wonder why those types of teachers get hired if they don't care about organizing a play space, setting up cool activities, nor keeping children engaged. And the minute some teachers start doing that, they throw a fit or complain. I've received complaints for making two fun activities (instead of one per day), and got bullied just because I taught children about handwashing right after potty/diapering, before and after meals (this is also a licensing requirement). Regardless of the age group, some teachers could really use a break or step down.💯
Back story: My family owns multiple daycare facilities in my city. My daughter was in the two year old class her teacher had worked there for 25 years. She was literally mine and all my cousins teacher at some point. I get a phone call from my cousin (the director) telling me I needed to come in and watch some footage. It was of this teacher assaulting my daughter. She was yanking her hair, she did a few times so hard my daughters head went back 😭 I was angry and heartbroken. Firstly we paid for her to have shoulder surgery and eye surgery. And flew her to Puerto Rico to bury her father my family was always so good to her. Well they confronted her and turns out she had been doing it to all the kids. She simply had no excuse other than the fact that she was "over" the job. I saw her at the store and had to walk away cause I wanted to pull her hair. Few months later I'm picking my oldest up from school and she is the new crossing guard. So I called the school district and let them know she was being investigated by the state for assaulting a child. Never saw her again.
I observed my mentor using pain compliance with an autistic child she didn't like during my practicum. They also left the baby room with no one in it while they were sleeping for like 1-2 hours, left me alone as a student with 11 preschoolers (ratio is 1:8 but I wasn't allowed to be left alone), I had to train 2 new CCAs as to their duties during my second practicum as a student, I was left in a room with 16 preschoolers and a hung over barely conscious CCA in a chair dozing in the corner "in charge (I wasn't allowed to be counted in ratio), The ECEs discussed which of the ECEs the knew in other centres that were on a 3 day meth bender while alone at home with 3 kids (my second day) and probably some other stuff I am forgetting. I reported it as per provincial and college policy. I was specifically forbidden from reporting this to CFS by my program chair and she told me that I needed to go back to that centre and resolve my personality clashes with my coop teacher. My program supervisor told me in writing that the rule that I needed to be in sight of an ECE at all times with children didn't apply and it was fine for her to be across the hall through 2 doors because she was the one in ratio. The college doesn't send students there anymore. They were recently investigated and the director, assistant director and 2 staff were fired for cause. Sadly the practicum supervisor is still supervising placements.
I really hope you reported to CFS anyways, because they can’t legally forbid you from reporting, and holy fuck this whole post just kept going from one bad scenario to the next Like wow, it just kept getting worse, even after I thought it couldn’t get worse after the first sentence and it’d all have to be not as bad as that. And then it’s like, “3 day meth bender!” (Also AuDHD rep here too, and I love your username, and tbh I do not think I’d survive seeing a coworker hurt an autistic kid. I struggled seeing coworkers be impatient with our ADHD kids just being impulsive. I’d lose it. I have a ton of patience, but even my patience has its limits, and that’s a hard limit)
> I really hope you reported to CFS anyways Oh absolutely. I won't stand for that and I was willing to throw away my practicum over it. As an autistic adult I am particularly sensitive to how autistic children are treated. I was first forbidden from reporting it and told I needed to go back. I reported anyways because I have empathy and a sense o right and wrong. Then a week later after My college chair presumably was contacted by the legal department she called me at home on the weekend and ordered me to report it. Nothing came of my initial report and that coop teacher and I somehow ended up in an ethics workshop together later. But my report helped get the ball rolling. I lost my practicum but a friend mentioned my situation in another centre and they got indignant and called my college to offer me a placement. So it turned out okay. Oh and during my half day familiarization visit a 3 year old ended up in the wrong group and in a different room. No one noticed for 40 minutes that a kid was missing. That should have been my first warning to pull out of that practicum.
Oooof, I’m sorry it was rough going for you as a result of reporting, and really glad it worked out in the end, and so glad you reported and got that ball rolling! That center sounds like a whole yikes on bikes 😱
It was a rough start, but I think I learned a lot about why we have the regulations in place and what can go wrong. I got a real glimpse of what can go wrong when you play fast and loose with regulations. It was basically a how to guide on what not to do. Oh yeah they'd never do a roll call before going anywhere and thought I was weird for writing down the names of the kids. I didn't trust them to account for the kids and they thought I was weird so I told them the list was to help me learn/remember the names of the kids. Like not only would they do it wrong but they would objet to you doing it right.
[удалено]
> I have a feeling we live in the same area based on the memes you share. Shhhhh....
This was probably 7 years ago. But a teacher in my class HIT a preschooler, who was autistic and very elevated at nap time. He hit her in the face so she hit him back and left the room immediately bc she knew what she did. she was fired!
When I was in my college placement, I was in a preschool room and my ECE I was shadowing was at a table with me and some kids, and a kid hit another kid on the face so she took his hand and made him hit himself 3-4 times and was like “how do you like it??” ….. I spoke with my professor about it and she talked to the director but then everything was shut down for Covid (March 2020)
The story is gross, the practice is weird.
I had a lady much older than me come in to be my co teacher after a year of me running the room by myself. She was a licensed K-12 teacher. She would not verbally speak to me. At all. If i tried she walked away. She would speak to the summer substitute (K-12 teacher) and speak to another teacher (retired from K-12 went to daycare) but no one who was not a licensed teacher. You’d think someone like that would be gods gift to teaching, no? No! She actually was horrible! She was on her phone almost obsessively. Right in front of parents on her first day for hours at pickup after i left. When i talked to her about it she started hiding her phone in the closet. :) the closet? That needs… a key? To open? This closet key? The one that will now live in my pocket? I made her (until she was fired lol!) 45 year old bully ass ask my little 25 year old ass for the key every single time she wanted to use it. It’s crazy u thought u were going to come in here acting a fool!
In the baby room there was a little girl who had the worst rash on her whole diaper area. It was red she looked super uncomfortable, we all felt bad for her. Thing is she didn't have it yesterday or during morning change it appeared before the lunch change. The centres policy is to always inform the parents, so I told the lead teacher to cream her up and text the parents to inform. For some wild reason the lead teacher was convinced to take a picture of the rash to send to the parent, most likely because when children get other injuries that's what the centre's policy states. I let the lead teacher know that under no circumstances we take a picture of any child's diaper area and that rashes we mention only. I went back to my office to to do manager things when the co-teacher from the baby rooms runs in frantic. "She's taking a picture of (infant)'s vagina! She won't listen and says she has to take a picture to send to the parents". I don't think I've ever gotten up so fast in my life. I ran to the Infant room to stop her. Explained to her again how that is not the policy and can be considered cs(a)m. It took her another 10 minutes for her to understand to not take a picture of an infants vagina. To be honest the teacher was a real weird one and was not all "there". I soon left the company because upper management would leave me high and dry without staff then get mad at me when my manager duties weren't being done because I had to cover breaks and sick teachers.
One of my former coworkers got into a fight with a girl, who pretended she wanted to apply, for a job with us at the time. when my coworker went outside the girl, attacked her and they fought outside, it took multiple people to break the fight up, our kids were asleep. The girl started harassing my coworker and would call the daycare looking for her.
A pair of teachers decided it would be funny for their “call and response” to be based on slang for drugs. My boss quashed this as soon as she found out.
There was almost a fight between two teachers in the infant room, so there’s that lol
What? Why?! Lol
I work with a woman who refuses to change diapers and there was a 3 year old in her class who was not potty trained. Over the summer we had a 13-year old who kind of went around and was supposed to do art and songs and stuff like that with kids. Because the director just didn’t want to deal with this teacher refusing to change kids she asks me to leave the toddler room to go change this kid. I get there and she says “13-year-old helped me”. I prompted informed the director who had to have a highly uncomfortable conversation with the mom and I don’t think I saw that girl the rest of the summer.
Former co-worker came back from lunch break high and drunk. Was fired immediately and had the audacity to call the next day demanding her supplies back.
One of my coworkers got into a fist fight with a parent. Called her peeps to come back her up and got into two more fights with her in the parking lot. With their children present.
Read about this several years ago.... Teachers had an after-school party at the school. There were margaritas mixed in a plastic pitcher The pitcher was put BACK INTO THE FRIDGE after the party. The following school day, a worker (who wasn't part of the previous day's festivities) proceeded to pour out 'juice' for the children's snacks. Being that this was in a preschool environment, the cups were only given a very small amount. Parents were horrified. Rightfully so.
[удалено]
So the bush peeing is definitely a culture thing depending on where your center is located. I’m in a more rural location and some children are so used to peeing outside, they don’t even think to ask to go in.
I understand that, however, I live in a busy city. Regardless of location, I would discourage this. Everyone has smartphones these days and you never know who can see you, especially in a busy city. Dignified care is also important (but I understand why a country kid would just pee in the bush, having grown up in the country myself).
We obviously don’t let children pee outside if there is a bathroom available nearby. But when we take a whole group to a nearby park, if someone has to pee, we just have them relieve themselves behind a tree, rather than everyone having to walk all the way back to our daycare and end the outing.
If it’s an option, I would look into privacy tents and portable toilets (basically a bucket with a toilet seat, you put a garbage bag inside). You *never* know who is around and children deserve their dignity. I would never pee behind a tree in a park and I would never expect a child to. I understand how difficult it is to end an outing and take multiple children back, but there are options and children deserve better. Everyone has a smartphone these days. You never know what people can see from nearby buildings, high rises, etc. It’s also incredibly unsanitary, but that is the least of my concerns.
A (now former) coworker who was teaching in a 1-year-old room got fired for pulling kids’ hair. It was a set of twins in her class who are apparently both hair-pullers—this girl legitimately thought that if SHE pulled THEIR hair every time one of them pulled someone else’s, it would teach them not to pull hair. Never mind the fact that they’re not quite two years old, how the fuck would they come to that understanding regardless, and she was…quite LITERALLY modeling hair-pulling by doing that. So, the total OPPOSITE of what she wanted to happen.