Miss DayCare
Charlotte, NC
Female, 30
I work in a highly respected, franchised Day Care Provider. I have taught in Toddler classrooms as well as Pre-Kindegarten classrooms. It's a wonderful and rewarding profession and I love every minute of it. I have become friends with many of my parents and they all ask questions which is why I want to open a dialogue here so I can be as honest and open as possible about your most prized posession's early childhood education and what really goes on in the classrooms and hallways!
in the infant and toddler rooms you are obviously changing a million diapers a day but around 2 1/2 years old we start putting them on the potty even if they are still in diapers. By three years old, in order to move up to the pre school classrooms, you must have your child be fully potty trained....of course there are still occasional accident but for the most part, they must be self sufficient in the potty area. sometimes parents get offended when their child hasn't moved up because of this reason and then we find out they aren't potty training at home at nights and on weekends. They're just leaving the work up to the daycare teachers and that just won't suffice when it comes to potty training!
I hate to admit it but I do, there are always one or two kids in your class that make it worth your while to go to work! And any teacher that tells you otherwise is lying. I don't treat them any different than anyone else in the class, and in most cases your "favorite" child started out as your favorite parent/family. The parents you have the most communication with, the parents that treat you like a person not just a full time babysitter for their children, those are the parents of the children that become your "favorite."
Placing a 2 year old in a time out his first week? That seems kind of crazy to me too and as a mother myself I wouldn't be happy either! As much as I want to answer a stern NO to your question, I cannot. The reason why I say that is because timeouts are a simple and effective way to dealing with a problem (especially at 2 years old). I personally do not use a timeout method for disciplining my own child or the kids in my classes, so I have had no complaints in this department. I only answer this way because I have seen this in every facility I have worked in when parents are unhappy with a disciplinary measure taken in the classroom. The director is always going to side with the parent (after all they are paying for the service), notify the teacher, and it's up to the teacher to uphold the agreement of not using the time out method (in your case it seems a bit extreme, I cannot believe they did that to a two year old!). Until your child can communicate with you and tell you every aspect of his/her day in the classroom, you must trust your teacher (and that builds over time) that they aren't going against your wishes and if they are find somewhere else to go because there are plenty of places that are fantastic and wouldn't do that to you or your child. I can understand making a mistake once but if it happens again and you've already had an agreement in place, that's unacceptable. I hate to sound negative or put you on edge, and I wish I could have a more definite answer for you. My gut is telling me that they are continuing with the timeouts because I have seen it over and over again even after a parents asks them not to.
Look at the cleanliness of the facility and the rooms, also when walking around the school peek into other classrooms and not just the ones that your child(ren) will be in. See what the teachers are doing, are they interacting with the kids or just sitting there? Ask to see when the kids play outside and how interactive the instructors are with them. We shouldn't be just sitting on the ground yelling at the kids when someone does something wrong. We should be running around, playing tag, pushing them on a swing, etc....Another big one is if there is "outside" food in the rooms (we aren't supposed to have any outside food or drinks in the room), and you would be surprised at what some teacher leave out....I was coming back from lunch and one of my co workers had a bag of peanuts out during the kids' nap! Also, see if the center has a reference list of parents you can call to see how they like the school. Parents put themselves on it and it's a mix of positive and negative reviews so you can get answers to questions you may not be comfortable asking the director
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There's really not much you can do. There are centers that have a policy that for each minute they are late after closing time, they owe one dollar. Unfortunately, that doesn't deter parents from being late, they just hand you cash when they walk in to pick up their child. If you have a chronically late parent, and you have to stay past close, you just have to grin and bear it and wait for that child to graduate to the next classroom so that parent can become another teacher's problem!
Yea there have been many. Mostly with the kids that physically harm other kids. Behavioral problems are not easy to take care of, but a bit more manageable than that of the kids that bite or hit. Biters are the absolute worst because they break skin sometimes and that can get the kids sent home that got bit and the child that bit them (due to health concerns). I have had many meetings with parents regarding biting and hitting, some parents are responsive and want to "fix" the behavior and be very hands on, and some just think that kids are kids and they will grow out of their negative behaviors. Again this is where communication is key. Sometime parents think daycare teachers are glorified babysitters and do not take us seriously. What they fail to see is that being in this industry is a career choice for many of us much like choosing to be a doctor or lawyer is to a parent. We are passionate, and want to make a difference in these childrens' lives!
That was worded wrong, I meant that I had known teacher who have known kids that have been asked to leave the center because of their behavior. Sorry for the mix up!
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