Sometimes I wonder what television is really doing to kids. Thank you, Dad, for not letting me watch TV all day long, and instead playing games with me, taking me outside, teaching me how to ride a bike, etc. These people that let a television set act as their babysitter while they are doing who knows what really get to me. UGH! When I have kids, we will NOT rely on TV. It's such an easy way out.

And really, what is WITH these parents that cannot dress their children weather appropriate? Over 80* today and a child came to school in SWEATPANTS?! And on the hottest day of the ENTIRE summer, it was forecasted to be OVER 100*, one of my little girls came to school in a heavy, long-sleeved, WINTER DRESS. Please parents, BE PARENTS. Your child should not have the run of the house, and should not be allowed to dress themselves when they want to wear WINTER clothing in the hottest month of the year. 

The amount of people taking the easy way instead of the proper way disgust me lately. It may be easier but in the long run, you're only hurting your children and turning them into spoiled whiny brats.

I know that you're a rude, overbearing, controlling parent.

WOW. Had a bad experience with a parent today. Her son is in the baby room, and I had just gotten in when she came in to get him. His stuff was missing, I guess, well at least his diaper bag was, and she asked me where it was. I told her I had no idea, and had just gotten in the room. Then I suggested someone else with the same bag may have taken it, because it's just the diaper bag every gets at the hospital, the black similac one...then I told her to ask the director, that maybe she'd know. After going around in circles and me having to say I don't know a million times because I DID NOT KNOW WHERE HER STUFF WAS, she said "well, what DO you know" incredibly rudely. I wanted to smack her but instead kept silent and just stayed away from her. She left the room and came back in and had the nerve to sit there and tell me that I was the one being rude. She said she didn't like the way I handled her situation, that I was brushing her off, and said "I don't know what kind of day you had, what kind of care can you even provide for children" and started acting like I was some kind of fool that couldn't watch kids or care for them properly. She then asked for my name so she could go complain about me, so I told her and spelt it out to clarify that 1. I was not afraid of her rude bitchy-self complaining about me, because had I handled her differently she would have REALLY been unhappy. and 2. I wanted her to KNOW that I wasn't afraid of her and that I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. Of course she went and complained to the director, who reassured her I wasn't a rude person and that I have all the patience in the world haha. But really? Who says that to someone? "Well what DO you know?!" How RUDE. Ugh I'm so livid.

Naturally, every teacher has their favourites. I'm not going to lie and say I don't, I CERTAINLY do. One of them is moving into my room, but not if the morning teacher has anything to do with it. Apparently, ALL I do is hold him and coddle him and ignore all the other children so I shouldn't be allowed in a room with him.

I wind up holding at least 80% of all the children in my room by the end of the day. Since I only have him in my room an hour or so a day, yes, it SEEMS like I may hold him more than the other kids if you overlook the fact that he's barely even in the room with me an hour. If he wants to sit in my lap and play with the kids I'm sitting near, I don't see any problem with that. Once he's in the room more often and gets to know the other kids and our routine, I can guarantee he will not be so attached to me. The SAME issue happened with his sister. She was incredibly attached to me until she got the hang of things and then she was perfectly fine. And what is wrong with them trusting and relying on me? Why do people ALWAYS seem to make a huge deal of me holding and being "too nice" to THREE-YEAR-OLDS? It is NOT inappropriate to pick up a three-year-old when they're upset or need some cuddle time.

A TWISTER!

We had a tornado watch/warning this week and had to all congregate in the hallway until it was called off.  The kids didn't know what was going on and the other moron that was "teaching" with me was freaking out and going "oh gosh a twister is going to touch down oh no i'm so scared i hope it doesn't come here." I had to yell at her, remind her my children are only three years old and don't know very much about tornadoes, and tell her not to scare them by being so upset.

Naturally I had to bring my kids something to keep them occupied so I brought a bunch of books with us and told them we were having a "reading party" in the hallway. It worked pretty well, so well actually that when we could go back in the room, one child started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said she wanted to have a party, and when I told her we did, and that the party was finished, she cried "but there were no cupcakes or candles!" Oh youthful innocence. I tried to explain to her that not all parties involved singing "Happy Birthday" and eating handfuls of sugar, but it didn't work. Luckily, I got to leave shortly after :p 

HA!

Yes I'm still alive, sorry I haven't updated.

Kids say the funniest things. I teach three year olds so you don't expect them to have advanced logic, but sometimes they surprise you. I took out baby doll toys for some of my kids to play with yesterday, and a little girl that was playing with them decided she wanted to play with something else. I asked her to clean up what she was playing with first before she left the area...and she said "but YOU took it out. YOU took it out for us to play with, why do I have to clean it up?" I guess it's not as much logical as it is hilarious and cute. 

One of my kids went to poop and said "OK I'm going to drop some kids off at the pool!" HAHA those kind of kids are the ones I love, the ones that can say the most absurd, gross things but are so cute about it and you can't help but laugh at them.

And onto a rant. I have a child that isn't potty trained and poops himself. He has two or three times a day that he usually does it so we put him on the toilet at that time and can usually save ourselves a stinky mess, but there are a lot of times it's impossible to make him sit and go, especially with 19 other children in the room. Once, he was sent to go potty, watched sit on the toilet, and when he was checked on a few minutes later he was standing up next to the toilet with his pants pulled up, full of shadoobie (thanks, Chelsea Handler!). When his mom was told about it, she simply said "OH, did you not know you had to poop?" I have a feeling not much is being done to help him get potty trained at home. That's what upsets me. I understand your children are at school a LOT of hours a week, but you STILL need to HELP US help YOU get your child potty trained. Some of my kids that ARE potty trained STILL come into school with diapers, and even worse--diaper RASHES, because their parents are lazy and irresponsible and don't bother keeping up with their child's potty schedules.

And yet another rant...some parents have NO IDEA how to dress their children in accordance with the weather. It's the summer, over 80* every day, and humid, yet these parents dress their children in long pants, jeans, sweatpants, and dark colored shirts. The playground is mostly shaded, but really? These poor kids sweat badly enough as it is, don't add to it! And I have a child whose parents request we put her spring JACKET ON HER when we go outside. REALLY?!?! A JACKET? Seriously?! I'd rather not have a child with a heat stroke. /rant

Off to another day of fun and stress.

One of the most obnoxious kids I know is leaving the daycare. Happy Easter to me! I'm sorry that you feel it's the teacher's fault that your child is getting scratched and hit, but really, if your kid is going to sit on the other children, take their toys, kick them under the table etc. than your kid is going to get his ass kicked. He's three, these kids don't know how to react to what he's doing to them yet, and this is where they learn. He's gonna get beat up wherever he goes until you can recognise that the other children aren't the problem, YOUR kid is. Duh.

I taught my kids the colour periwinkle today, I'm so proud of how smart they are.

Still looking for a new job, although I am moving in the direction of getting administration experience so I can open my OWN daycare sometime in the future. I would be a pretty awesome daycare owner, if I do say so myself.

The corporation that I work for is seriously illin.

Every night after we close, a cleaning company (or just cleaning people, whatever) come in to wash the floors, take out the trash, etc. 

Until now.  The greedy assholes at the top of the corporate ladder decided that the teachers apparently don't do enough already, so they changed the cleaners to only come three times a week, and are making us wash the floors, vacuum, and take out the trash ourselves twice a week. Only twice a week? You may ask. Twice a week is two times too many for me. I did not spend four years in college, acquire $70,000 in loan debt, and ENSLAVE myself with this company for THREE YEARS for them to decide I don't already do enough and now have to be a maid as well. I only make $9 an hour as it is, and I feel that I MORE than earn that amount. They won't give us a cost of living (or any) raise this year, are "saving" money by reducing the amount we spend on the cleaning crew...and who will be seeing that money? The greedy assholes. We will be doing the work, THEY will be seeing the money. I don't think so.

I ran out today without mopping or vacuuming a thing, and I've pretty much decided it is now time for a new job. I cannot save the world, and as much of a difference as I make in these kids' lives, it's time to do something for myself for a change. I am worth more.

Conversation with a 3 year-old girl:

Her: "My birthday is on Saturday" (it's not until October..)

Me: "Oh REALLY? How old will you be?"

Her: "Seventeen!"

HAHA! I love it.

Obviously I can only talk about my place of employment, but others seem to be the same way in the respect of people that work at daycares. There ARE educated people, people that truly care about children, working at daycares, but I've noticed that competent teachers are incredibly scarce, at least where I work. I'm one of three out of about 27 employees with a degree, yet my coworkers are being entrusted with massive amounts of children to educate and care for? Some people just have a knack for being teachers, but some just DO NOT get it. I really wish a degree were a MINIMUM requirement for working with kids sometimes.

For instance, we have a new baby that started this week, she's 9 months and is the cutest little thing, I love her. I have this habit of breaking stupid rules (we're not allowed in rooms while on lunch break, which is stupid, because if I have free time and don't feel like going anywhere I really love to hang out with the babies), and went into the nursery to see who was awake to play with. New baby girl was sitting in her crib, red in the face, screaming and upset while all the other babies were asleep, and the teacher that was in that room was sitting in front of the mirror picking food from her teeth. I was disturbed and angry and insisted she take new baby out of the crib and comfort and play with her...somehow the teacher was under the notion that she would be "giving in" and spoiling new baby by holding her. I'm a firm believer in the theory that you cannot spoil an infant, but even if I were not, she was the only baby awake and was seriously upset, NO NEED to abandon her! She's in a new place, with new faces, other babies, no mama, and that can really stress a little one out! Luckily, this teacher is a VERY impressionable person and my concern led to her concern and she took new baby out and held her, to which I entered the room and took her away and played with her myself :p

I also work with a 200 year old woman who has no regard for rules (I break rules but only the stupid ones...), and she has a very strong "I'm always right" personality. We can't even be in a room together because I don't put up with her crap and wind up arguing with her, haha. She always has to do what I'm doing and I get really frustrated with her. I ALSO work with some of the laziest people on the planet, who swear by the "you smelt it you change it" rule, who always seem to coincidentally have a cold with which they cannot smell.

Without the proper education, our kids go home with notes from their teachers saying "Jack and Jill was playing with a toy, and Jack wanted it so he took it and Jill bite him." NO JOKE. Honestly, some of the people I write with use that type of grossly improper grammar on a daily basis. I'm no English teacher, but I know Jack and Jill WERE playing, and Jill BIT him.

And I suppose I should end my rant here. I belieeeeve the children are our fuuuuture...so educate yourself, so that we can better educate them.

Mmm, baby smell.

No matter how bad my day is, I can go pick up and cuddle with an infant and everything is fine. I love that. There are a few older kids that are good for that too. There's a little girl in my room that is like a kitten, it's so funny, she'll crawl in my lap and rub her face on mine, too cute. I love the cuddly ones.

If you walk into a daycare using these cribs, I suggest you run. I can't believe they even PRODUCE these things, it's like a dog kennel!

Saddened.

HOW DARE you bring your two, lovable, smart, EASY to handle children into daycare today at 7am, dressed in sweats, when you do not have work, only to pick them up at 7pm like you actually were at work. 

There is NO reason ANYONE should EVER leave their children at a daycare for twelve hours when they're sitting at home on their lazy asses doing nothing. Your poor kids are the LAST ones in the building EVERY night as it is, I can't believe you would subject them to that on a day YOU'RE NOT EVEN WORKING.

If you don't plan on spending time with your children when you don't have to work, if you don't plan on cherishing every moment with your kids, just get a dog. Don't subject a child, a human being, an innocent person to that kind of neglect from the one person they love most.

UGH, poor children.

For some reason, it's against the rules to babysit for the children that go to my daycare. I'm not one to follow stupid rules though, so I babysit all the time. It's not like I get paid enough to survive by just teaching, anyway. Who do they think they are, telling me what I can do in my free time?

I'd like to blog today about parents I love. I babysat today for two of my favourite kids, and their parents are so great. They're always asking me about my life, my opinions on how they're doing and things I dislike about work, always making suggestions about what I can go with my schooling and what further schooling would fit me. They really care and are interested in what goes on at their children's school and it makes me really happy to know that.

Their kids are ANGELS. I made nailpolish with the oldest (who is 5) and was told I was going to marry the youngest (who is 2, and a boy). Not a tear was shed the entire five hours, nothing but laughter and love while I spent time with them. One of the funniest things the littlest said was that "Mommy is going to marry me, and I am going to marry you! And daddy is going to marry (his sister)!"  Too cute. They played SO well together, he went down so easy for a nap after letting me read to him, not once was the television on, we danced, played house, coloured, wrestled...it was a great way to spend my Saturday.

If all the parents in the world modeled themselves after these, the world would be a better place. I can't exactly pinpoint what it is they do that is so great, that makes their children so great, but I just may make it my goal in life to figure it out and help spread the word. I focus so much on what parents SHOULDN'T do, because it's so much easier. Figuring out what they SHOULD do other than the obvious things is pretty difficult, but maybe it would make a good thesis for a graduate program.

Don't funk with my ART

Art can be fun.. art activities can really lighten a child's mood, kids really enjoy doing art. BUT, there are a few that cannot follow directions, a few that don't like to do art, and a few that seem to be afraid of paint and glue. 

That being said, you parents need to lighten up when your child doesn't do the same artwork as the rest of the children in the class. Artwork is time consuming, so your kid may not do things the other kids do, and vice versa. It's not possible to sit with 15 kids and have them all do the same thing, most of the stuff we do is one on one, or small group projects.

There was a parent that phoned in complaining that his kid didn't make an art project he saw displayed in our classroom. Little does he know, his child would rather not sit down for art, was misbehaving at the time, and ultimately elected NOT to do the project. Get over it buddy, your kid didn't want to do it so I didn't force him to. 

Do you really want me to tie your child to a chair, glue a paint brush to his hand, and force him to paint something? Probably not. 

Private eyes are watching me...

Okay, I know I've already discussed this, but I feel the need to overemphasize it.

If your daycare has a camera, it is simply for recreational use, not for you to watch your child with. If you want to do that, just leave your damn child at home with a macbook (kidding, obviously, but do you get the point?).

We ARE doing our job. We DID NOT lose your child, we're not idiots and your kid can't even reach the door to get out of the building.

A child moved up into my classroom recently and her parents are the most obnoxious parents in the WORLD.  Her parents called this afternoon saying "I can't find my child where IS SHE?!" They were told she was in my room, and conversation ended. Then, they CALLED BACK saying they still couldn't find her (maybe because they're doing an AWFUL job potty training her, and she peed herself and had to change her clothes...). 

Seriously? I picked the kid up, shook her in front of the camera, made her wave, and made an evil face at the camera. 

Would it be rude to make a sign that says "Do your work and stop wasting your time watching me" for the kid to hold up for them?

UGh.

I'm slacking, I know. It's hard to remember to post on a blog when you go to school full-time and work when you're not at school.

Today I'd like to talk about potty training. Potty training is obviously different for each kid, but there are certain things that are the same throughout, like CONSISTENCY. You're an idiot if you think you can leave the potty training up to your daycare providers. We have more than just your child in our classroom, and it's hard enough to change all their diapers, let alone have them sit on the potty while we chase five hundred other kids around, then come back to clean your kid up and rediaper them. We try as hard as we can, but it takes a village, blah blah blah.

If you're not trying at home to potty train them, tell us and we won't try either. You've NO clue how FRUSTRATING it is to have to change a child's clothes all the time because they wet and shit themselves. It's even MORE frustrating to hear you talk about how your child wears a pull-up at home, and you "forget" to take them potty sometimes but it's ok, because they go at school. The best thing I encountered was a mom who stayed home with their kid for a week, kept them in underwear the whole time, not caring if they peed themselves, and really worked hard at getting her child potty trained. That child is now fully potty trained because her mother took the time, cared about what she was doing, and focused on the goal. 

And lastly, putting underwear OVER A DIAPER or pull-up is the stupidest, most pointless thing anyone can do. It's confusing and makes no sense. It's all or nothing. Let the kid get used to the feeling of underwear and don't get angry when they have accidents, it WILL happen, just deal with it. If you pay attention and send them to the potty every hour or so, they will be better off. 

Underappreciated

You may pay over $200 a week for your infant to attend a daycare, but that does NOT mean the teachers get paid well. I'll flat out tell the world (embarrassed as I am) that I only make $9 an hour working full-time at my school. $9 an hour, when the parents pay an incredible amount of money for their children to attend, and there are well over 100 kids. I have a BACHELOR'S degree in psychology, attended a well-known four year institution, have over $75,000 in debt, have been with the SAME daycare company for THREE YEARS, and only make $9 an hour. 

That being said, I OBVIOUSLY only work there because I love the kids not for the money, and I feel I am doing a good job taking care of them and educating them. I am incredibly overqualified for my job. I get pushed around by the corporation, was denied a promotion for which I was trained for (off the clock, mind you...all training done here is UNPAID) because I had the nerve to e-mail headquarters asking why women were required to wear aprons (I LOATHE the dress code here, an apron is for cooking not teaching), whereas the male employees could simply wear polos provided to them by the company. Not only did I not get an answer, I got scolded by the director, and never wound up with the promotion I should have gotten.

I could complain about the company all day long, but in the end I really just want parents to walk away knowing that though you are paying out the rear for your child to be taken care of, their caregivers most likely aren't seeing an appropriate share of that money, so if they are doing a great job, just tell them. Appreciate them. 

Eagle Eye

Kids can be hilarious. While sitting eating cracker (booooring!) for snack, one of my kids (age 3) screamed out "I want a sandwich! Does anyone have a sandwich?!! Do you?" Even funnier knowing that that particular child doesn't even LIKE sandwiches. What a comedian! One day, while it was table toy time, she asked to take out snow-globe like bottle toys. I let her and some kids take them out to play with, but she quickly became disinterested and walked over to me asking to take something else out, to which I told her no, because she had JUST taken out the bottles. She got really upset and whined "Oooh, but I'm ALLERGIC to bottles!!!" SO FUNNY!

On another note, PLEASE please please if you're an obnoxious, overbearing parent, do NOT purchase the access code to the school's camera so you can watch. If you have no self-discipline, DO NOT get the camera! There actually was a parent that watched it SO much while at work that her employer banned her from watching. On the other hand, there is a parent that has it now that was given a SECOND computer monitor to watch their child, and you can guess that we get phone calls CONSTANTLY from that parent nagging and complaining about the stupidest trivial things. Obviously, the camera mounted on one of four walls of a room can NOT see absolutely every square inch of that room, so do NOT call the center saying "I can't see my child!" It's not like we lost the damn kid, they're probably playing somewhere you can't see. Trust me, if something is wrong, we WILL let YOU know. We had a parent call once during nap-time complaining that their child wasn't completely covered with their blanket. Some people just get too carried away.

It's NOT me, it IS you.

Don't make excuses for your child's bad behaviour, unless you are using your improper parenting as your excuse.

A six-year-old child slapping his teachers, throwing markers across the room, walking on top of the tables, and refusing to leave the room with the director is not being that bad "because he is starting to come down with something." 

I had a three-year-old throw a HIGHLY embarrassing tantrum because someone walked into the room with cupcakes they were taking home, and wouldn't give her one. She clung to my leg screaming "I want a cupcake!" for half an hour...meanwhile another child was being picked up, and her mother literally just STARED at the tantrum-er for ten minutes straight, flabbergasted. She was disgusted by the kid's behaviour, and spoke out claiming "that is the most spoiled child I've ever seen!" as the child starting kicking and hitting me, because the person with the cupcakes didn't give her one. Nothing could calm her down and she took a long time to stop lashing out. When she finally got picked up, her mom told me she thought she was getting sick and that's why she's been misbehaving, and proceeded to ask her daughter if she wanted to stop at the grocery store to get....A CUPCAKE! The kid screamed "no I want a whole tray of cupcakes!" and the mother didn't seem phased at ALL.

A three-year-old child is not biting because he's been bitten "like 200 times" before. Of course it may make him more prone to biting, but I've found it VERY rare for a three-year-old that's developmentally on track to bite. And it's a bit odd that when your kid bit someone, unprovoked, and I asked him why he did it, he answered "because I wanted to!" 

On a lighter note, I love how children are SUCH sponges. I taught one of my three-year-olds today that a bruise is also called a hematoma, and he did a great job remembering that word. I was so proud!

Warning...

Your children like to tell me the things you do.

Some interesting ones I've encountered recently..."My mommy likes to drink wine!" and "Daddy makes Mommy cry."

Your kids have ears. They can hear. They know when you're fighting, they know when you're stressed, and they see how you handle things. They then emulate that, and like to copy some of your favourite phrases to yell at them in the privacy of your home. One of my kids yelled "You're straining my life!!!" at a friend she didn't want to share with. The same told her friend she "can't come over my house unless you have money." I chimed in and said "but I don't have any money," to which another said "go to your mommy and say 'can I please have some money?" The latter child has an older sister, guess where she got that phrase from!

Today, a parent, let's call her the Brady bunch momma (yes, she has eight kids, all her own) picked her child up around 2pm to take the kid to the dentist. Then, she had the nerve to BRING HER BACK. Once the afternoon hits, and children are waking up for nap, they are going HOME, and as numbers get low things shift and accommodations are made. There is NO reason to bring your child BACK to the daycare in the middle of the afternoon, it's just ridiculous. 

And that brings me to another point. If you have more than one child, just take them all with you when you do things (except the special day with mama things). Child #1 WILL see you picking up child #2 and it's incredibly upsetting for them to see you leave without them a SECOND time in a single day. It gets hard for us to explain that their own mother/father cannot handle the brood they produced so someone always gets left out. Here's a helpful tip...STOP HAVING KIDS if you can't handle your entire family. 

Welcome!

I work for a corporation.  What do I do? I am a daycare teacher. At a daycare chain. Who would have thought?

I'm making this blog to complain about all the idiots that somehow are allowed to have children. Sure, we all make mistakes, but I really get angry when people treat children like a possession, and I encounter it ALL the time. It really is heartbreaking. This blog isn't aimed at anyone specifically (or I'm sure someone would figure out how to sue me); just a general rant to the public about clueless parents. I'm sure it will come across as rude, but it is just me being honest about how I feel.

I'd like to start with a few ground rules I've thought of for parents dealing with childcare workers.

1. YOU had your child. It was your choice. PLEASE never, ever, ever complain to me about how hard it is to have a social life. DO NOT complain to me how hard it is to take care of eight children, and don't even think of asking me to "walk in your shoes." If I did walk in your shoes, I most likely would not have kept my legs open long enough to pop out eight children if I could not handle them. 

2. Your child is not a genius. Unless you work at the daycare with me or have a job that is child related, you most likely don't have anything to compare with...and don't know much about what your child should know, other than what you've read online, if you even care that much. Your three-year-old talks into a hairbrush like he is the newsman, cool. That certainly does not make him some sort of imagination savant, and it makes YOU look like an idiot when you think that makes him advanced for his age.

3. Your kid is not an angel, either. Children need to learn responsibility for their actions. Kids get into fights, it's completely normal. Your kid may have gotten the brunt end of it, but that doesn't necessarily make them the victim, they certainly could have instigated the situation. It is my experience that most kids don't get bitten, kicked, hit, scratched, etc. just for the hell of it, usually they are being obnoxious and quite honestly, deserve it. 

4. Treat your teachers nicely. ESPECIALLY if you have an obnoxious child that gets on YOUR nerves. Chances are, the kid gets on our nerves as well, and if a parent of an annoying child treats a teacher poorly, the teacher isn't going to like the kid any more. It's not even intentional, it's some kind of subconscious thing. Obnoxious kid + rude parent = teacher that is super stressed out by your entire family.

5. We most likely know if and when you are at work. It is ridiculously upsetting to know that while you are taking a bubble bath at home, watching Oprah, and having a glass of wine, your children are with us. Attending daycare is very much just like work for a child. Please don't consistently leave them there longer than you have to, it makes us think you don't want your kids. Taking time to yourself every now and then is perfectly fine, but making it a routine thing is so obvious to us, and we WILL think less of you.

6. You NEED to communicate with us. Tell us what is going on at home, tell us stories about your weekend, tell us anything happening that is affecting your child. If a three-year-old has been potty trained for months but is all of a sudden having accidents, there are things that could be happening that may be causing regression...we sometimes see your children MORE hours a week than you do, and we WANT to help (yes, there are children that I see at daycare for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week...that leaves time for them to get fed dinner by their real parents and go to sleep, only to wake the next morning nice and early, get fed breakfast, and be shipped off to daycare for another 12 hour day). Give us the information to be able to help your child. Really, OUR child.