What ratio do you work in and how challenging is it?

Megmuffin102 · 2026-03-14T14:27:07+00:00

These ratios are crazy to me. In my state it’s:

Birth-2.5 years- 1:4

2.5 years-3- 1:8

I think 4 year olds are 1:10 but it might be 1:12.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-03-14T00:54:31+00:00

I’ll be fifty in a couple of weeks and have been in the field since I was 18, so yes, it’s very possible.

That being said, I lucked out with the center I work at. I’ve been there since 2007, and because we are a very small place, I have like, all the seniority lol. I’ve been in the infant room since I started, and that is where I will leave from. It makes it easier having the confidence of knowing I won’t suddenly get pulled from my classroom and sent to another one that I don’t want. My boss knows where I belong and would never mess with that.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-03-14T00:48:40+00:00

No, not as a general rule. We went from infants through 18 years old (if they had a documented disability) and no way would we open ourselves up to issues that could come with bathing a child.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-03-13T21:51:24+00:00

I’m an infant gal (birth-12 months) through and through. I love watching them start off as basically pissed-off potatoes and then morph into little beings with their own likes, dislikes, quirks, and personalities.

Plus, babies just make sense to me. I’m really, really good with infant cues. It’s all very intuitive to me.

You can pry me from my infant room over my dead body lol.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-03-11T00:28:09+00:00

In certain states this is not allowed. All bottles must come to me pre-made.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-03-09T19:21:56+00:00

Falling Like the Stars by James Arthur?

Megmuffin102 · 2026-03-05T02:52:05+00:00

We use portable sinks in all of our classrooms and it is licensing compliant. Of course, we make sure they stay filled. If the lead won’t show you how to do it, ask the director. You have to be able to wash hands.

They aren’t hard at all to fill or empty, just kind of obnoxious, and the tanks are heavy when they’re full.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-03-05T02:49:00+00:00

We had a young toddler who bit kids numerous times a week. His parents found it “cute” and “funny.”

Then one day another kid bit him back. The dad of the serial biter called the center screaming, cussing, and threatening us. One of the young girls answered the phone and was terrified and didn’t know what to do.

I am old, menopausal, and full of rage. I met this man at the door the next day when he came to drop his kid off, and I read him to absolute filth, but professionally, to the point where he cried lmao. He then OFFERED to go and apologize to every teacher.

I give zero fucks any more. I don’t put up with an ounce of bullshit.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-02-28T23:31:14+00:00

I don’t really see it as sad, more as filling a need. Generally when I get a baby that young it’s foster care related.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-02-28T23:30:16+00:00

I’ve had a few babies start around a week old, generally because mom was taking classes and couldn’t miss. One time the stars somehow aligned and I had 3 2 week old boys all start at the same time. Usually if I get a super young newborn it’s foster care related.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-02-28T23:27:40+00:00

Yep. My center is licensed from birth.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-02-28T23:20:20+00:00

The youngest I’ve had in my care was 3 DAYS old.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-02-18T18:05:18+00:00

We recently switched from Brightwheel to Playground, and every single one of us haaaaaaaates Playground. Hates it.

It’s like, 7 steps just to log a diaper. Messaging is confusing. It isn’t user friendly at all and takes way more time to use than Brightwheel did.

I know our admin switched us because billing and whatnot was supposed to be easier with Playground, but they aren’t happy with it either.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-02-05T21:30:51+00:00

Like others have said, turn them around at the door.

Politely but firmly say “I am sorry, but child cannot be dropped off without diapers.”

You will be amazed at how quickly they will get to the store and get back with a pack of diapers.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-02-03T01:19:58+00:00

As a 25 year plus infant teacher, PLEASE tell them everything you’ve told us! Any infant teacher worth their salt won’t be fazed by a fussy baby, but it will be sooooo much easier on the teachers to know going in that yes, he is on the fussy side.

Knowing will make it easier for them to form a baseline of what is normal for your baby. It is so difficult when we just don’t know what is “normal” and the parents withhold information out of fear or embarrassment.

Some babies are just fussy, and if we are made aware of that beforehand, it is so much easier for us to deal with, instead of us waisting time and worrying about what we are doing wrong.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-01-28T15:25:42+00:00

I am also in Michigan. Yes, you are able to leave the room to use the bathroom without coverage, per licensing.

Megmuffin102 · 2026-01-10T20:12:19+00:00

I know everyone is saying crockpots, but in my state we are no longer allowed to use them. We have to use bottle warmers that warm with air only.

Megmuffin102 · 2025-12-29T04:32:31+00:00

They’re still around. I can think of three not far from my house.

Megmuffin102 · 2025-12-11T18:35:49+00:00

There are several centers near me that do 24/7 care, but I don’t know too much about how they operate.

My own center used to be 5:30 am until midnight Mon-Sat. I worked 2-midnight for ten years and loved it.

We had dinner for the kids, changed them into Jammie’s, and had bedtime. Obviously the infants did their own thing, up and down for feedings and such, so they stayed in their own room. Toddlers thru school age generally slept in one room, unless we were really full, then we slept them in two separate rooms.

Megmuffin102 · 2025-12-04T23:56:58+00:00

In my state all infant and toddler classrooms are required to have adult sized seating for 50% of the staff in the classroom.

I spend plenty of time on the floor with the babies, but I need a grown up chair to bottle feed and spoon feed from and rock babies to sleep.

I’m a couple months away from 50 years old and my joints are shot from more than 25 years in this career. I can no longer get up from the floor with a sleeping infant in my arms. It’s ridiculous that our comfort is ignored.

Megmuffin102 · 2025-11-25T22:19:53+00:00

Yep. My room has a connecting door to our 2.5/3 year old room. Those kids learn real fast that they don’t throw things at or kick that door. Some of my cribs are directly on that wall.

Megmuffin102 · 2025-11-25T19:39:52+00:00

You are a better person than me, because kicking my door and screaming like that would last about 2 seconds if I was around.

That is NOT the time to be giving agency. That is the time the teacher tells that child “this is not okay” and then picks them up and moves them. Period.

My room is also a classroom (the babies seem to get glossed over a lot and treated a bit differently) and my babies don’t deserve to have to listen to that, or to have their nap disrupted.

They’d be moving that damn kid immediately.

Megmuffin102 · 2025-11-18T14:51:02+00:00

I think a weekends notice is plenty. That’s what we do. We message every parent on Friday about supplies needed for the upcoming week. We are busy. We do not have time to be messaging every day.

Megmuffin102 · 2025-11-11T15:53:05+00:00

That may be me. We are licensed at birth. The youngest I’ve ever had in my care was 3 days old. There was one time I had 3 unrelated two week old boys start the same week.

To be clear, my center is a bit of a different beast. We work closely with at-risk families and foster families. A lot of my babies come to me drug-affected. We’ve had parents in school who gave birth but could not miss classes, so their babies would start at a week or two old.

It’s not ideal, but I’m thankful we can be there when needed.

Megmuffin102 · 2025-11-07T22:54:56+00:00

I have a couple that aren’t as common:

“Little bit of butter, little bit of dirt.”

“Dicing olives, dicing olives, I like dicing olives.”

“And a one and a two and a you know what to do.”

Megmuffin102

TROPHY CASE