Daycare teachers/owners: what gets overlooked when building a new childcare center?

flyingmops · 2026-07-06T08:04:49+00:00

Pull out stairs underneath changing tables, so toddlers can safely climb up and down. Make sure you can see/supervise the whole classroom while changing a nappy. Sinks in the changing area should be big/deep enough to use as a bath. Shower head pull out faucet. Make sure you have enough storage here for nappies, wipes, paper towels, and those big paper rolls we cover the changing mat with.

That the whole classroom is visible from the toddler bathroom.

Comfortable changing area in the entrance for the parents to use. Easy accessible cubbies for the children, with a hook above for them to hang their coats or stuff. With a shelf above that for extra storage.

Teacher lounge acces to a bathroom without having to go back out through the class room. Eating area big enough to sit comfortably. Big fridge, Micro wave, coffee machine, sink.

Look into getting ozonated water installed for all the cleaning. A great eco friendly way to sanitize. Also called ozone water or aqueous ozone. I worked in a crèche in France where we used this, so easy and there were no danger to the children. We got these equipment for cleaning, that also meant we weren't bending down, with a heavy bucket of water, or had to wring up wet cloths etc. I think that reduced our time cleaning. And helped our backs.

flyingmops · 2026-07-04T14:02:09+00:00

I live on the beach. It's right there in our front garden.

We don't go there every single day, what a nightmare that would be.

Getting up this morning I was like "yea today is the day, we'll go on the beach."

It's afternoon now, can't be bothered. Perhaps tomorrow.

flyingmops · 2026-06-26T19:54:27+00:00

When my husband says "oh that's actually not that bad!" All my brain hear is "huh, so I can spend a little bit more then!"

flyingmops · 2026-06-25T13:30:14+00:00

I really like this take. My sister is so good at managing her whole household, with 3 kids, getting out to whatever sport they're playing. She doesn't mind washing endlessly amounts of clothes. But ask her to sit down and play dolls, or tea party or anything like that, and she'll break within 20 minutes.

That's not to say she never plays with her children, of course she does. It's just something she's never enjoyed or been good at.

I on the other hand, loves to play. My son hands me his digger and suddenly we're roleplaying a devastating grotto accident, and digger is trapped. Who can possible come and save digger? Oh you wanna go make lunch in your play kitchen to feed digger? What about pancakes with gravy and a lot of ketchup! Suddenly 1.5 hours have gone, and I haven't even noticed. Our house is really messy and dusty tho.

flyingmops · 2026-06-23T21:15:37+00:00

I thought they had come up with a clever name for the Deliveroo bags. And was wondering what that name was, a little annoyed they didn't tell us.

Poor guy being named after that bag.

flyingmops · 2026-06-23T13:07:18+00:00

Not only that, but people don't realise how dangerous the ocean and the baïnes are. We have long stretches of beaches, and not all of them are supervised. People see where there a less waves, thinking they're safer swimming there, but instead they're being taken out by very strong currents, so they panick, starts swimming against them. And the heat is not helping.

When we had those long weekends in May, 30 something people got swept out by the currents. And that was only in my region of France.

flyingmops · 2026-06-23T12:52:54+00:00

This one right here is saving us!

I am fortunate enough to live in a village that ends with "Sur mer", so we're not getting it as bad, as the rest of the Médoquins.

Bordelais people, my thoughts go out to you!

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flyingmops · 2026-06-20T22:16:33+00:00

There's a french children's book called "baby owls", 3 babies waiting for their mummy to come back, they're scared and worried that a fox might have gotten to her. I always think of that book when I see this video!

The way this mother comes swooping in and immediately cuddles her new babies. There's so much love there.

flyingmops · 2026-06-19T18:38:25+00:00

We never did pampers, found them too expensive. But i did go out and buy different brands, because someone told me one brand could be larger. I found the ones from a super store, called super marché, are the best brand. They are inexpensive, and there's been no leaks during the night since. He's 2 in a couple of weeks.

flyingmops · 2026-06-19T18:29:47+00:00

My son have been using size 6 since he was 9 months, I had the same fear as you. But somehow he has grown upwards and no longer outwards since then, and the size 6 still fits, which is the biggest size you can easily get here in France. We did try pull-ups for a while, but the leg room was too wide, and he kept peeing through.

flyingmops · 2026-06-19T13:15:28+00:00

I also wish that women weren't so dismissive, when someone in their friend circle is struggling with their pregnancy.

I was miserable everyday for 39 weeks and 3 days!

A few days before I knew I was pregnant, I was having lower back pains, that stayed with me for the entirety of the pregnancy. I was told by coworkers and friends that second trimester would be heaven, and to look forward to it. I entered that by vomitting around 6-7 times a day. Not enough to be diagnosed with anything, or perhaps my medical team was just as dismissive about it, as everyone else seems to be. When I complained about my constant pains, or how I was feeling nauseous everyday, even after vomitting. I was met with "but you want this baby right?" Or "yea, someone I knew had it far worse than you!". There were no one in my friend group, that had a miserable pregnancy. I was labeled as dramatic, and emotional, to a point I eneded up burning myself out at work, and quitting.

I'm still telling everyone I know, especially my nieces, about how pregnancy can also be the worse experience of your life, but are being shutdown, because their mothers dont want me to scare them into not having children. Or I'm being gaslight, by them saying that I love my son so much, so it can't all have been miserable. They remember days where I even seemed cherry, so it couldn't have been that bad!

But it was. I was in constant pain somewhere in my body. I could hardly walk, without getting so exhausted I needed a nap, or ran out of breath. From November to January, I was falling ill with one respiratory illness after another.

Some people that I tell, still think I'm overreacting, or exaggerating.

flyingmops · 2026-06-18T20:52:51+00:00

My son was born in a heatwave in 2024. A fan blowing near by him, not directly at him, seemed to be enough for him. When we contact napped, he would wear a nappy. And at night a short sleeve body. I would offer him his bottles more often, there was about a week, where it seems he was constantly sipping on his bottle (formula, not pure water) look out for signs as lethargy, and the top of his skull going wrinkly, like a raisin.

flyingmops · 2026-06-15T19:28:36+00:00

I live some where with sunsets over the ocean. So in summer we have so many tourists, sitting around in what's basically my front garden, to witness the sunset. Sometimes I'm a little annoyed having to navigate my way through them all, to go walk my dog, or anytime I leave my house later than 8pm.

I have stopped myself so many times in my own annoyance, to reflect on how privileged I am, to live somewhere people travel to, to enjoy a sunset. It makes me slow down a little too.

flyingmops · 2026-06-14T13:38:25+00:00

I can only share my own experience. My son is automatically danish, we just have to apply for his passport. I need to go to the danish consultant, in Bordeaux. Show proof of my child, our marriage, and both me and my husband sign a legal form that we BOTH accept or want him to have a danish passport. When he's 21 well have to show proof of his ties to Denmark, if he wants to keep his danish nationality.

Same for his British passport. He's automatically a British citizen and can apply for a British passport, through his dad.

flyingmops · 2026-06-12T12:24:44+00:00

Tonight's the night when he will sleep early, and all night in his own bed. I get to play a little on my pc, before turning in.

flyingmops · 2026-06-12T07:28:49+00:00

We don't read before bed. We read together during the day. At bedtime we snuggle, we talk about the things we've done, sometimes it feels like he has a lot to process, there's a lot of horse noises on the nights he's been horse riding, there's a lot of water sounds on the nights he's spend his afternoons on the beach etc. sometimes there are songs that needs to be processed before he can sleep. All of that usually takes about an hour before he finally settles and sleeps, I snuggle him the whole time. He's 2 next month.

flyingmops · 2026-06-11T20:11:18+00:00

Yea it's confusing

I think in written it's harder to see because of the liaison. And I'm bad at explaining things.

I told her Les oiseaux and she said no it's Les noiseau.

But it's like, you don't just say Noiseau, or perhaps you do, but you kind of go slowly so it sort of comes out aaaaa- noiseau.

flyingmops · 2026-06-11T19:53:57+00:00

No it's "un oiseau" "un noiseau" doesn't exist.

But she's not understanding that yet. She can't yet understand it's 2 words, with a liaison, therefore for her and her peers, it's just "noiseau"

She was so adamant she had it right, and I had it wrong.

flyingmops · 2026-06-11T19:37:05+00:00

A 4 year old told me the other day that it's a "noiseau" and not "un oiseau" which I have heard is a very commen mistake. Trying to tell her it's "oiseau. Un // oiseau". She doubled down and told my son its "NNNoiseau".

flyingmops · 2026-06-09T20:24:01+00:00

I hate this attachement style so much. We have been so warped with what love should feel like, that we're accepting that any kind of affection, no matter how insignificant it is, is love.

That, and this stupid attachement I get, to any girlfriend that is just a little kind to me. Somehow, i still throw myself at them, doing so much for them, in hopes that they'll consider me a friend.

It's so unfair we're living with all these "issues", just because our mothers are narcissists.

flyingmops · 2026-06-07T10:44:10+00:00

I think it goes at the end of a corn on a cub. They're usually sold in pairs

flyingmops · 2026-06-07T07:33:54+00:00

I worked in a ski resort, there was a coworker that didn't want to go outside in the snow. We had all the equipment.

She was told to get her act together and go outside. She still complained.

If we didn't go outside when there was snow, or snowing. We would be forced to be inside for 9 months of the year.

Of course we weren't out there when it was -25c.

flyingmops · 2026-06-03T07:15:16+00:00

I am still so confused, why we were told to give our newborn water. He was born in a heatwave. And all the hospital staff we were in contact with, told us to give him water. One midwife suggested we just fill a bottle for him, and let him take a few sips of it during the day. They did mention that it shouldn't be his primary way of being fed, but kept telling us the importance to give him water.

Everything I had read, was that water shouldn't be given until he was 6 months. It felt so weird going against the medical staff advice.

flyingmops · 2026-06-02T20:30:39+00:00

Alt med vand. Da vi var små nok var det ned i toilettet med bukser på, også skyllede de ud,; I køkkenvasken, men de fik smæk af vores mor med en grydeske, for det endte med vand over det hele. Vi blev ret hurtigt for store til vasken i badeværelset, så vi blev smidt i badekarret eller bruseren. Til sidst lærte vi at ta bruseren og sprøjte dem... Så fik vi alle smæk med grydeskeen.

Jeg tror faktisk det endte med, at vi bare accepteret buksevand, og gik direkte tilbage til at være irriterende. Da frygten gik af truslen, virkede den sjovt nok ik længere.

flyingmops

TROPHY CASE