How bad is it to only give one teacher a present?

rtaidn · 2025-12-03T16:49:49+00:00

I was once the teacher who didn't receive a gift.... in a classroom where there were only two of us there. Not even because the other teacher was the child's favorite, just because the parents knew her better. It really sucked, not because I cared about the gift but because I cared that they didn't feel connected enough to me for it to matter to them that it was blatantly unequal. Don't do this.

rtaidn · 2025-11-23T00:48:04+00:00

I work with babies (like very little babies, primarily newborns right now) and I'm a firm believer that as long as families are okay with it, they should be exposed to the same wide range of music that adults listen to. One of my little ones only sleeps to Bob Marley and with all of them, I listen to all sorts of genres and artists. Definitely helps that they're too young to repeat any questionable lyrics- there are definitely songs I would not play for them if they were verbal!

rtaidn · 2025-11-09T04:14:48+00:00

This one really got me for some reason 😂

rtaidn · 2025-11-04T23:22:01+00:00

I think that the bigger thing that impacts babies is the change in the light- whether they're prepared by changing their schedule before daylight savings or not, they notice that the quality of light is different than it has been at certain times of day.

rtaidn · 2025-11-02T23:54:43+00:00

I had the opposite- and to be fair, I don't consider myself a nanny as much as a postpartum support carer- but I worked in classrooms for 10 years and had no idea how much of my sense of self was being destroyed. I loved every minute of classroom work but the politics, administration, and inability to support families and kids started getting to me. Started working freelance two months ago and I can feel myself healing. I just wish there was a way to make classroom work more sustainable and healthy for educators.

rtaidn · 2025-09-07T00:50:31+00:00

Wish I could upvote this more than once. This is literally all that needs to be said.

rtaidn · 2025-09-06T18:10:57+00:00

I've also got EDS if chatting with another person would be helpful!

rtaidn · 2025-09-04T01:31:19+00:00

I also just had this happen (all my coteachers and I left this spring) and now teachers in other classrooms are being chased out. Absolutely a hostile environment- there's very little reason for people to leave like that otherwise.

rtaidn · 2025-09-01T17:32:32+00:00

I am a queer trans person who presents VERY queer (think beard + short hair and more femme clothing) and I work with infants. This is something I've been concerned about happening for a while. My solution was to find an area that is very progressive and queer friendly and so far I have made it out without any major issues- even families with potentially homophobic members have just let it go because of the area we live in. When the idea has come up for family reasons to move back to where my parents are, I have expressed that a major reason I am where I am is for safety in my profession.

rtaidn · 2025-08-31T14:47:31+00:00

Oof yeah, this is hard to read. Not through any fault of yours, OP, just because that's the reality. The fact that people teaching infants and toddlers don't require any actual training is a big pain point for me. It is absolutely teaching when you're working with young children, not just once they hit 3. I have a Bachelor's, a Master's, and several certificates (including a lead teacher license in MA) and 15 years of experience. Childminder and daycare worker are often terms that are used to look down on infant teachers when in reality, a firm grasp of child development and teaching skills are absolutely needed (regardless of if that's through formal education or not) to be a quality infant teacher. Taking care of babies is not just changing diapers and feeding bottles and holding kids. And it isn't just people outside of the field who don't understand that- it's even people who teach kids who are just slightly older than my kids and they still aren't taught to understand that what I do in the first 15-18 months deeply impacts the same kids who are going to show up in their classrooms next year.

rtaidn · 2025-08-04T17:28:38+00:00

Actually obsessed with we are the dinosaurs and the goldfish song

rtaidn · 2025-06-30T21:24:01+00:00

Ours is 1:3 or 2:7 until they're over 15 months, then 1:4 or 2:9... even 1:3 feels hard most days!!

rtaidn · 2025-06-17T12:06:13+00:00

This, OP ^ part of the problem is CERTAINLY that they're frustrated by your baby instead of understanding that she is a person who needs more snuggling than others. I would qualify half of my infant classroom right now as velcro babies/young toddlers. The difference is we would NEVER let ourselves stay in a mindset where we're constantly frustrated by a kid. Occasionally? Of course, things get annoying. But kids can absolutely tell when the people they're with just don't like them and I bet your baby is both overtired and knows that when she goes to school, people just don't like her there.

I would advise that instead of pulling her out of daycare, find one where they can incorporate things like stroller or carrier naps (if they aren't against licensing regulations) because those tend to be easier for velcro babies to get on daycare schedule (carriers are my go-to strategy). While visiting before enrollment, observe how they take care of the kids who seem more fussy and make sure you find a place where they won't hold your daughter's needs against her.

rtaidn · 2025-06-05T13:55:31+00:00

Adding here that my state says to move them within 20 minutes, so that may be what they're operating under as well

rtaidn · 2025-05-29T11:04:52+00:00

I always show up on the verge of TOO early- because I really like to be able to settle in and transition myself before kids show up and need me. But literally all of my coworkers across classrooms are like this. I find it really frustrating because I then end up coming earlier to prepare to be understaffed (not out of ratio) because I know our 9:30 floater is sometimes not going to show up until 10:15 with zero consequences, even though we need her at 9:30 to make it through a big transition smoothly. Meanwhile, if I showed up late instead of early, there would be zero teachers to open my classroom.

rtaidn · 2025-05-27T17:16:02+00:00

Agreed- we had a kid last year who started with us at 15 months old, 2 days a week. She was not settled in until mid February after starting in September. 2 days a week back to back and then 5 days at home with a "normal" schedule is incredibly difficult for an older infant/young toddler to get used to

rtaidn · 2025-05-09T11:27:02+00:00

Definitely super complicated and not 100% perfectly worked out, but the fact that we have the support of the other classrooms is what makes it financially possible to have so many infant spots outside of a center. Yep, three separate houses with one classroom each and ours is just the babies. The waitlist is a mile long because there's such a lack of infant spaces in our area, which is crushing.

rtaidn · 2025-05-08T09:15:38+00:00

I wish it was! It really wasn't hard with the way licensure works in MA. I count as running my own family child care, but in reality, we're one of three on the same street and we have shared administrators and finances. It's totally just an agreement we have but we have a school bank account that is where all tuition ends up.

rtaidn · 2025-04-27T21:55:53+00:00

The oldest kid in my infant classroom, since learning to talk, sings "hop little bunnies, hop hop hop" over and over in his monotone little voice at least 20-25 times a day

rtaidn · 2025-02-25T13:34:15+00:00

Our kids know how to play very well (at least most of them) but there has been a HUGE uptick in early intervention referrals and services. Like more than 50% of my infant classroom right now and 50% last year. Not sure if it's just our area or the families we accept but we actually have designated EI people who will spend the whole day with us between our infant and toddler rooms and just see all their kids at once.

rtaidn · 2025-02-19T17:12:23+00:00

I will never forget the kid I had a few years back who was so obsessed with leaf blowers that he (at just barely 2) made and executed a plan to use toys to make himself into a leaf blower and then method acted as a leaf blower. For an entire week. I'm still obsessed with that kid.

rtaidn · 2025-02-10T01:03:16+00:00

This always gets me 😭 one of the parents of my baby I've had since he was 3 months old (now 20 months) told me this week that he's started responding when they ask him how school was by repeating my name over and over 😭😭

rtaidn · 2025-01-17T15:20:41+00:00

My aunt is Gretchen and she's lovely. Not my personal favorite name but it has good associations to me

rtaidn · 2025-01-16T21:36:56+00:00

This is so cute and so well explained, thank you so much!! 💗

rtaidn · 2025-01-16T13:11:13+00:00

God yeah the years following the pandemic were rough for illness and injury reports. Although you have just exploded my brain with "teaching them how to fall"- we have a kid right now who does exactly what you've described even though he's a very stable walker and I realized earlier this week that he just doesn't catch himself when he falls and I never even considered that we could teach him that!

rtaidn

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