Adventures in ECE

 The concept of sharing can tend to be very black and white for 3 year olds…

Children are taught to share. If they want to use a toy that another child is using they ask to share. If a child comes to ask and use a toy that they are using, they should share. Now the grey area….child A has a toy that they just got off the shelf- child B now wants to use it-so child B goes and asks child A to share-child A says NO because they just got the toy off the shelf-child B goes to a teacher and says that child A is not sharing-teacher then steps in and makes child A share the toy—

Child A had the toy taken away unfairly under the pretence of sharing and then just takes the toy back from child B while using the phrase “you need to share” as a reason to take the toy back. As a teacher, who has witnessed the entire act-from child A getting the toy first, to them getting it back, I’m asking you who would you allow to play with the toy?

*Just for the record, I sided with child A–I explained to child B that they had to wait 5 minutes to play with the toy and told child A to explain to the teacher next time that they had just gotten the toy themselves.*

One day while I was assigned to kitchen duties, I was sent to the infant room to start the break schedule.

Shortly after I got there, one of the babies started crying and fussing so I went over to pick her up. She started coughing - and then I heard that oh so charming gag that every ECE worker recognizes. Not like I could just drop her - and we are not even supposed to make faces or say YUCK …would not do to make baby think you did not like her.

So I held her and smiled while the sweet little baby puked all over me.

Fortunately there were some extra shirts around from field trips. It could have been a lot worse. But still. It was pretty darn icky … because of our child:staff ratios I could not leave until the other staff came back a half an hour later. By then I was MORE than ready to get out of there.

Sometimes the challenge of working in day care is not the kids, it is the other workers.

 Some of them tend to be a lot more rigid than I would be. One day, for example, a 3 year old cried when his mom dropped him off. The rule is that the kid that gets picked to be the leader is one who has had really good behaviour - and this kid did - except for the crying in the morning thing.

Me, I think that for a three year old, being upset when Mommy leaves is to be expected. I do not count it as inappropriate behaviour at all.

But the other worker applies the same expectations to every child. So if a 6 year old is expected not to cry and carry on at being left, so is a 3 year old.

Someone needs a consequence - and it is not one of the kids!

As a recent (okay it’s been a year or so, but whatever) graduate of Early Childhood Education (ECE) and as someone who is new to the workforce as an ECE, I have in the past few weeks, been privileged enough to encounter some highly interesting and somewhat hilarious (if not somewhat gross and unfortunate for me anyway) stories and events that take place at my job. I am planning to write about my place of employment, the kids who make my job what it is and other general things relating to ECE. I would try and promise not to include the details of some stories that may not be entirely stomach-worthy, but I won’t, cus really where’s the fun in that…and besides, without the gory details, you just won’t be able to get the full effect of what I deal with on basically a daily basis.