Wednesday, August 28, 2013

babblin'

At one of the centers I worked at there was a little girl who just would go with the flow. This little girl didn't care whether she was inside or outside and it didn't matter where you sat her to play she would be content regardless of where she was. This little girl never cried, she hardly ever got hurt and she never messed with any of the other children (never took toys, hit anyone etc.).  Even when she did start to walk if you placed her in a certain area of the room to play she would usually stay there. She was a child I had to remember to give attention to because she never demanded any in any way. One of my co-teachers referred to her as "Buddha Baby," because she was so calm and quiet. She was a staff members-in a child care center-dream.

While awake she also would never talk a lot. However, every day at nap time she would babble. I would sit or lay beside her cot to pat her to sleep and she would just start talking about all kinds of things. It went from babbling to talking as she started to actually talk and use words to communicate. I used to say to her, "Shh, tell me later sweetheart, it's time to go night, night."
 Eventually I just would sit or lay by her cot and let her talk until she fell asleep because it was the only time she ever talked and it became a time for us to connect with one another. It was also when her personality would come out and she was so funny! To sit and listen to all of the things she had observed all morning long would just make me laugh.

She was one of the sweetest children I've ever taken care of and she is certainly the easiest. I got so used to her sitting quietly in an area of the room playing that when she moved up to the next room I had to remind myself that she had moved up because I had gotten so used to her quiet presence.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

gray marker

One year, the last two weeks of the year were really quiet. Our numbers were low so my co-teacher and I took the time to de-junk and rearrange some of the things in the room.

The week following these, I had a teacher from the classroom next to us open our door and ask if we had a gray marker. I was cleaning the tables after snack and stopped and stood up. I just stood there for a minute thinking because I couldn't remember where we had put them. I remembered seeing them and I remember putting them in a different spot but I couldn't remember where. My co-teacher was having a prep time so I couldn't ask her where we had put them.
After I stood there for a minute this co-worker said, "Do you understand what I'm asking?"
I nodded and said, "Yes, I understand what you're asking co-worker I'm just trying to remember where we put them. We just got done rearranging a lot of things in the room and I can't remember where we put them. Let me finish cleaning the tables and I'll look for them."

As I finished cleaning the tables I'm thinking 'where did we put those'? By the time I was done cleaning the tables I had remembered where we put them and got the gray marker and took it to her.

FYI- just because someone has to stop and think about a question doesn't mean they don't understand it and I could be wrong but insulting the intelligence of your co-workers isn't going to get you respected as a fellow co-worker.
Tip- To insult a co-workers intelligence is unprofessional!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

friends continued

The little boy I've talked about in my previous posts isn't the only one who would watch out for and take care of his friends. I had a boy and a girl move up from the infant room at the same time. They were a few days apart and had the same transition period. The little girl had spina bifida and I had to catheterize her every day after nap in order to make sure she was emptying her bladder. She could move by crawling on her tummy and eventually learned to move by scooting on her bottom.

In order to get her out to the playground I had to put her in a wagon and pull her. One day we were getting ready to go outside when the little boy who moved up with this little girl came over and put his hand on the wagon. As the others started to go out the door I said, "ok, name of child, go follow the co-teacher."
He just looked at me like are you kidding. I tried to prod him along.
"Go follow co-teacher sweetheart."
He looked at me, shook his head no and had a determined look on his face. I thought all right and started across the room. He let go of the wagon in order to get out the door, however, as soon as I was out the door he took hold of the wagon again and walked all the way out to the playground holding onto the wagon. He was determined to stay with this little girl-his friend.

When we got to the playground I set a blanket out on the playground then took this little girl and sat her on it. As I did that this little boy went and got her some toys and brought them to her so she'd have something to play with. He wouldn't play until she was on the blanket with toys to play with. He learned which ones were her favorite and would bring them to her if no one else was playing with them. For part of the time outside he'd come and sit on the blanket with her, part of it he'd go off and play. Either way he stayed close by and took care of her.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Bonds

At the first center I worked at they had younger toddlers (ages 12 months-18 months) and older toddlers (ages 18 months-2 years). When a child got ready to turn 18 months old they spent a week transitioning. They would go to the other room and spend  a few hours in the other classroom and then they would return. The hours they spent in the new classroom would increase each day until they spent most of Friday in the new classroom and were picked up in that classroom. The following week they would be in the new classroom.

The week of transitioning for the little boy I've been talking about in my previous posts came. Each day I'd walk him to the classroom and welcome him back as he returned. At the end of the week on Friday I walked him to his new classroom, then returned to mine. At nap time after the children were asleep and lunch had been cleaned up I went to take the rest of the diapers, sunscreen and other belongings of this little boy to his new room. As I closed the door and started to return to my room I started to cry. I had had this little boy since he was ten months old and the first few months in my room from 5:30 until 6 it was often just him and me because everyone else had been picked up and he wasn't picked up until 6. This one on one time with a child in this kind of setting is rare and we developed a strong bond due to the half hour we spent together every day. We played with toys, took walks, and he helped me close the room every day.

A few months after he had moved up I was on the playground that we shared with the older toddler room. This little boy was being held by a teacher and I asked another teacher in that room if he was ok. She told me they had just gotten back from being gone for two weeks.
"Ah, readjusting uh?" I said.
"Yup."
A few minutes later the teacher holding this little boy came over to me and said, "I think he wants you, he keeps pointing at you."
He practically jumped into my arms- I almost didn't catch him. He put his head on my shoulder and started to pat my back so I started to rub his and talk softly to him about he and his family being on vacation. After a few minutes I put him down in the sand box and sat beside him. He sat there playing quietly. When it got time for me to take my class inside I started to clean up and get my children to the gate so we could go in. When he saw me doing this he went over to the gate and stood by it. Instead of trying to get him to stay and go in with his own class I let him go in with ours. As I put a toy away I told the teacher I had him and I'd bring him down to their classroom in a minute. I took my class in, washed everyone's hands including his then we walked down the hall to his room. I opened the door and told him I'd see him later and he walked right in and was fine. Every day for about two weeks when I got outside he'd come sit beside me and play then go in with me and then I'd take him to his room. One day as I started to clean up and get everyone to the gate he didn't follow. As I got ready to go in I checked on him, saw he was playing quietly and went in. He was all right from then on. I guess some bonds just don't break.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

friends


 
 

The little boy I spoke of in my last post, as he grew and started to walk he started to slim some but he was still a big boy. He had broad shoulders and the build of a football player. At the same time he was in my class I also had a girl who was as tiny as he was big. She had been born premature and was a tiny little thing. This little boy recognized that she was smaller than everyone else and watched out for her.
One day I was washing my hands after changing a diaper when I heard someone screaming. I looked over my shoulder and saw that it was this little girl. The two boys playing in the same area she was had taken her toys from her. I threw away the paper towel and started across the room. When I got to the halfway point this little boy crossed my path and it looked like he was going to the same place I was, so I stopped to see where he was going. He went over there, yanked the toys from them, fussed at them (babbled, he was using very many actual words yet), placed the toys gently in her lap then spoke to her. She nodded her head and wiped her eyes and he walked away. He again crossed my path as he went back across the room, then looked at me and nodded as if to say, "Don't worry about it, I took care of it." I said, "Thanks child's name." I look at my co-teacher and smile- we chuckle.

A few minutes later I'm again washing my hands  after changing a diaper when I see these boys take her toys from her again and she screams. I once again head over to her and again this little boy crosses my path so I stop again to see what he's going to do. When the two boys see him coming they chuck the toys at the girl and run to the other side of the room (I smile and laugh). He walks over to the little girl, puts his hand on her shoulder and "talks" to her. She again nods and wipes her tears. He sits down in the same area as her and starts to play. I look at my co-teacher and we start to laugh. She says, "So cute!" No one messed with her the rest of the day.

 

Monday, August 5, 2013

human clock

 

At the first center I worked at there was a little boy who moved up from the infant room at 10 months old into my room. He was a big boy and they were worried he would hurt the babies that were 2, 3 months old so they moved him up. In the classroom I was working in, it had one of those beds that look like a car in it for the children to play in.

One day I did a head check and realized I was missing someone. I realized it was this little boy and my co-teacher and I started looking everywhere in the room for him. We were looking behind toy shelves in case he was behind one, we looked behind the changing table which was tall enough to hide the children if they went behind it, we were looking everywhere for him. When I turned around from looking behind a shelf I spotted him in this bed fast asleep. Relief swept through us both.

The next day I again did a head check and couldn't find this little boy so my eyes immediately went to the bed to see if he was there, which he was. Once again he was laying in the car bed fast asleep. I  checked the time and noticed  it was 5pm. The next day the same thing; I did a head check couldn't see him, looked in the car, found him asleep, looked at the time and sure enough it was 5 o'clock. Some days I would see him crawl into the bed and look at the clock. Yup! It's 5 o'clock. He would sleep for about a half hour then be ready to play for the last half hour as he was always picked up at 6pm.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Introduction

 
 
 
 

I started babysitting when I was twelve years old. Every summer during my teen years I had a babysitting job. After I graduated from high school I worked at the local YMCA taking care of members children while they worked out. This room was open from 8:30 to 12:30 every morning. When I got pregnant with my daughter I started to take care of a child in my home and eventually two. When my daughter turned three I went from taking care of children in my home to working in a child care center. Since then I've worked in two other centers and taken care of countless children. As you can see I've always worked with children. I've created this blog to share some of the experiences and things I've learned while working in Early Childhood Education. This blog will be more of a professional blog than a personal one and the only person's name I will use is my own.

For reference: When speaking about anyone but myself I will use co-teacher to mean a teacher that worked in the classroom with me. I will use co-worker for reference to anyone who worked in the center with me, director and assistant director-these two may also be referred to as administration, and  parents. When I refer to any children I've worked with they will be referred to as child, children, boy or girl.