Wednesday, April 30, 2014

feisty

At the second center I worked at there was this little girl who was the most feisty girl I have ever known. She had opinions and let you know what they were. She had so much energy and was so full of spunk. She was one of those children that did not-and I mean did not- do anything she did not want to do. She was so much fun though. She was kind to everyone and she loved her older brother.

One day she was playing at the kitchen there in the dramatic play area of the room when he walked in with their mom. She saw him put the toy down, said hi to her brother, then walked over to him and put her arms up for him to pick her up. My co-teacher and I lost it. It was one of the cutest things we have ever seen and we laughed. It became a running joke between us and the brother. Whenever he'd come with mom to pick this little girl up we'd look at him and say, "Hi (brother's name)." He took it well.

One day she was climbing on the table and I kept going over to her and putting her on the floor and telling her that her feet belonged on the floor. One time after I did this I told her that next time I was going to use my angry voice. She started to climb back on the table and I started back over to where she was when another child got there first. This child looked at her said something in babble and then the little girl responded. The child that had gone over to her looked at me, pointed at me while telling her something. The little girl looked at me, looked at the other child then walked away. My co-teacher and I looked at one another and started to laugh.
I said, "I have no idea what just happened or what was said. I only know it had something to do with me." Then we did one of the many scans of the room we did  a day to make sure the children were okay. We were both sad when this little girl moved up to the two's room.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

biting

At the first center I worked at I eventually took over a room after all three employees quit on the same day. The first month was rough as my co-workers and I taught them not to touch electric sockets and all kinds of other things they had been allowed to do that was unsafe when the other teachers were in the room. One of the things that was the hardest to stop was biting. It was difficult but after a month we went down from multiple bites a day to maybe once a week and as those children moved up to the next room and we got new children biting occurred around once a month.

I had a little girl in this room who was part of the new class after the other ones who moved up who were biting. She would bite at least once a day. After about two week of biting around once a day I started to shadow her so that I could not only prevent it but figure out why she was doing it. Turns out she was biting when she felt enclosed. Every time a lot of children were around her and she didn't see a way out of the crowd of children around her she would bite. I started to shadow her less but keep an eye on her and made sure no more than two or three children were around her at once. The biting lessened and then stopped unless I couldn't get to her on time and remove her from the situation in time.

This little girl wasn't the only child who bit that I've dealt with and what triggers the biting has varied. For this little girl it was enclosed spaces. For a little boy that bit it was because he was hungry. For another little boy it was because he had a cloth he used to bite on all the time and when the parents took it away so that he didn't get too attached, he started to bite other children instead. Some children bite because they were frustrated or were trying to communicate using their words, couldn't get them out so they bit. Some children did it because they were teething and it was a release of the pain.

With each situation I've dealt with it differently.  With the little boy who bit because he didn't have his cloth anymore to bite on I talked to the parents about bringing in another toy to help him feel the security the cloth did. With the boy who bit because he was hungry I broke the bread into bite size pieces for him and let him start eating on that while we got the rest of lunch ready. We did this with the whole class and it helped calm lunch time down. With the ones who bit because they got frustrated or didn't have the words yet to communicate I really started to help them gain their vocabulary and started teaching them to use their words to communicate. Each time the biting went down. One thing I did all across the board is right after they bit I would give them a teether and tell them to bite on it. This really helped those who were biting because they were teething. It helped relieve that pain and it always worked regardless of the reason the biting occurred.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Favoritism

I have only worked in one center where favoritism didn't exist. The administration was professional and so was the staff because it was expected and modeled. This was the best experience I've had in working in child care and I wish I had found it earlier than I did. I may have felt differently about working in the field and had a better career in it than I have.

The other two centers that I worked at, favoritism was part of the daily work environment. There was favoritism toward the staff from administration. It was done openly and everyone knew who the favorites were. These were the staff members who sat up front by the administration offices and talked to the director and assistant director almost all day. They had more of a say in the problems that occurred than others and these were the people who were always given the time off that was requested and never told no. This would be a reason why staff are not loyal to a company.

Favoritism has also occurred between staff and children or families. It was worst at the third center I worked at. It again was done openly and some were unprofessional enough to openly admit to not only staff but to the families themselves that their child/ family was their favorite. There were teachers at these centers who treated the children unequally and would sometimes be down right rude or exclude children from things. They treated the children differently and you could see it hurt their feelings. The administration would do nothing about it. This would be another reason why staff are not loyal to a company. Administration doesn't step up and fix the problems they have.

When children are excluded and treated differently this sends them a message that they are not as important or loved as another child and it's in my opinion wrong. This effects children's self esteem and self worth and it can cause irreparable damage. Yes, some children get in a little deeper than others and you have a stronger bond with them than you do other children, however, it doesn't give a teacher the right to treat them differently and to teach them that there are different rules for them than others. The children who are taught that there are different rules for them than others have a hard time when they enter 'the real world' because not everyone is going to give them the special treatment that teacher did. They all of a sudden have to follow the rules and sometimes these children grow up to be the people no one likes because they think their special and expect others to treat them like they are because teachers, family whoever treated them like they're special and taught them rules don't apply to them but instead other rules apply to them. It is in my opinion, a great disservice done to them. Their lives can end up being harder than they need to be all because they weren't treated with equality somewhere along the line. Favoritism hurts children.