Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>I'm Back (This Is Long, Sorry!)
Buttercup 05:24 PM 08-13-2017
Hey all, you probably don't remember me since I haven't posted here in 2 years (And I didn't really post much back then) Back in the day I worked at a center as an assistant teacher, but two years ago I quit. To make a long story short, I was burnt out 
we had multiple children in our class with pretty severe behavior problems, and didn't really get much help from the directors with that. They refused to kick out any child and were more concerned with enrolling more kids than helping us manage the ones we already had. Also, I loved working with the lead teacher in my room, but she was pulled out of our room a lot to help out elsewhere. Plus she only worked until 2. This all meant that I would be alone with 10 kids, including those behavior problem kids. When we had more than 10 kids at that time, we had to bump a few down to the younger preschool group, which I always thought was unfair to them.
Just to clarify, my state's ratio for preschool aged children is 10 to 1, so my center broke no laws. But I just got sooooo drained day after day of being responsible for all these children myself. 10 is just too much for me personally. Plus we had those 4 in particular that were very challenging. I won't get into their issues since I'd probably be able to ramble on for a huge paragraph with each child XD but they were way too much to deal with for one person.
For awhile I thought I had failed. I thought I would never want to work with kids again. Heck, I went through a small period of time where I wasn't even sure I wanted to HAVE kids. I thought I wasn't cut out for any of it. But I've now had 2 years to process it all and I now know that I didn't fail. I feel like I was set up to fail. And the reason I worked there for 2.5 years and didn't quit much sooner is BECAUSE I truly cared about those kids and loved working with them. But I just couldn't do it anymore under the circumstances I was in. And once my fiance and I get married and have enough money for a house, I would love to open my own home daycare
we live in a small one bedroom apartment right now so it's not feasible yet. But someday, I would love to! I actually miss it, despite all the challenges at my old center. I love the idea of being able to be in charge, set my own policies, and decide which children I would take. Instead of 10, I'd probably do a max of 5. And I'd be willing to work through behavior problems again, but definitely NOT 4 kids at once. Maybe ONE child at a time who had these types of issues. But I know I could be successful if I had my own childcare business and did things on MY terms. I can't wait to do it someday.
The reason I rambled on for so long is to say thank you to everyone here who sticks up for their fellow childcare providers. It's a tough job, I know firsthand. I love the support of this community and I'm so glad I came back! I know I'll get great help here in deciding what policies to implement, managing behavior problems, etc etc etc once I'm able to start doing home daycare. It won't be for several years though, but I'll still be hanging out here quite a bit, learning all I can
Again, I say THANK YOU!!!!!!!! (I hope you weren't all too bored from my novel
)
we had multiple children in our class with pretty severe behavior problems, and didn't really get much help from the directors with that. They refused to kick out any child and were more concerned with enrolling more kids than helping us manage the ones we already had. Also, I loved working with the lead teacher in my room, but she was pulled out of our room a lot to help out elsewhere. Plus she only worked until 2. This all meant that I would be alone with 10 kids, including those behavior problem kids. When we had more than 10 kids at that time, we had to bump a few down to the younger preschool group, which I always thought was unfair to them.Just to clarify, my state's ratio for preschool aged children is 10 to 1, so my center broke no laws. But I just got sooooo drained day after day of being responsible for all these children myself. 10 is just too much for me personally. Plus we had those 4 in particular that were very challenging. I won't get into their issues since I'd probably be able to ramble on for a huge paragraph with each child XD but they were way too much to deal with for one person.
For awhile I thought I had failed. I thought I would never want to work with kids again. Heck, I went through a small period of time where I wasn't even sure I wanted to HAVE kids. I thought I wasn't cut out for any of it. But I've now had 2 years to process it all and I now know that I didn't fail. I feel like I was set up to fail. And the reason I worked there for 2.5 years and didn't quit much sooner is BECAUSE I truly cared about those kids and loved working with them. But I just couldn't do it anymore under the circumstances I was in. And once my fiance and I get married and have enough money for a house, I would love to open my own home daycare
we live in a small one bedroom apartment right now so it's not feasible yet. But someday, I would love to! I actually miss it, despite all the challenges at my old center. I love the idea of being able to be in charge, set my own policies, and decide which children I would take. Instead of 10, I'd probably do a max of 5. And I'd be willing to work through behavior problems again, but definitely NOT 4 kids at once. Maybe ONE child at a time who had these types of issues. But I know I could be successful if I had my own childcare business and did things on MY terms. I can't wait to do it someday. The reason I rambled on for so long is to say thank you to everyone here who sticks up for their fellow childcare providers. It's a tough job, I know firsthand. I love the support of this community and I'm so glad I came back! I know I'll get great help here in deciding what policies to implement, managing behavior problems, etc etc etc once I'm able to start doing home daycare. It won't be for several years though, but I'll still be hanging out here quite a bit, learning all I can
Again, I say THANK YOU!!!!!!!! (I hope you weren't all too bored from my novel
)
Blackcat31 06:50 PM 08-13-2017
Welcome back!! 
Michael 07:56 PM 08-13-2017
Yep, you are welcome. 
Josiegirl 02:32 AM 08-14-2017
I'm glad you had that talk with yourself and realized you didn't fail! I think center work would be incredibly difficult. I'm sure you lasted 2 1/2 yrs. longer than I could. Good luck on your current and future plans and welcome back!
I'm sure you lasted 2 1/2 yrs. longer than I could. Good luck on your current and future plans and welcome back!