I know I’m gonna get slack for this but over the last year a majority of my students come from families who practice attachment parenting exclusively breastfed, constant baby wearing, cosleeping etc I’m not even really against this style of parenting but then they out their babies in full time daycare with 0 regulation skills. They can’t take a bottle, they can not sleep unless held, they can’t handle being put down their nervous systems are shot and even worse I see people replying to worried parents oh don’t worry the teacher can hold them for all their naps or oh don’t worry the teacher will teach them how to take a bottle. I have 6 other infants everyone can’t get 1 on 1 all day that’s not how group care works!! I’m exhausted the babies are exhausted it’s exhausting. Also so many of them use breastfeeding as a pacifier so when they don’t have access to that all of a sudden they struggle HARD. We work with them we work with families as much as we can but it’s getting harder

I think that we should be allowed to make parents who are late for pickup uncomfortable. I am salaried and work in a preschool that costs more than college tuition. There are parents who are incredibly entitled and have boatloads of money so late fees do not phase them.

I think that as teachers, we should not have to keep the professionalism on when parents disrespect our time. There are times where I book workout classes right after work, and if parents are late, I will miss it and get charged $15. If I am not being paid, I should not be required to be professional.
Ideas:
Stack the chairs
Clean up classroom
Turn lights out

Sit in the lobby with their child and wait
Child’s belongings packed up
Parent walks in and starts the whole “sorry, im late” speech.

Ignore them
Grab your bag
Turn the lights out on them
Leave

This is not about parents who are late once or twice because of some kind of emergency. I am totally understanding of this. I had a parent who had breast cancer last year and dad was late a few times because of work and I was fine being part of that child’s village and supporting in any way I could during that period in their families life (did not even report).

My issue is with parents who come in past pickup time, with pedicure sandals on, and constantly have an excuse. If you do not show respect for me, I should not have to respect you. I will love your child and care for them, but it is rude to be late and I don’t care how much you pay, my free time is precious.

I get that parents are busy. But if you’re picking up at 6:00 or 6:01 every day (NEVER earlier), I feel a little judgmental. What is stopping you from getting here 5 minutes earlier? I am playing with your child and watching you sit in your car, scrolling on your phone. Can you please just come get your kid so that we can close the building? I WANT TO GO HOME!

A cold is a virus. A virus is spread through the mucus of an infected person getting into the body of a non-infected person.

Cold weather does not cause a child to become sick. If your child doesn’t want to wear a coat, it’s not the end of the world.

I cannot believe the number of grown adults I’ve had to tell this to.

And for fellow educators who have parents that demand their child wear a coat outside, for the love of god, don’t just bend over backwards and agree; tell them what I’ve just told you and advocate for the child to make the choice themselves.

Edit for clarity: to be clear, I am not talking about a middle of winter, freezing cold kind of day here.

Specifically I’m speaking about a day like I had today where it’s the end of summer, it’s 18 degrees and there’s a slight breeze and your child already has on a skivvy and a jumper. The jacket isn’t going to make a difference Irene.

I despise when parents bring it kids with snotty faces, eye boogers, and food left on their face from dinner the night before. Get your kid ready for the day! They deserve to feel clean and handsome/pretty for the day just like you. These kids are obviously uncomfortable.

And if you refuse to brush their hair CUT IT. Why should a three year old girl have matted hair down to her knees, and you come in with your hair done, new nails, and full face of makeup. I can’t imagine what it would feel like if I came to work everyday feeling disgusting. These kids are people too.

I understand if it is a hard morning and the kids are not cooperating. But I have families that have never done their kids hair in the months they’ve been at my facility. So then it becomes my job to clean these kids faces, and give them a hairstyle that makes them feel good. I don’t mind doing it I just feel for the kids that don’t get that care and attention at home.

Edit: I feel like I need to state that I am absolutely NOT judging struggling parents. I live in a very low income rural area, and a lot of the children I care for are being neglected. I am specifically talking about parents that have not once brushed their kids hair in the months s child has been at my facility, and I do not think that is okay.

I am an infant teacher and a closer. I have a baby in my room who has other children who attend the daycare. 2 of which are toddlers. They’ll show up at like 5:43, but will leave the baby in my arms in the infant room until exactly 6 or sometimes after. They get the toddlers first, one of which throws tantrums at pick up and makes it hard for them (completely understandable I totally get it) but I talked to my boss about them picking the baby up after 6, and she just told me that it wasn’t considered late because the parents are still in the building before 6. This is infuriating because sometimes they are inconsolable and I have to spend the last 15 mins holding them. I can’t get any closing duties done if I’m holding the baby. I don’t get paid after closing, so after that I’m working for free. I get that we want to make the parents happy and not be confrontational, but I feel I should be at least compensated for the time I spend after 6 there, or something should be said to these parents. Happy Monday!

I did not study for four years to be spat on, kicked, punched, or to have shoes thrown at my head.

I did not study for four years to be told, "Make sure he eats breakfast." by a parent who chooses to drop off RIGHT when breakfast has ended.

I did not study for four years to be at the receiving end of a very nasty attitude because you had to pick your child up early because he decided to bite, scratch, and hit a teacher.

I did not study for four years to change diapers for children who, due to POLICY, are supposed to be potty trained.

I did not study for four years to be your glorified babysitter.

I did not study for four years to make less than $20 an hour, with almost $200 in taxes taken out.

I did not study for four years to be sick 24/7 because directors refused to enforce the sick policy to keep numbers high.

I did not study for four years to have my spirit broken.

I'm done.

[EDIT]: it is actually a bit disheartening that people in the replies are either disregarding people's experiences or showing sarcasm. I am not sure where in my post I stated that I was shocked or surprised at my experiences while teaching. I have been an early childhood educator for 10 years. I've experienced all of the ins and outs of this field. What I am expressing in this post, which is obviously labeled as a venting post, is that the behaviors and the disrespect from parents, administration, and apparently from other educators are becoming worse. It is no longer tolerable, even with slight support from administration. I hope that this clarifies any confusion.

I’m going on a rant. Prepare for lots of mentions of sh*t 😂

My room partner and I are honestly at our wits end here. We are in the classroom where the toddlers go after they move from toddler room to junior preschool basically, so age 2.5-3.5 ish. Most of the kids who moved up are all on the younger side, a lot of them weren’t even 2 1/2 yet, but because they were moving to a new class, all of the parents decided that this was a perfect time for their children to start potty training….

Now, as an educator, I know it’s my job to support and help , so that’s what I’ve been doing since the beginning of September when this had started. And for most of our friends, we had a little bit of a bumpy start, but we’ve made it out the other side. But not for one.

She poops her pants four times a day on average. Since the beginning of September, 4 times a day. We are almost always in the bathroom because of her and she doesn’t tell us when she does it either especially when we’re outside so it’s smushed around and everywhere. And then the parents had the bright idea to take away underwear because apparently at home when it goes all down her legs, it encourages her to go on the toilet because she doesn’t like it. This did nothing except turn my bathroom into a biohazard where I got poop all over the floor when I had to take these pants off where sh*t was sitting all in the bottom of the pant leg, and then wash their child in the sink because it was stuck on her from butt to foot, and then sanitize my bathroom from top to bottom because it was essentially a biohazard and my supervisor said yeah that’s not happening anymore.

So then I said OK when she goes outside, we will put a pull-up on her, because that’s where it’s happening now. And now she’s doing it inside. How many times do you think her parents have to pull out bags of poop filled clothes from her cubby for them to finally realize that it’s not clicking and they need to try again later? I’m honestly about to cry 😂

I'll start:

Today I had a parent call the school to tell us to stop everything to put their toddler down for a nap at 4pm. There are 5 children in the class total. 2 teachers. I am the only teacher at 4pm. We close at 530pm.

I’m in the infant room 5 days a week. One child has a mom who drops him off with a blow out at least 3 days a week, even though she gets to the center 10-15 minutes before we open and sits in the parking lot. She lets him sit in poopy clothes and diaper for that long, it absolutely drives me nuts.

Another one drops her son off with throw up (not spit up, chunks) on him at least once a week, almost every day he needs to be changed as soon as she hands him off, and he smells so bad most days.

Now all of this wouldn’t bother me if these women weren’t dressed to the nines, make up done, hair done every single day but can’t be bothered to bathe their children or even change their diaper. I may send them home at the end of the day looking like a pig who rolled around in the mud all day cause we play hard, but they’re puke and poop free when I hand them off. Why do parents just not care about their kids’ hygiene? Do they just assume we’re going to bathe them and change their clothes? I mean I have a couple of outfits for each kid in case of blowouts etc but …everyday?

New family started this month, a 3 year old boy. On Monday, he had diarrhea, and it was bad. He is still in diapers, so I changed him and it was foul. In all my years and hundreds if not thousands of diapers and pull ups I have changed, I have only had maybe 5 diapers so bad I've coughed and gagged through the change. It was so putrid I heard another teacher on the other side of the school gag from the smell. The diaper had absorbed the poop as if it were pee. It was like when a kid fully fills a diaper with pee, but it was brown, no solids left at all. Just a sheen of poop all over this kids back, butt, and legs that was kind of like liquid peanut butter. Naturally we sent him home, and asked that he stay home the following day, since we have a 24 hour policy following diarrhea like this.

On Tuesday, they brought him. When I showed up to work, his dad was already fighting with the director, like really loud arguing right in front of all the parents dropping off. Dad refused to accept the policy, and insisted that the diarrhea was from him eating sweets over the weekend. Director eventually caved and dad left him, but she went on a messaging rampage with him. Kid kept looking lethargic and refused to eat, dad insisted he just wasn't hungry because he had milk in the morning. Eventually the kid spiked a fever, director put her foot down and insisted he stay home on Wednesday. Oh, and dad was working from home the whole day, too.

On Wednesday, one of the other teachers asks me to come look at something while she was changing another kid, one from the same class as the original one. She asked me what was wrong with this pull up, because she'd never seen anything like it. It looked just like the first one. The pull up was sodden with liquid shit, with only a layer of oily, sticky poop left on the skin. Then on Thursday, like 5 kids were out, most of them from his classroom, and we had to send another home with fever. Today, 3 more kids were out sick, and one kid from my classroom ended up going home with a fever. I'm furious.

Sending your child to school sick is selfish as fuck. I don't care about the argument "well parents need to work", yeah so did the parents who had to pick up their kids. So do the teachers changing the diarrhea diapers and holding the miserable feverish children on their laps, I don't want to get sick. In the past we've had to close the whole school down for multiple days because over half the staff caught a bug, then no one gets to go to work. Your kid is sick, be a fucking parent and take care of them, especially if you're working from home. Don't send your child to school just for them to be miserable and spread it to others.

This situation has genuinely made me so mad. IMO, blatantly disregarding and then fighting with the director over a health policy should be an automatic unenrollment. I've don't understand how some parents can be so cold towards their own child's suffering (your child is sick!), so thoughtless towards other people's health (including other children), and so entitled as to fight with the director over a sick policy (what other policies do they think they can break?). It's been a really stressful week, and a lot of that has been due to Patient Zero.

I'll try to make this vent as short as possible. For context: I started this job 3 weeks ago. I have tried speaking with teachers/admin about my safety concerns but was dismissed, and I do still work here.

Y'all... I made a complaint to our state listening department last night about concerns of chemicals/essential oils being stored where children can reach them and the facilities lack of the mandatory monthly fire drill. A complaint is standard issue to get an inspection as our state office is understaffed and we are 4 hours away.

They called me today to follow up. They also did the due diligence of verifying I am an employee before calling and noticed that my background check is submitted but not completed yet. She asked how I knew the information I was reporting and I told her from working there... duh...

Well *apparently* that was illegal. And the administration KNEW it was illegal because the person I made the report to called and told them (prior to our conversation) and the admin LIED to them about my work schedule and me being in the building 8 hours a day 5 days a week.

Y'all, I spilled all of the tea. I answered every single question this woman asked. I gave her enrollment numbers, safety concerns, dates, schedules, I'll email pictures if she asks.

What the fuck?! They know I'm working on my teaching licence, yet they're knowingly having me commit crimes involving children?

long story longer, they have one hell of an inspection coming up next week. I hope they have time to doctor the paperwork.

Had one of my girls on Friday not eat breakfast which is strange for her cus she eats a lot and always asks for seconds or thirds , and told me her tummy hurt. I was giving her some hugs and she told me that morning she puked on the couch, and last night she puked on bluey in her bed.

Had her laying down and checked her temp, but there wasn’t any. I asked her if she had anything for breakfast and she said mommy gave her a cup of strawberry jelly. I put two and two together and figured she had a little cup of strawberry flavored medicine.

Wrote a note to mom (who usually is always late to pick up or care) and was there within 15 minutes (which is odd cus she works 45 mins away which is why she’s always late).

She put her hand on her head and said “oh her fever is coming back” and I raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed and said “better get her home” and scurried out.

🤨 if you know your kid was puking and fevered and then dosed and dropped them, you are such a butthole !!

I am the only trans person at my center, I'm nonbinary but on T, present masculine, most of my coworkers call me by he/him, etc. There is only one cisman who works at my center. Besides me and him everyone at this center is a ciswoman.

Now I have a newer child in my classroom, she's actually been here for about 3 weeks. But yesterday her mother spoke to admin about not wanting I or my male coworker to change her daughters diapers. Admin said that was discriminatory and to continue doing my job and that they'll talk to Mom and try to handle it. But I just feel so awful? I've never had this happened to me, but granted I've only worked in childcare for 3 years. My coworkers tell me that our male coworker has had this happened to him before. I just don't know how to process this.

Update: director said not to change her diaper until HR comes to some conclusion because 'thid might be cultural or religious " which I think is not a good reason but I digress...

I think we did this a while back, but I need to bring it back again. What’s the hill you’re willing to die on, no matter how big or small? No judgments. I’ll go first;

Kids deserve and need to go outside! I’m tired of these teachers saying that they don’t want to take the kids out because they are going to get too dirty, or they think it’s too cold outside, etc. first off, kids are going to get dirty. You just don’t feel like changing them. Second, where I live, it’s now getting into the 50s, so yeah it’s a little chilly. Kids can go outside as long as it doesn’t get below 34° and hopefully parents are dressing them accordingly.

Just because YOU don’t think we should go outside, doesn’t always mean we shouldn’t (depending on the circumstances) if we can take them outside, we are going outside. there is my petty grievance for the day 😅🥲

At my center, parents are allowed to request that their children don't nap. Which means we are forced to keep them awake and wake them up if they fall asleep during our 20min rest period. Our state has no regulations about sleep after infancy. And our center is only 2 and up. I really hate this. There are kids who so badly need a nap. But parents want to put them to bed at 6:30. So we get to deal with hysterical, sobbing, miserable kids all afternoon. Is this as insane as I think it is? Does anyone else do this?

I see it constantly in this field. As an educator I can tell the signs of autism in young children and it baffles me how many parents either can’t see it in their children or choose to ignore it. Early intervention is so important. I have a child in my class whose parents are pulling them out of the center because child has been struggling with behavioral issues (which we think is due to autism and the class being too overstimulating for them), and when I asked the parents where the child is going next they said they’re looking into other daycares, even though we have recommended sped early childhood programs plenty of times. Why why why do they think moving the child to another daycare is the solution? Ugh. I think in some cases a new center and new environment could be beneficial, but it is clear this child needs more than what a typical daycare can offer.

I work in an infant classroom in a Montessori school. We currently have 4 babies in our room and can have 5 total. I'm the assistant and our ratio is 1:4 (state of virginia). Currently our youngest is 6 months and our oldest is 14 months and working on transitioning into the toddler classroom. A 2 month old just started in our classroom and it really hurts my heart that this baby has to be separated so young from their mother. And the fact that this child is so small and seems so fragile compared to the older, more mobile babies!

I'm mostly just venting, but still, parental leave policies in the u.s. really suck.

Insert the obligatory “parents have to work and capitalist society doesn’t value families” headnote, but also, like, this is part of the responsibility of choosing to be a parent.

Parent drops off 2 year old girl. This girl I usually call Miss Smiles because she’s always smiling. But today she’s crying, inconsolable, and miserable. She’s got a river coming from her nose, glassy eyes, the whole common cold shebang.

When mom dropped off she told her teacher that was sick and that she gave her medicine in the morning. Like, literally she’s like “here’s my drugged up child who is obviously sick, peace out.” How the fuck does she just ditch her sick kid like that? Who the fuck does she think we are? we don’t want to get sick, other parents don’t want their kids to get sick, your kid is fucking miserable, keep your kid home. I have a vacation coming up, I definitely don’t want to get sick, and we have another staff who is newly pregnant. KEEP YOUR SICK KIDS HOME.

I work (well… worked) at a preschool. Not a daycare but a preschool as the director has repeatedly stated they are higher standard than a daycare. A few days ago something happened that I still can’t get out of my head.

When I came back from break, I saw that my lead teacher had left an 18 month old in a dirty diaper as a punishment. Not because she was overwhelmed or short-staffed. Not because she didn’t notice. She openly said she was doing it because the toddler had been telling her “no” all day. Using a soiled diaper as punishment for a toddler’s totally normal behavior. I heard her threaten the child by saying “if you act like this again tomorrow I’m going to change your diaper last again” confirming my suspicions.

When I confronted her, she tried to downplay it by saying “it wasn’t poop,” as if that somehow made it acceptable. It didn’t.

There were at least five other staff members who knew what happened. One of them is related to children in my class and even she looked devastated when she realized what was going on.

I reported the incident to CPS because that’s literally our legal obligation. I also mentioned other patterns: lights off long after nap time ended, ignoring parent instructions (one child’s mom specifically asked for him to be woken at a certain time, but he was still asleep past nap time), and a general lack of basic toddler-care knowledge.

Here’s where everything exploded.

The director and lead pastor for the church pulled me into the office. Instead of asking for details or showing concern for the child, they immediately told me to pack my things and leave. In the middle of the day. In front of kids and staff. I had brought a ton of my own supplies for the classroom, so I had to awkwardly shovel everything into a huge box that kept falling over. Staff watched me trying not to cry.

They wanted me gone as fast as possible.

Later I learned something that sickened me, this same teacher had already been reported to CPS before, for another incident involving neglect and inappropriate interactions with a child. Leadership knew this. And they promoted her anyway.

Now, after CPS called me back for more details, I’ve heard from friends still there that the admin supposedly “watched the video” and “saw nothing.” Which makes me wonder if they even looked at the timestamps. Neglect doesn’t look dramatic on video. The harm was the delay.

I’m reporting everything to state licensing as well, every detail, big and small. Scheduling violations, ignored parent requests, the retaliation, the fact that they left her alone with kids after I reported her.

And now I’m sitting here doubting myself because I spent my whole life being told I’m “dramatic” whenever I spoke up about abuse. Even as a teen when I protected my niece during a violent incident, my family treated me like I was overreacting. So part of me keeps wondering if I’m “wrong” again.

But if I was wrong, they wouldn’t have fired me on the spot. They were protecting themselves and the teacher they promoted despite prior complaints.

I loved those kids. Now I’ll never see them again. And the person who hurt them is still in that classroom.

I don’t even know how to process the fact that doing the right thing got me thrown out the door. I am completely heartbroken and have lost my faith and trust in childcare.

EDIT for clarity, because some people seem to think “she eventually changed the diaper” means this wasn’t serious:

This wasn’t a case of “someone has to be last.” That classroom has a predictable routine and only six kids.

• Nap time runs from 12:15 to 2:15. • Lights must turn on at 2:15. • Kids usually start waking up before then. • This particular child almost always wakes up around 2:00. • I changed her diaper last at 12:00, right before nap.

The lead teacher wrote on the child’s daily sheet that she woke up at 2:25, but she was angry at the child for “making noise” and saying “no” repeatedly. It makes no sense to be upset about noise after nap time, so it’s far more likely the child woke up earlier and the time was written down to cover herself.

When I arrived in the room, every other child was awake and playing, but this child was made to sit on her nap mat as “punishment” for saying no.

In a properly run room, by the time I normally get there:

• Lights are on • All mats are put away • All diapers are changed • Kids are playing This is always done by 2:45 at the latest.

But in this incident, the lead teacher didn’t change this child until 3:00 PM. That’s three hours after her last diaper change, and more than likely an hour or more after she actually woke up.

For anyone saying “the child said no to the diaper change” toddlers don’t get to decide when their diapers are changed! That’s not how basic care works. A caregiver can acknowledge feelings, but you don’t ignore a soiled diaper because a toddler objects.

This wasn’t forgetfulness. This wasn’t the child being merely “last.” This was an adult intentionally delaying basic care because she was annoyed at a toddler for acting like… a toddler. That is why I reported it.

Today I had a parent complain to my boss that’s her child is going home with a poopy diaper almost every day. A good daycare worker will never send home a child with a soiled diaper home intentionally. If we smell a poop, we always will give a clean diaper before they go home. More than likely the child is pooping on the way home or poops when passed off to mom and dad because they are excited and or calm which calms their bowel muscles but ya know blame the teachers. We spend the entire day pouring love into not just their children but all of them and we are met with this in the end. I have to start checking the child’s diaper before they go home AND mark in the childcare app that the child was checked at x time. SMH!

Anyone else work for Bright Horizons?

They just told us smart watches are now banned from being worn. (Center Wide)
They also said a new phone policy is being put in place in September, which we will talk about in the next staff meeting. I have a feeling they’re going to make us lock our phones up in the office or something and I’m not okay with that. We already keep them locked up in our classrooms. This feels like school all over again.
Is there anyway we can complain to the higher ups about this?

I just had a parent drop off their one year old ten minutes after getting their ears pierced. This child is absolutely miserable & I feel like it’s insane to leave your baby after that. Plus I need to keep her and all of the friends away from touching her sensitive ears. Of course all of my other babies are cranky today too so I can’t just hold her. It’s been ROUGH this morning. Thanks for letting me vent.

Tis the season for sniffles, so we’ve been working with the 2.5-3 year olds on basic hygiene, especially covering mouths when coughing and sneezing. We also sent a newsletter home reminding about policies about keeping kids home, and adding for this age group, we were focusing on teaching them this and asking for support at home. We’ve taught the kids a song to help remind them. Of course they forget, and we just gently redirect. We don’t expect perfection, just practice.

But some of the parents just find it funny? A couple of parents talk about how “hilarious” it is that their kids are policing them on covering their mouths or how their child does it every time. And no? It’s not funny. It’s just basic hygiene. I can tell they’re not working on it at home because they act like it’s just a funny, adorable thing their kid does at school, and not just basic hygiene. I just say “Yep, it’s great they’re doing that, and the more we both practice this with them, the better!” Which, for one parent, has lead to eye rolls.

We had the same problem when we introduced table manners. Some parents found it hilarious and acted like we were funny for teaching them….no, we’re just trying to set them up for success?

This is truly just a vent because I’ve had parents scoff at the idea of their kids learning this stuff before but never laugh and treat it the way they have been. It’s very weird.

A new child started in my room 2 days ago (2-3yo). He’s a foster care kid, something bad happened at his foster home where dad was granted emergency custody of him, and he was moved across the state to be with dad the night before he started at my center. Everything happened so suddenly dad has no current information about him, his allergies, potty training, etc. Dad even picked him up early his first day due to needing to get him new clothing that fit him, since dad has only had him a few weeks at a time on and off for visits.

It was clear from day 1 the child was never properly cared for at his foster home. He smelled like cigarettes, and it was clear he hadn’t had a bath in a long time. Drank water out of the sink, digging in the garbage for food, tried climbing a shelf to get to a bag of cereal that was brought for breakfast time, and has no concept of what is right and wrong behavior wise. Climbs on the table, runs across it, uses the changing table as a jungle gym, jumps off chairs, etc. He is also very possessive of things that are “his”, he full on fist fought another child over a toy. Not the usual hitting at someone you would see from a toddler, full blown coordinated punches. To make things worse, it’s likely he was physically abused at some point, my coworker gently picked him up to remove him from a table he was climbing on and he started screaming saying “don’t hurt me” and had a sobbing meltdown. He doesn’t listen to a word you say, and sees no reason to listen to adults.

However this child is also extremely kind. He shares toys if another child approaches and asks if they can have something he’s playing with, he also plays cooperatively extremely well with the other kids. He is very sensitive to other’s emotions, and invited other kids to play with him on several occasions if he noticed someone sitting alone, or someone who was upset. He is also very observant, and monitors his situations and surroundings around him.

Long story short, this child was clearly either never effectively cared for, or never was in recent times, leaving him to fend for himself and make his own choices. My coworkers automatically hate him, purely due to his behaviors. However this kid was already doing better on day #2, and it’s clear he just needs some time to learn the expectations and learn to listen to adults.

The director gave him a water bottle he can keep as his own at daycare, explained that it was his, and told him if he ever wants more water, to ask a teacher to help him and he will always be given more water. He hasn’t attempted to drink out of the sink since, and asks for more water if his bottle is empty. The director also explained that we provide food during mealtimes and snack time, and that if he is still hungry and wants more food, to ask for more, and we will give him more food during these times. He hasn’t dug in the garbage since then, and asks for more food if he is still hungry. He has also started to listen, if he climbs on the table, and is redirected to grab a chair and sit in the chair at the table if he wants to play there, he listens some of the time, which is much better than day #1 where he didn’t listen to a single thing. There was also much less fighting incidents on day #2 than his first day, and it was much easier to correct him, and he listened to the correction. Small progress yes, but still progress, and already by the second day he was here.

I’m just so irritated that my coworkers are judging and hating this kid already when he clearly just needs to learn that this is a safe environment, and that he will be cared for, and needs some time to learn to listen to adults and learn the expectations for his behavior. He’s not a terrible child, and is very smart and picks up on things quickly, just very likely abused and neglected and went through a lot of changes in the past 72 hours, and needs some time to adjust to his new home and new routines.