u/earthwormjammies

I'm an infant teacher at a small preschool in texas. our ratio is 4:1. even the schedules, that the director makes, have 4:1 as our specified ratio. have a 3 month old, 6 month old, and 5 12-14 month olds. according to them, the ratio is determined on the average age of the kids (even though when i read minimum standards it says it's determined based on the youngest child and i've never even heard this "average age" thing until a few months ago). we got the 6 month old a month or two ago, which i didn't mind as much because he only comes on tuesdays and thursdays. it's whatever, i was technically out of ratio but whatever. we recently got a 3 month old though (who started at 2 months old) and she definitely puts the average below 12 m/o. the first time i brought it up i even showed them the math on it to show they were putting me out of ratio. i thought this would fix it, but it didn't. i brought it up again when we had another 12 m/o who was about to leave the center, and she said i would only be out of ratio until she left. she's been gone for like... a month now. one time recently i had 5 kids, 3 of them needed to be spoon-fed their lunch and i had to feed the 3 m/o her bottle. i asked for help and nobody was available to help me. it was nearly impossible to feed a bottle to a 2 m/o and a pouch to a 5 m/o at the same time. one kid wound up falling asleep in her high chair before i even got a chance to feed her. and they're still putting me with 5 every day, sometimes only moving a kid down so i have 5 only when i take over the class when i come in at 10. i asked her today and she got all cocky and tokd me "well you're not strong enough anywhere else so i have to put you at 5 so (the 12-24 m/o class) isn't at like 9 kids but if you can't handle 5 kids i can move you to a class with more". first of all, when they gave me another kid today, that put the toddler class at 6 children. that doesn't seem fair, the average age would be between 18 months and 2 yrs, making the ratio 9. they finally moved the girl back up that they'd moved down because i'd complained about it, giving me a 3 m/o, a 6 m/o, a 13 m/o and a 14 m/o, making my average 9 months. it's not that i can't handle 5 kids, if they have to put me at 5 sometimes because we have too many kids it's fine, but this is every. single. day. and i'm getting burnout so badly from it and the director has noticed my burnout. man, it's almost as if there's a reason the ratio is 4 !!! i've been here 2½ years now but honestly i'm considering quitting if they keep doing this.

tl, dr: my director puts me at 5 kids every day when i have a 3 m/o and one tuesdays and thursdays, 6 m/o, putting me 1 out of ratio. i've been trying to ask about it but every time i do i get shot down and she acts like i can't handle my class and i'm not a good enough teacher. AIO?

I'm an infant teacher at a small preschool in texas. our ratio is 4:1. even the schedules, that the director makes, have 4:1 as our specified ratio. have a 3 month old, 6 month old, and 5 12-14 month olds. according to them, the ratio is determined on the average age of the kids (even though when i read minimum standards it says it's determined based on the youngest child and i've never even heard this "average age" thing until a few months ago). we got the 6 month old a month or two ago, which i didn't mind as much because he only comes on tuesdays and thursdays. it's whatever, i was technically out of ratio but whatever. we recently got a 3 month old though (who started at 2 months old) and she definitely puts the average below 12 m/o. the first time i brought it up i even showed them the math on it to show they were putting me out of ratio. i thought this would fix it, but it didn't. i brought it up again when we had another 12 m/o who was about to leave the center, and she said i would only be out of ratio until she left. she's been gone for like... a month now. one time recently i had 5 kids, 3 of them needed to be spoon-fed their lunch and i had to feed the 3 m/o her bottle. i asked for help and nobody was available to help me. it was nearly impossible to feed a bottle to a 2 m/o and a pouch to a 5 m/o at the same time. one kid wound up falling asleep in her high chair before i even got a chance to feed her. and they're still putting me with 5 every day, sometimes only moving a kid down so i have 5 only when i take over the class when i come in at 10. i asked her today and she got all cocky and tokd me "well you're not strong enough anywhere else so i have to put you at 5 so (the 12-24 m/o class) isn't at like 9 kids but if you can't handle 5 kids i can move you to a class with more". first of all, when they gave me another kid today, that put the toddler class at 6 children. that doesn't seem fair, the average age would be between 18 months and 2 yrs, making the ratio 9. they finally moved the girl back up that they'd moved down because i'd complained about it, giving me a 3 m/o, a 6 m/o, a 13 m/o and a 14 m/o, making my average 9 months. it's not that i can't handle 5 kids, if they have to put me at 5 sometimes because we have too many kids it's fine, but this is every. single. day. and i'm getting burnout so badly from it and the director has noticed my burnout. man, it's almost as if there's a reason the ratio is 4 !!! i've been here 2½ years now but honestly i'm considering quitting if they keep doing this.

tl, dr: my director puts me at 5 kids every day when i have a 3 m/o and one tuesdays and thursdays, 6 m/o, putting me 1 out of ratio. i've been trying to ask about it but every time i do i get shot down and she acts like i can't handle my class and i'm not a good enough teacher. AIO?

i'm trying to get my class ready for our TRS rep coming in a couple weeks but i'm stumped on the real life items. the only ideas i have are beach balls, silicone remotes/game controllers and sensory bottles made from recycled water bottles and dirt/beads/buttons/rice/etc . most real-life items are either too rippable, too small or have components that are too small, impossible to sanitize, or too hard.

i didn't take ny medication this morning (day one of being off), flash forward to 5:30 and it feels like i'm fainting which is extremely scary. i feel like i'm letting myself die if that makes sense. it's scary as fuck. i always jolt myself awake because one time a few years ago i was off my adderall for the day and i had sleep paralysis when taking a nap that felt exactly like this but it was like an endless loop. i'm so sleepy but i can't sleep if this keeps happening.