Pearls of wisdom.....

Currently I am a very poorly paid assistant at a Childcare centre wherein I take care of 12 two year olds usually with someone who has had formal training in childcare. I love it - the kids are amazing and smart, loving and hideously funny. My usual coworker is a pleasure to work with and has a similar attitude to kids. Some of my kids are so wonderful that I should be paying to play with them. That is no crap - they are that much fun.

Sadly - occasions mean I have to deal with ... other women. People. Adults.

Sharing this weeks "pearls of wisdom" that another worker decided to impart to me. The first one was where on noticing one of our walls is particularly old looking in the decorating she commented that I should "Come in on a weekend and undercoat it so that I could paint it fresh!"

Uhuh. I wont go into how poor the pay is in the childcare industry. Or how I think 99% of us work to have our weekends...

Because I have learnt that if I speak when someone says something stupid to me it almost always gets me in trouble (eventually fired)if I retaliate with the first thing I think of - I just chose not to speak to any adults for the rest of the day.

I love the kids - they completely don't mind if I chose not to talk at all.

But this one was possibly better.

Coworker walks past my room just as I say "Small child, please put the chair back at the table where it belongs." (Obviously child's name is not small child and I don't call them that)

She stops, and tells me, in all seriousness "I studied child psychology for three years and the experts tell you that you should NEVER say please to a toddler...instead you should say "Thank you for putting your chair back where it belongs" to indicate you are in control of the situation. Never say please to a toddler."

I bite tongue. Firstly small child is not, has no intention and probably wont put the damn chair back in any instance because he plans to use it in yet another escape attempt or mission to launch on his playmates. Let ALONE the consequences of saying that you should never use simple manners on a child....

I will ALWAYS say please and thank you to any child I work with because it is simple manners. I don't expect them to say either because honestly - only about five of my kids have a vocabulary that includes that. A couple of my kids don't have ANY vocabulary past "Mummy, uhoh" and "oops". Mummy means anyone they like who they want the attention of.... Uhoh means anything from I bit the kid crying next to me or I opened the door and three of my playmates just escaped... and OOps means when your back was turned I got hold of the paint and it is now all over the floor or somehow I just tipped my entire bowl of spaghetti on my/my neighbouring diners head.

I am always on the alert for both words... uhoh and oops.

I could then go onto why the hell anyone proclaims to have studied child psychology for three years and then works at a childcare centre on less than $20 an hour when this town has an incredible shortage of suitable experts for children with behavioural and learning disabilities....

I think I have a terrible low tolerance for adults. I suspect in this womans heart she thinks she is "helping" me. I am learning how to make sure I look terribly busy when she choses to come visit my room to help me.

The awful thing is I think my coworker will jump ship at her first opportunity. That will most likely make my "educator" my immediate boss. It is a shame the kids and I cant be left alone. Or I could chose who shares the responsibility with me.