I used to work for a veterinarian- it was a small business, my boss had been a vet for over 20 years, I was one of 5 or 6 employees. I started out as a receptionist & ended up also becoming an assisstant vet tech. I had a lot of responsibilities and I enjoyed it. I was one of 2 employees who had their act together- my boss could trust me & the office manager to do our jobs & do them right. I anwered phones, filed charts, filled prescriptions, set up & cleaned up the surgery, assissted during surgery including monitoring the anesthesia machine. Plus I learned how to perform some bloodwork, and I was responsible for ordering the special food that we sold & I also helped keep track of our inventory & would order drugs & supplies as we needed them. My boss took care of us, got a good insurance plan, set up an IRA for everyone. We were all considerate of each other for the most part, when one of us went on vacation we made up a schedule & made sure everyone was okay with their hours. I quit after 7 years for a couple reasons- my boyfriend at the time (now my husband) asked me to move in with him, out-of-state, and I was ready to quit. Anyone who works with the general public can tell you how stressful it is, and I was burnt out dealing with the legions of flaming assholes out there who had unfortunately decided to become pet owners.
I have always loved young children, so I got a job at a private daycare. This school started out as a daycare run out of a couple’s home and it’s become big business: there are branches of the school all over the state, and more opening up all the time. What has happened is that the original owners have lost sight of providing quality care for children & all they care about now is making money for themselves. The teaching staff are treated like dirt, no-one tells us anything or lets us make any decisions. The director is a two-faced back-stabbing bitch. The director gets a budget for art supplies but she gets a kickback if she has money left over at the end of the year, so our art supply closet is always woefully understocked. We’re supposed to disinfect the toys & cots once a week but no-one ever has time to, and they’ve gotten real strict about no overtime, so how can we get any cleaning done? The morning staff does the teaching, the afternoon staff are nothing more than glorified babysitters. All the teachers are suppoed to have input into the lesson plans, and the A.M. staff are supposed to be co-teachers. The school where I work is very hierarchical, the lead teacher is most important, then comes the aide, then the afternoon staff. I started out as an afternoon teacher & now am an aide in the pre-k and I JUST DON’T LIKE IT anymore. The lead teacher & I get along but it’s her first year teaching and she is a MAJOR control freak. I 'm supposed to plan the artwork for the week but she never lets me know what the theme is in advance. Over the summer I worked with a different teacher who has been there for 15 years, she was real good at the co-teaching thing. We both had equal input on the lesson plan & backed each other up. I’d rather be in a situation like that again, but I don’t think my co-worker has it in her. She’s doing what she wants to do, why should I ask her to change because I don’t like it? I want to QUIT but I feel like I need a valid reason (like my not being happy isn’t valid!). Then I think about the kids, I really do enjoy them & I feel like I am helping them & I enjoy helping them learn. I just don’t know what to do. Plus I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism last year & my health is vey poor because of that, my thyroid levels keep fluctuating and I’m very tired all the time, I get stressed out easier & I get knocked on my ass when I get stressed out. Thanks for reading my rant/pity party. Any advice is welcome.
If you like what you are doing and want to continue, you might try checking out other non-chain daycares. The one you are in is not representative of them all. We are enrolling our 4-year-old in a local, church-run daycare. What we really like about it is that they have a great reputation for holding on to teachers in a field where turnover is usually very high. You don’t say what your childcare background is. Here in CA most licensed daycares require about 12 early childhood education credits. However, some of them allow courses to be taken concurrently with employment.
Anyway, bless you if you really want to continue as a daycare teacher. It’s not a thankless job, but it certainly is undercompensated.
Your story is no different than many others I’ve heard. They are in it for the money and the children and workers suffer.
Get out and find another field where you can put your heart into it.