Stumbling Through Work
Working in education is to stumble through your everyday! We love what we do, but staff, families, policies, regulations and sometimes even the children make us quit everyday then come back the next day. Just remember, you are not in this alone.
Stumbling Through Work
Kids Say...
Ever wonder what keeps educators up at night? Spoiler alert: it's rarely the children. In this refreshingly candid episode, we dive into the real challenges that make working in education both hilarious and maddening.
From the three-year-old who perfectly uses profanity in a sentence during rhyme time to the parent who sends their child to school with Tylenol-laced milk, these stories highlight a fundamental truth in education: children are predictably unpredictable, but adults are chaos incarnate.
Ready for a dose of educational reality served with a side of humor? Listen now and discover why "every enrollment is not a good enrollment" and other pearls of wisdom from the educational frontlines.
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Welcome to Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out. I'm your host, jarek Huff, and I'm here to explore and share the complexities of our work and let you know you are not alone. Before we start, though, please follow this podcast and share episodes with others. You can find me on my website, wwwjarekhuffcom, where you can find links to my social media and where I share information and tips for educators. Now let's jump into today's episode.
Speaker 1:Hey, team, welcome to another episode of Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out. Today, we're going to keep it light. I seen something on Instagram and it made me laugh, and I figured I would share it with y'all. Shit, shit, yeah, shit. That does rhyme, baby. Good job, okay, I'm just going to leave that one off. Okay, because that is a rhyming word, though. Let's go to another one, though Wait, we're going to listen to that one more time At the end, so it's got to be six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six. Okay, I'm just going to leave that one off. Okay, because that is a rhyming word, though. Let's go to another one though.
Speaker 1:Y'all got to see the video. It's her face. She's like oh shit. Like she says it too. Oh Lord, this thing had me tore up, oh my gosh, she says it too. Oh Lord, this thing had me tore up, oh my gosh. But you know, I love this so much because she was actually right on. She validated what she said. She didn't encourage it in a negative way, like what did you say? And don't say that? And because when you do that you feed into it, you make it worse. So she acknowledged it, repeated it, repeated. It was like okay, and kept it going. But let me tell y'all one thing we are no longer gonna be calling on lauren in class. She gets no call outs in class. It was that we gonna leave that one right here. It's a rhyming word, though, but for me it's not even the fact that she said shit, it's right at the end.
Speaker 1:When she says I talk shit, I'm like that should use it in a sentence. I talk shit every when they use it correctly. That's the part that gets me. Woo, that had me toe up. You know, sometimes kids say the funniest things and they do things that are hilarious and questionable at times.
Speaker 1:You know, people ask me a lot like how do you do your job? How do you work with the children? How? Let me tell you something it's when I go to work and I see children the three year olds-olds I know are going to be three-year-olds that day I'm never surprised. I know a one-year-old is going to be a one-year-old. I know an eight-year-old is going to be an eight-year-old. My problem is when a 43-year-old comes in as a three-year-old. I don't know how old the damn adults going to be today. I don't know if they're going to be 43, they're gonna be 43, they're gonna be three, they're gonna be 13, they're gonna be 23. Are they gonna be 73? That's my issue. That's the hardest part of the job for me. It's not the kids, it's always the adults, and usually when I tell people that, they kind of laugh and they're like well, yeah, that actually makes sense. I'm never surprised by a four-year-old. I'm never surprised. They always do four-year-old. I'm never surprised, they always do four-year-old behavior. It be them damn adults that throw me off. But let me tell y'all, those kids be cracking me up.
Speaker 1:So last week I was at one of my schools and I was talking to the director and she said, hey, read this real quick. How should I rewrite this? And I said, okay, let me look at it. And then I read it and I said we're going this. And I took a copy of it. I'm gonna try to know I have the original copy so I can read it to you all. So it says the kid's name on it and then it says the type of incident. The kid blank grabbed a marker cap and started telling kids to smoke with him. Yeah, I didn't make this up. Oh my God. I just looked at it. I said what? And then, of course, I did the worst thing you could do. I asked for details why? Because I wanted to be amused and I was told that the kid took the marker cap off and was going up to several kids. It was like come smoke with me, come smoke with me. I said, oh my god. I said okay. So yeah, we're gonna rewrite that. So rewrite it.
Speaker 1:As you know, kid blank, um, had an inappropriate conversation. We gonna leave it at that. I said I don't want that in print anywhere. Well, it's in print now. It was sitting on my desk because I took it to share with y'all. I was like, please do not write that. Just write inappropriate conversation today and have that conversation with dad when he picks up. This is definitely learned behavior. They did not see this on Sesame Street. The count did not count down to this one.
Speaker 1:So sometimes parents need to take a self-reflection. It may not be the parent, maybe it was a sibling, I mean, I don't know and I am definitely judging. It was one of them. But yeah, kids sometimes say and do things, but they always keep me, me, amused. You never know what they're going to say and sometimes I think the parents don't believe you when you say it, when you tell them things that their children do.
Speaker 1:We have this one kid and he loves to curse and he's all of four. Oh, by the way, the kid with this report is three. Let's just put that out there too. They're not, like you know, nine or ten, they're three. So that's why I'm judging. But at one of my other campuses we have this kid that just loves to curse and we had to kind of do the same thing, where at first they were telling me about it and they're like, well, we're trying to tell him not to say it. I'm like you know, you guys are actually encouraging him to continue yelling out like every other word other than the words he should be using. He's like shit and mother F, this, and. And so I was in there one day. Um, maybe I was in there, maybe about 30 minutes. I was in there intentionally for him and every time he said it I didn't give him a feedback because I could tell he wanted a reaction. And I was like, don't, don't give him a feedback, because I could tell he wanted a reaction. And I was like, don't, don't give him reaction. And guess what? He eventually stopped, like within two or three days after I kind of witnessed it and I was telling him like don't, don't let him do that. Uh, do not encourage that behavior. And he kind of stopped.
Speaker 1:But I'm gonna be honest, from my aspect, the shit do be funny, though. When you can't be cursing and saying stuff, I'm never surprised. But I am surprised at the same time because I just don't always be ready for it, because you never know what kind of day, and when I hear it I'm just like, oh my god, did they just say that out loud, like? And then what's always is makes.
Speaker 1:What makes it funnier is when you had to have that conversation with their parent, with their, you, their family member or parent, whoever it is that picks up and say you know, we had a pretty good day today. But we did have a moment today where he kind of yelled out you know, blink, blink, blink, blink. And they're always like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that. I don't know where they heard that from, but we don't talk like that in this house. Heard that from? But we don't talk like that in this house. And I'm sitting here like didn't I just tell you, didn't I just hear you cut somebody out on the phone outside the door, as I heard you call them, uh, mfr, on the way in. But okay, girl, we're gonna go with that. Yeah, I don't know where they heard it either. Maybe it was the other kids. They love to blame the other kids. Maybe it was the other kids. You know what. We talked to all of them just to make them feel better. I'm not going to raise a hand and get into some argument back and forth over something that you know was a lie. But yeah, she said I talk shit. I'm sorry that got me, that had me in tears, but we'll be right back.
Speaker 1:We all want our schools or programs to be the best and, although every school is different, all successful programs have the same fundamentals. Best Practices for High-Quality Preschool, afterschool and Enrichment Programs by Jarek Huff share standards to foster a high-quality program. These tips will help you put your best service forward, focusing on your children, families and communities. Best Practices for High-Quality Preschool, afterschool and Enrichment Programs by Jarek Huff is available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle. Okay, we are back with asking for a friend.
Speaker 1:I'm on lunch right now and I'm just irritated. A parent brought a sippy cup in for the child and told us that there was water in it. However, once I opened the can, I learned I can. I mean I think she meant bottle. However, once I opened the bottle, I learned that it was juice. This ticked me off because it was small things like this that can cost me my job. I'm also in a room full of children who have different allergies. I wish parents understood that the rules are there to protect their child and all the other children as well. It makes my job very hard to do when I have to double check everything because some parents don't want to follow rules. And you're exactly right to be irritated, because it really is irritable.
Speaker 1:What I will say is this is why, at my schools, we do not allow children to bring in sippy cups. We have water cups for them and they're not allowed to bring in bottles. No, any of that. If they're younger, we have the sippy cups for them because we can control what's coming in. Because parents do do things like this, like, oh, it's just water, and they're like, oh, my kid doesn't drink water. It's probably why they constipated, to tell you the truth. But no, everybody's getting water and trust me, they'll get thirsty enough They'll drink it. Trust me they will. But it's the comments for me.
Speaker 1:Someone wrote once a parent brought a sippy cup with milk and tylenol mixed together. We called the parent after noticing pink milk. They were surprised. This wasn't allowed. Wait what? And then the comments go on about people mixing things in with their kids. Drinks like that just threw me off like I didn't know that was a thing like. And it's exactly what you know what the lady said, what the homie said. You don't know.
Speaker 1:These kids like to pass cups around. That's why we don't do that. That's why we um present their cups for them while they're eating meals and then they go back into the kitchen to get washed. We're not passing cups around all day and sitting on it one. That's just nasty, because kids always putting shit in their mouth. It's just nasty. But my thing is you don't know what someone is allergic to. And then if kids are going to be kids, I'm sorry. There's only so much watching you can do with children. They move so quickly. One bottle can go into another, one's real quick. So that's why we just don't even do that. Once you get a cup, you drink the cup, you drink the water in the cup, you toss the cup and keep it pushing. That's just nasty. But people putting milk and tylenol, like that just sounds wrong and I'm like that's just. And then who's that kid been drinking that tylenol milk all day, like for the last three hours? That's just disgusting, that's just. That's just super nasty. And then someone said they even mix one with Miralax. I'm done with this. We move it on to the next one. Help, I've had such a tough year and it's only September, damn girl.
Speaker 1:The school year just started. I teach up K-4. I don't know what that means, so we're just going to say pre-K for this conversation. I have 18 students in a gen ed class. It's me, one assistant teacher and occasionally we have a floater with us.
Speaker 1:This year we have one student who is extremely high needs and exhibiting several signs of ASD. In my opinion, our very first day of school he ran into the room immediately, tearing down all of my posters off the wall, grabbing any toy bin he could possibly reach and throwing everything on the floor, running out of the room, trying to open and unlock it when we shut it closed, putting everything in his mouth, spitting everywhere, etc. You can imagine dealing with this chaos while trying to welcome 17 other nervous, timid three and four year olds and try to do circle time at first day of school project, etc. He is not potty trained, doesn't eat or drink water the entire day, even though we try to feed him and doesn't nap at rest time when he is present. We cannot get any type of break the entire day. Every day since then, my assistant teacher has been glued to this. Any type of break the entire day. Every day since then, my assistant teacher has been glued to this child the entirety of the school day. He needs one of us to hold his hand the entire seven-hour school day, which is extremely difficult in itself, along with the fact he eventually starts getting upset and will try to get away from us. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:Admin and I have had the conversation with the family and they agreed to an evaluation. So we have slowly began starting that process. They have expressed that they know this is not the proper setting for him and that he needs a sped school, and that they understand that this is a huge safety concern, but they still continue to send him every day. They know he doesn't eat or drink for seven hours straight. I guess I'm just at a loss. What would you do if you were in this situation? Well, lady person, I have been in this situation and it seems that everyone knows what the problem is, but nobody's doing anything. A couple things didn't make sense the fact that I'm assuming the parents are self-diagnosing the child by saying we know he needs a sped classroom, but we're about to get him tested. Those two things don't coincide. You can't say they need a special classroom if they haven't been evaluated and tested yet. But okay, so we learned through this. She's a three and four-year-old classroom, so that's kind of hard in itself.
Speaker 1:If everybody knows that this isn't working, sometimes you just have to pull the plug. Dear director person, you just have to have that conversation of saying and I and I do not believe in throwing children out, I do not. I believe in doing as much as possible, everything that you can do before you put a child out, but the most child care facilities are not specialists, they are generalists. They do not have the training or understanding to work with special needs in death, to work with special needs in death. Your situation sounds like you are at normal child care facility and that director needs to go out and have that conversation with the family. I totally understand, but this is a safety concern and I'm repeating back what I've said to a parent or two or 10. I totally understand everything that you're saying, but this is a safety concern for us with the child running in and out of the classroom. We do not have the resources at the moment to help with this. This is just something we are not adequately equipped for. So because of that, we are going to ask that you find alternative care moving forward. See how I did that. It was classy, that's my favorite phrase find alternative care moving forward. Now, at this point, everybody knows this is a problem, so I don't even understand why we're not just disenrolling the child, because once safety gets concerned, you just can't do that. And it's not just safety. If this one teacher is with this one child all day that's one-on-one care Then that means 17 children are to this other one teacher. That is unfair. That is a quality issue, that is a safety issue. Even though technically they may be in the same room, the attention is not being put on them. That's just not fair. Go ahead and pull the plug, disenroll them and keep it pushing.
Speaker 1:Moving on to the next question, my son started at a new daycare last week, so today was the start of week two. He has had a little bit of a cough, which is not surprising, with a different set of germs than his last daycare. He has spit up from coughing before Shortly after dropping off. Today he threw up at breakfast so we had to come get him, as their policy states. He threw up at breakfast, so we had to come get him, as their policy states. I kind of suspected he just coughed while eating and it triggered vomiting. But totally understand, following the policy and picked him up ASAP.
Speaker 1:They said that he can't come tomorrow and he can come back on Wednesday. Okay, so this is monday, okay, so he can come back on wednesday if he's symptom free. They said it's 24 hours. They need to be out. He didn't throw up or get picked up before the end of excuse me, it's the way that she wrote the sentence. Um, she got picked up before the end of drop off period at 6 30, so the child was picked up before 6 30. He has been completely fine and blah blah, blah, blah, blah. I feel like I'm missing two days of work this week. It's not the best for me. Should I ask them to clarify, since 24 hours will still be in the drop-off period, or just deal and keep him out tomorrow too?
Speaker 1:I've been here many a times as well and it's a tricky thing. Usually and I'll say her example most people will use that Tuesday the next day and just not come the next day and then come back on Wednesday. That's what 95% of people will do. But I have had that problem before where a child picked up early, early was picked up early due to something and that parent was like oh, I can come back tomorrow at this time. Technically they can. There is nothing that says that they can't. That is just a normal practice I can't be upset with the family for saying you said 24 hours in 24 hours, they were fine, they were fine. If we have to be here by 9 30 and let's say we picked up at 8 30, 24 hours is 8 30, it is, and they're correct.
Speaker 1:I've had that conversation with families and I say you're exactly right and there's really nothing that you can do about it. I mean you can sit here and say, well, that means the next day. But who wins in that situation really? Who think about it? Who is winning? No one is winning. The child is losing, the parent is losing. I mean I guess you're winning if you don't feel like having any kids that day, if they already paid tuition. I guess that makes your ratio go down. I guess you win. But it's an unnecessary fight. Just let them come back. If it's that serious. Now I do understand. I do tell families sometimes like, make sure you have emergency contacts because children do get sick. But I get it, you mess with people's money. Just it is what it is. Just let them come back and we'll be right back.
Speaker 1:I love sharing information with educators and program administrators. I have had so many successes but also so many failures in my education tenure, I want leaders to know what not to do, but better than that, what to do. So I decided to write a helpful guide Best Practices for Center Program and Activity Directors. It's short and to the point. It's a compass to guide education leaders. These best practices will give you a foundation to lead your school program or organization. You can find Best Practices for Center Program and Activity Directors by Jared Huff on Amazon or Amazon Kindle. Welcome back.
Speaker 1:Here is our interview corner for today. You asked the question have you ever had difficulty working with a supervisor or manager? And they respond with well, my boss didn't do shit, but tell us that we were wrong. Long story short, we had got into it and I had to set her straight about a couple things so that we could be cool again. But then she had a whole attitude, and so that's why I'm here interviewing with you today. Don't hire them, but some of y'all will, because you hire out of desperation. The question is asking about you, the person that's being interviewed, it's not about everyone else. If you start talking shit about your boss, I'm going to think you're messy. I just am. This is about how you deal with problems. This is about how you handle things now.
Speaker 1:What I will prefer is for you just to lie to me. Just lie, I mean all your other interview questions. You're lying anyway, so you might as well just continue to lie. Don't start getting real with me now. Just continue to lie. Tell me that you can't think of a time. Say that you know it has been. It's hard for me to think of a time where that's been. You know what? I just can't think of anything. That's how you see it. See how I was stumbling, like I'm really thinking about this shit. That's what I want you to do. Just lie to me. But if you just have to, if you just have to tell a story, tell me a Disney type type story like a super cheery, happy story, like it's a positive one with a happy ending. Like you know, we started off rocky, but you know, through expectations and communication, it was a good lesson to take forward. See how that was a full of shit story. That's what I want you. That's what I want to hear. Don't be talking about nobody. That's what I don't want to hear in the interview. So if they tell you long story short and that's why they're here with you today just please, please do not hire them.
Speaker 1:Something became a policy because someone done messed this shit up. For all of us, today's policy is dress code. Why is this a policy? Because Brenda looks terrible. That's why it's a policy. Brenda looks like she done lost a fight with sleep. Brenda has that before picture vibe. Brenda looks like she done hit the shuffle button. Brenda looks like a plot twist we didn't explore. And then, when she don't just look terrible, she come in looking like she went to the club, the ones where you know the drinks are cheap. This is why policy is needed. Their dress is a reflection of the center.
Speaker 1:I've had situations where teachers may not were able to afford uniforms, which I totally get. That's a normal thing. It happens. This is why you have the connects. I'll say to them you know what? Let me go ahead and get you the number to. You know, to down to the goodwill Cause. They'll give you some. They'll give you a voucher. Take you down to the job connect, they'll get you a voucher. Take you down to the job, connect, they'll get you a voucher.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I just go and buy them pieces of uniforms. I'm like you know what? I get you some black pants, I get you a polo shirt, whatever you need. I would just go get it's a good, easy, clean 20 that I could spend. Tell me your size and if you don't know what, I can guess it, or sometimes I may have extra stuff.
Speaker 1:I've told some people before and I'm gonna be honest. I'm like, wow, you know we got an iron in the back because you look wrinkled. I'm not even going to sit here and bs and play. You know you wrinkled. I know you wrinkled. So why are we going to sit here and act like you're not? And we're going to sit here and do all the pleasantries. You know we got an iron. Do you need iron? Please don't come in here looking like that again. And if you don't have one, you could definitely use the iron here. I bought one at every school for that exact reason. Don't come in here looking like a horrible reflection of this center. Please do not do that.
Speaker 1:But also the other thing that comes along with dress code is people need to know who worked there, because especially on heavy days where families are dropping off, it's a lot of activity happening. They need to see who's in charge of that classroom. It could be a drop off and four parents come in. You know one a minute apart and they're like, well, who's in charge? It should be the person in that uniform. That's why dress code is a thing.
Speaker 1:I remember one time I was at a school and I always, you know, dress up professionally, tie stuff like this, and a parent came to me and they said, hey, can you help me with something? I was like, yes, and they said I knew you was in charge. I just figured it was the person in the tie was in charge. So that's who I went to. I never forgot that because it made so much sense, and so that's what I keep telling staff People need to know who's in charge, and then people need to know who work here, for whatever reason. They need to know who is the go-to person or who is the boss.
Speaker 1:If you are a director, you need to look like a director. You don't need to be looking like a teacher anymore, because some of y'all be coming here and them flats looking like an assistant teacher. No, get some good shoes. I ain't saying you gotta wear the five inches, but definitely don't do kitten heels, because I don't like that. But a good, clean, flat, looking decent put together, that's something I can roll with, but don't come in here looking like an assistant teacher. That's, that's on a second day. Don't, don't do that, and that's why dress code is a thing.
Speaker 1:Well, on that note, that's all that I have for you this week. I want y'all to take a moment to enjoy and laugh with, and sometimes at your kids, and remember every enrollment is not a good enrollment and please, please, fire Brenda already. Other than that, talk to y'all next week. Bye, that's it for today. If you like this episode, it would mean so much to me if you left a rating review and subscribe to the show. I'd love to hear from you. You can visit my website, which is in the show notes, to contact me, and I hope you have a great rest of your week and speak to you all soon.
