Circle Time With Lenny Endsley

They promised families Disneyland, but too often educators are running a parking lot carnival on max ratio and pure willpower. We sit down for Circle Time with Lenny, a longtime educator with deep early childhood education experience and current middle school perspective, to get brutally honest about what makes childcare centers burn people out and what finally helps teachers breathe again.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Stumbling Through Work where Educators Figure Shit Out. The podcast for educators and anyone who ever walked into their program and said, Nope, not today. I'm your host, Jared Huff, here to unpack the wild stories, broken systems, and to call out the chaos. Let's get into it. Hey team, welcome to another episode of Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out. Today we're gonna have circle time with Lenny Ensley. So Lenny's had 23 years of experience in education working interchangeably between ECE and the public school district. This includes 15 years in childcare, six years in ECE management, and eight years in the district. In addition, has 17 years of military service, which has influenced his leadership style, work ethic, and belief in structure, accountability and mentorship, all which guide his approach to education and student development. And with that being said, I want to welcome Lenny to the show for all the listeners. Hey everyone, how's it going? So when we start the show off, we always start off with a quick bingo around. So I'm gonna ask you a few questions and just tell me a yes or no. Okay. Are you always late? No. Do you like reading? Yes. Are you a morning person? Yes. Have you seen Bad Teacher? Yes. Do you enjoy Bad Teacher?

SPEAKER_03 1:36

It's a good movie. To me, it's just an educational version of Bad Santa, like the exact same concept.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Do you get eight hours or more of sleep a night? Absolutely not. Do you have a side hustle? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Do you like Mondays? It's whatever. No. Yes, no. Doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Um, do you watch Abbott Elementary? Yes. Do you drink three or more coffees a day? Just one. Okay. And do you like your co-workers? Yes. But that's I love when everyone comes on the show and loves their co-workers. I think we've all gotten to that place in life where um we've moved through the bad to get to the good.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Like, I mean, I've been at some places where it felt like you know, you're working back into high school again. But um yeah, but now it's like everyone here, yeah. I like them. Have no issues, no one like interferes in your lane. Good. Good.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

As you know, on this podcast, we love questions. And so here's today's Asking for a Friend. This is called Give an Offer for a Different School. Do I take it? I've been with my current school for almost five years, and it has gone down a lot in quality. I've had to call licensing myself twice over things that have happened. I recently got a job offer for another school, but it's a$2 pay cut. It would cut my commute down to five minutes from my current 20. And the new school is a corporate school. She lists the school, I'm not gonna say it, compared to my current school, which is a small private facility. Should I take the job?

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Um, me personally, I wouldn't. Really? Yeah, like just because of like I have a bad taste when it comes to corporate schools now. So that's I feel like I can make that private one better. The commute, the commute is gonna be the commute, so that's not really gonna make a difference to me. Um, but like the fact that you're getting paid less and it's a corporate tells me that there's less that you're gonna move up to as well. Whereas if you're at that small private one, if you make that center better, I think there's an opportunity for you to get a better pay raise.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Okay, here's another, you just made me think of something. So I I actually would encourage her to take it, but you brought up a good point, which now has me questioning. What would you feel the same way if her aspirations were to only stay as a teacher? Or would it be different if she wanted to move into a different position?

SPEAKER_03 4:22

If um she was only trying to stay as a teacher, then I'd probably just tell her to go to uh go to the other center. But if she's trying to move up, I would say stay because of that. Um, like I said, it's smaller, it's private, there's there's less to like less competition to shine, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Like when you're in a corporate or so, there's they got stars at every center or so like that. So what makes your shine different from theirs?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I think that um no, I mean that that that's definitely a good point. Because I I am a firm believer in sometimes you have to pay for your sanity. And if it's better for you to leave, yes, you may have to pay yourself that two dollars to leave if it makes your mental health better. But you know, uh calling licensing on yourself, that's some tough shit right there. When you call them on yourself, that says this is this is a shit show. Like calling it on yourself, not on something like that. That's rough.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

When I heard calling it on herself, I felt like that was like just calling it on the center, not calling it on what they were doing specifically.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

But like you're part of you are the center at some point, it's your job.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

Yeah, but um I I don't know if you said in the beginning, is that person already in the management position or is she just a teacher?

SPEAKER_00 5:51

She didn't say, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:53

So if that person was a teacher, but sees things that are wrong, so I see it as them calling it on something else that's going on wrong at that center.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

I mean, you brought up some good points, you know. Um, for the listeners, uh, Lenny and I used to work together back in the years at a corporate facility, and it is hard to get some things changed. Um, I feel like it was a uh continuous fight, and I jumped ship first. I jumped real quick after a while, uh, because of that feeling that you're fighting against the machine. You can't make any change. So if you are, you know, maybe a person that's trying to create more of a change, you do have a little more autonomy within private facilities than you would in a corporate, but having corporate backing is it it feels good sometimes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

Yeah, it definitely feels good because I've worked at like a smaller private one that didn't have the big corporate before. And then, of course, the uh corporates that we work for, but at the same time, like she said, it's a two-dollar pay cut just going to the corporate. So to me, I just feel like you know, you're just falling into their giant ocean there, like you're just a drop of water in their ocean at that point.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

I mean, I know we've had to we've had to fight over some salary situations too, and um it's not always pretty. And there's been a couple I'm leaving, and I actually left once and then came back six months later, uh, just to prove a point. But um, it it can get it can kind of be rough. So I think it just kind of comes down to your mental health. Is this something because everywhere you work is going to have a problem. So is this something that I want to deal with, or is it better just to leave and just say, you know what, just eat to two dollars and you know, like you say, you become a small fish in a big pond.

SPEAKER_03 7:39

Right. When I when I finally up and left that place, it was because, like, yeah, my mental health was going. My wife was saying I'm just angrier all the time for some reason. And I was like, Yeah, I think I have to get up out of there.

Merch Break And Quick Reset

ECE Vs Middle School Reality

SPEAKER_00 7:52

So So I I think I think our response to uh homie girl should be check your mental health and that'll tell you. Yeah, I agree. So thank you for that, and we'll be right back. Okay, quick break. If you're a teacher or a director who's currently stumbling through work, and I mean that literally, figuratively, or spiritually, you need to check out our new merch. We've got shirts that say exactly what you want to say in staff meetings, what you want to say to parents, mugs for caffeine that hold your entire personality together, and gear so you can walk into the building already announcing, Nope, I don't have time for this today without even opening your mouth. These are perfect for the classroom, the office, or the car where you sit for 12 minutes pretending you're going to quit. Again, grab your shirts, your mugs, and your survival merch at abbreviatedlearning.com because if you're gonna stumble through work anyway, you might as well look good doing it. Okay, and we are back with our guest Lenny. So, one of the things about circle time is to show different perspectives in the in the education field. You've been in early childhood education and now you're in K through 12, specifically middle school, which I'm really obsessed with right now because I remember those middle school days. So, how would you define your education experience moving between the two?

SPEAKER_03 9:39

Okay, well, one thing um I enjoy being in like teaching or working with secondary kids. That's mainly why I'm when I was in ECE, I always try to be involved in the school age program, just mainly because of I like communication, I like giving um giving ideas and getting feedback. When you're talking to a preschooler or something like that, if you make everything like you can make anything sound great as long as you say it to them or the excitement, but like you know, you can't fool these middle schoolers the same way that you could trick a uh preschooler or a toddler. Like you can't say, like, yay, broccoli today, and they're all like, yay, yeah, that's not gonna happen with that film. But it's um it's a different way of catching their attention for with me, it's being able just to be able to communicate on their level, so it's um I I don't use their slang and anything of that nature, however, I at least just want to communicate um with them just so they know that I'm not talking to them as like I'm an adult and they're the child. Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Now that you have the ability to reflect on your experience, what do you think was the hardest part of being in being in ECE that you know most people don't understand?

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Um, the expectations. Like um, people always try to say that ECE is glorified babysitting, and it is absolutely not. My years as a substitute, that was glorified babysitting because technically I did not have to go to PLCs, I didn't have to go to like you know parent teachers' conferences, I didn't have to have lesson plans ready and uploaded or so. I could have just literally taken job by job, and all I really have to do is show up, take attendance, and leave. If I didn't hand out a single assignment, that's nothing on my back or so. As long as the class, as long as nobody killed each other, I get invited back to that school. That's how easy like substitute teaching was. That was glorified babysitting. But ECE is the like opposite. There's so much expectation. Some parents be coming at you for why their kid can't read yet, and they're only three, and you're like, they just barely learned their ABCs the other day. Why are you coming at me like that? Like, and then just every little thing, and it's um so one thing I always have to keep in mind that like I think I learned uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure I did learn this from you was that when you're dealing with these parents or so, whether it's ECE or um middle school or so, when they're addressing their kid, they don't care how many other kids you gotta worry about. They worry about their kid, their one kid that they're asking about in that meeting.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

So when you went through, I mean, you were there for years and years. What kept you motivated to come back every day?

SPEAKER_03 12:32

Um well, it wasn't the paycheck because it was actually just some of the kids, like some of the families. Like I like when I first arrived there at that same center with you, um, I remember telling teachers and families or so like that, it's like, I got this management position for y'all, like I'm here for y'all. So you tell me what you need, and I'm gonna try to be that best liaison. And just basically at that point, it was like a lot of the families were like leaning on me. They're like, uh, Mr. Lenny, what are we doing? Um, like I'm just doing whatever I can to take care of. It's like we love coming here because you're here, like, and I'm like, okay, well, I love coming here because you love that I'm here. That's what kind of kept me motivated. Other than that, it was yeah, it got really rough there. Yeah, for especially like that last year, when yeah, you you went through it.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Yeah, you definitely went through a lot that la those last about two, three years through that covet thing, it it was rough for a little bit, which makes me think, what was that I'm not paid enough for this shit moment?

SPEAKER_03 13:45

Um when we had kind of a legal incident, and they the people who weren't even there, like because of management had now changed, told me I could not talk to any parent about it, and they had to handle the situation, and yet I'm the one that was name-dropped on the video that came out about it, and I'm like, I can't say anything in my own defense, and y'all over here telling the story like y'all don't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

So that's that was kind of like that big moment, and then um just kind of uh uh wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

I think I know what you're talking about, yeah. And viewers, I'm sorry it sucks for you all because we can't talk about it, but I want to say what did you have to do with that? You had nothing to do with that.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

I was the one who called the parent. I'm the one who knew, yeah, I'm the one who knew that it was something bigger than just a simple, like our little paper towel ice packs. Gotcha. And I was like, Yeah, but I didn't know it was as bad as what happened, and I also didn't know who was the actual person that committed it.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

Yeah, my knowledge was is like, okay, this is a serious injury, this kid is hurt, like like that was that was me. So, like, and then that's where the parents were upset, and um, yeah, so that was kind of one of those moments. Another one was um that uh the newest director, because they brought in a couple of them on me after you, uh well, after you, and then the newest one or so did something that like made some kind of like little mistake, and corporate came at me about that. Like, how come she didn't know to do this? I'm like, she's my boss. Like, wait, who are you talking to? That's my boss, like, so that was kind of like my when that happened, that was really like, yeah, I I'm not getting paid enough for this. And yeah, I was I think I just barely hit 16 an hour at that point.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

So looking at it, and when you finally left and then you started your transition into secondary, what excited you the most?

Corporate Chaos And Burnout Stories

SPEAKER_03 16:09

Um, excited me the most was actually being able to get back into having um a little bit more free time, uh shorter commute, and uh being able to coach. Because like while I was at the uh childcare center, I mean, like especially in management, I'm giving like 10, 11 hours a day to that just in like my commute to work, uh the hours that I end up working because like none of us managers really just ever worked eight hours. But uh yeah, so between that, that was at least an hour commute there and back, and then plus like I'd be there at least on a short day, I'm there for at least nine and a half hours, like clocked in. And on some other days, I'm there for 10, almost 11 hours.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Yeah, that is the world of EC for you. Yeah, so how does this job impact your mental health?

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Um it relaxes me. It's um because now I'm actually being, even though I'm just a regular teacher, um, I feel like I'm actually being treated like I have intellect and say so. Whereas when I came in here and um when I arrived at the school, even though that this is my first year teaching, these teachers that have been here for 35 years, one's been here for 15 years, another one's been here for 20, and they're taking my advice. They're looking at what lessons I'm doing. They like how I'm using discourse, they like how my classroom is set up. Like I'm actually like being treated as though I'm an intelligent person and I have ideas that can contribute. Whereas like my mental health when working in ECE, I don't feel like that was ever utilized. It was just more like, hey, Lenny, we need you to go do this. And I'd get that done, and it was like, good job, pat on the back, and that was about it. It wasn't like they wanted my insight on how I should, you know, conduct a summer program or how like that seemed to all want to be done at that corporate level where they had made those decisions and didn't really take in what my knowledge and experience on the subject.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

When you first started an ECE, what did you expect teaching to be like and how did it fall short?

SPEAKER_03 18:33

Uh well, when I very first started, I got hired as a lifeguard for like this little mini pool at that private center. So yeah, um, my aunt helped me get that job, and basically I that's all I did. I was only there for like that first five hours of when they were doing swim days in the summer. And from there, my aunt was like, Well, I don't want to just send you home. How about you help out with these kids or help out with these groups? And so I did. And that kind of transition just kind of showed me I had a skill which I'd even uh I was 17 at the time, I didn't even really know I can like that. Kids just kind of flock to me and respond to me in that sense. So I was working with uh ages um the youngest swimmers were barely three, and then of course I had like all the way up to the school age group. So by yeah, by I want to say year five or six at that center, I was already being moved or like considered for like that lead school age teacher or like that um that um school age coordinator, where it was my job to plan those summer, uh spring and uh winter breaks and whatnot for those kids. So I mean it was just kind of uh like hey, can you help out here? And it I liked it, it worked for me, and that's what really sent me into the education field in the first place.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Okay, throughout your experience in your earlier years, let me react that question. Um, was there a moment where you realized that the system actually wasn't built for children?

Why Secondary Teaching Feels Better

SPEAKER_03 20:16

In the early years, no. Okay, like I keep saying I'm uh even even here, I keep saying, well, I seem to be very doughy eye and green behind the ears, or whatever you want to call it, or so, where I think you know, I'm walking around in this perfect world, and meanwhile, somebody pulls the curtain back and like realize we're in a butcher shop, but um, like yeah, for me, I don't really notice that. Like, I think everything's all going good, and then then it's just like one day it just becomes a severe eye-opener. Like, wait, when did this transition happen? So um, yeah, when I realized I think I first realized that it wasn't for about children or families, was probably not so much my first go. Because uh my first stint at that center was uh for eight years. Um, I mostly just kind of got out of it because of like I had issues with uh some of the management there that they had brought in like over and over again, and I was like, okay, I I need a change of environment, but I still felt like it was about the kids, so I wasn't too much worried about that. But when um I want to say at the centers that we were together, um I learned very quickly within that first year or two with um the uh initial center we worked with together before their transition that it wasn't about the children, it was about the um the bottom line, that dollar amount.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Do you feel lots of places put unrealistic demands um on staff with zero support?

When The System Stops Being About Kids

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Yes, absolutely. Um, ideally for the corporate aspect, they want every classroom at capacity or so, and um with uh at max ratio at max ratio. So if you could fit 24 kids in this classroom and the ratio is 12 to 1, you got two teachers, and that's what they want every single day, Monday through Friday. I get that from a corporate aspect, but realistically or so, it's that expectation. No teacher can really match that because even though the state ratio is let's say 12 to 1 for three out for three or four-year-old group, that's uh impossible expectation for a teacher because there's one or two kids in there that feel like they're 12 kids by themselves, and you're trying to cheat, and you're just trying to sit there just to get everybody sitting settled down for lunch and nap time, and this kid had an accident, and this kid, you know, is just throwing things and ripping up the paper instead of learning their ABCs, and it's just how do you control that? And like, and then you get told, like, well, how come these kids haven't developed? Well, I didn't even have time to help them develop, and it's and that's the thing that doesn't get seen when they're looking at the camera, they're just saying they're like, Okay, you were in there with them for seven hours, and this kid didn't improve. No, that's not what happened.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

How do you feel about social and behavior changes over the last couple years?

SPEAKER_03 23:41

I feel like COVID gave this world a factory reset to where like kids now seem to like it, doesn't matter what grade you get them, they now need to almost start at like kindergarten with their very first lesson, and then you have to build up from there. Now, granted, in middle school, I would say I can make that jump from getting them from kindergarten to middle school within a week or two, but it feels like it's just this overall factory reset when it comes to behavior, their attention span, their uh memory, uh, their information retention. It's like summer has made them forget everything, spring, winter breaks have made them forget everything, and you're just trying to do just kind of this recall where yeah, it's these were habits and things that should have been ingrained already, but yet it's just not.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Do you feel that your time in early childhood education impacts your teaching ability in middle school?

SPEAKER_03 24:48

Absolutely. Um, it helps me control them better. People always feel like you know, middle school is like, you know, it's like a warground or it's like it's in the trenches of school because it's like elementary school, sunshine and rainbows. Um, high school is like almost like that professional level, where middle school is like a prison, but um it's it's um but with uh ECE there's been some classrooms where just everything was going crazy, or you just had that one kid that just could not calm down and was just having like just was just on one that day. Whereas like in middle school, it's a lot easier to kind of uh pinpoint that and control it. But after seeing it enough time in early childhood education, it made it like easier to recognize once they've gotten older. It's the same kid just 12 years later.

Ratios No Support And Post COVID Behaviors

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Yeah. Okay, and we'll be right back after the break. Listen, if your center or program is currently held together by tape, caffeine, and vibes, you might need consulting. And that's where abbreviated learning comes in. We work with childcare centers, studios, and youth programs that are doing their absolute best while simultaneously drowning in staffing issues, quality, enrollment gaps, and with that one parent who emails 14 times a day. We help you streamline your systems, fix the operational chaos, train your teachers, and get the program functioning like you're not just winging it every morning at 6 a.m. Whether you need policies, tours, staff development, or someone to just look at your program and say, Okay, here's how we unjanky this. We're here for you. Visit abbreviatedlearning.com to book consulting for your center or program because stumbling through work is funny on the podcast, but not in real life. Alright, we are back with our guest Lenny. And so here's a staff appreciation. How would you feel on the receiving end of this? This one is called Clean Out Those Files. Give a clean out your files day to a deserving teacher. The teacher is still working, so he or she isn't counted as absent, but is free to do something he or she always intended to do but never did. This activity can revitalize a person. The teacher will undoubtedly find some treasures to put into the use in their classroom. Oh, and it says, Note, you would need to get a substitute for the day.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

Um, yeah, I think I would like that. Just like kind of a day to kind of reset, figure out what you want to do, find some stuff that might be buried. You're just you're like, hey, let me get rid of the stuff I know I ain't never gonna use again, and then you find something that's like, oh, I know exactly how to put this to use, and just yeah, that seems like um it'd be a good day. You get a substitute and you're not counted as absent, so it's basically like a paid day off, but you're working. Yeah, I mean it's what's weird for me.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

I I like the concept of it, but my thought is how can I get into my room to do these things if the kids are still there with somebody else?

SPEAKER_03 28:12

Right. So, like um a planning day like that would work only, um, it's kind of hard to see it working in an early childhood setting, but in um, like let's say in my middle school, if they did something like that, there's other teachers' classrooms that they can go to. Or there's even like the library, they could just have them in the library all day. Because we have a um extension of our library called the learning center, where it's like uh the it's where we have our teacher meetings at. So whenever they have all of us teachers in there and we're doing our um our staff development days, that's like the first meeting hall, so it's big enough for all for any classroom size. So like they could take them there while you work out of your classroom. But in a child uh care setting, you'd have to at least have maybe an extra empty classroom in order for that to work, where that substitute or who's ever stepping in for you takes them over there while that teacher just basically gets a free planning day. And I think every teacher would enjoy a full planning day because of the biggest complaint is we never get enough planning time, even when we even when we get a lot of planning time, we never get enough planning time.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

It's always so much stuff to do, yes. Never enough time. Um, so I actually kind of like that one. Um, I usually rate them. So um I'm gonna rate that one maybe uh I'll give it a strong B minus. I I I I would appreciate the day if maybe I had time to plan out in advance, and as long as you don't spring it on me that day, so I know I could like you know make preparations for that day. So I I'll give it a strong B. No, I'll give it a B. I give it a B.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Yeah, I give it a B. Like, yeah, if they gave you like a week out and told you what was probably gonna happen or so, I'd probably give it an A.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Yeah, I if I could plan it, I I might I might like that one. So I appreciate that one.

SPEAKER_04 30:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Now, when it comes to back when you were in centers, what could you say was your best licensing moment?

SPEAKER_03 30:22

I remember there was a time where licensing did come by and we got like kind of all goes just without them like making any correction um or like bringing up any uh any attention to this something. So, but uh I would say best licensing moment, I think it was when they brought to our attention that our fire extinguishers were expired, which something I didn't even know existed, yeah. But yeah, but I figured that that that's how good we must have been at everything else, is that they had to find that one small detail just to tell us, like, hey, this thing is wrong.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Do you feel that now that you're out of it, do you feel better not having to deal with licensing?

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Uh absolutely like um I'm not worried when you tell me that licensing just shows up. I'm like, okay, well, everything I know was supposed to be good is good.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

What what policies? What policies made zero sense to you in real classrooms?

Consulting Break And Program Fixes

SPEAKER_03 31:35

Policies made zero sense to you in real classrooms, the um the family style eating for like preschool and below, just the whole concept that they really expected these little kids to serve themselves adequately without spilling, without making a mess, proper serving size, that they all got the same amount, like they would get so mad that like a teacher will set an even plate for everyone and then serve all the kids as opposed to like no, they're supposed to be serving themselves. No, they ain't like you really could not expect that at some of that uh at those motor skills at that age group, and I mean, like they were barely yeah, able to even ask for more pleas in that same sense.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

I love the concept, but I think when you have a classroom at max capacity, that's what makes it different if it's even within a small learning group.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Right. Like, yeah, that would be easier, but 24 kids is it's a lot.

SPEAKER_03 32:50

Yeah, let's say you know it was like holiday week or so, and like most of families are on vacation, and you got one teacher instead of having their normal like 18 in that classroom with two teachers, they she's got six. Yeah, then it might be practical, okay? But like uh to kind of really teach those six how to do that. But on just on this is the first day, uh, this is the first day we wrote uh we uh transitioned the classrooms where these kids moved up from the toddler room to the preschool room, and you got 19 kids in there and you expect them to be serving themselves. No, no, not happening. And yeah, that's that that was one of that's the major thing where it's just like yeah, I know what it says on paper, but practicality of this, that's not happening.

A Real Planning Day For Teachers

SPEAKER_01 33:43

If you could change one rule immediately, what would it be? I don't know. Some rules just always seem to change, and they seem bendable, breakable, repairable.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

Let's break this one and then put it back together differently.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Um I don't know if this is necessarily a rule, but I always feel like they prioritize the full-time students over the part-time students in that atmosphere. And I would kind of change that it doesn't matter whether they're part-time or full-time or something like that. They like, let's make sure that care. If this kid is constantly being like harassed by every even though this kid's part-time, but every time they show up, they're getting like you know, almost picked on or something by that full-time kid. Let's look at removing the full-time kid and not the part-time kid, because that seems to be the kind of go-to thing. So that would be me, where it's like we got to look at this as this kid is the one that's the offender. Why are we keeping the offender and not the victim? So yeah, that's that was always my biggest disgruntled. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

What boundaries do you have to set to survive?

SPEAKER_03 35:09

Um biggest boundaries is uh well, when dealing with children, you can't take nothing they say personal.

SPEAKER_04 35:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

Like that's your biggest boundary, okay? And then dealing with their parents or so like that, okay. Um yeah, you can't take nothing they say personal either. So you got to set that boundary because they don't know nothing about your life outside of here. Okay, but they're gonna come at you like they do, and you just can't take it personal. You gotta just give the you just gotta make sure you set those boundaries where it's like these are facts, this is what happens, this is how we deal with it and move forward.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

Yeah, definitely. No, that's that's definitely true. You cannot be offended, and so this is your call to action. We're wrapping up. If you had 60 seconds with lawmakers, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_03 36:06

Better screening, like when it comes to people that are working in this field. Um, just because you don't have a criminal background doesn't necessarily mean that you can't accumulate one. So let's make sure you like let's do better screening on like personalities or so like that, and where this person might be three, four years down the road because it's waiting seven years, yeah. Yeah, it's yeah, it's too easy to get hired. So I would say it needs to be better screening.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Uh hey, that's a good one. What do you want listeners to fight for after hearing this episode?

SPEAKER_03 36:47

Better quality of care for your money. Yeah, because I mean everything uh I would say is they give you an image of Disneyland. They give you this image of Disneyland, but what you're really getting is this parking lot carnival that just kind of popped up over the weekend.

unknown 37:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:13

So like make sure that you are getting what you are paying, that quality of care that you are paying for, and that they told you when you signed up.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

That's I I actually I really get that. That actually makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Yeah. Um, but in order to get that though, they gotta pay those teachers that uh like of what of what they're really doing. Yeah, yeah. So you're not gonna get quality unless you pay for it.

Licensing Wins And Policies That Fail

SPEAKER_00 37:42

That is true. Well, I just want to thank you again for being on our episode of Circle Time with Stumbling Through Work, and that's all that we have for you. All right, it was great being here. Thank you for having me on. All right, y'all. Thank y'all and catch y'all next episode. All right, that's another episode of Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out. If today made you laugh, think, or just say, Wow, that's my life, go ahead and subscribe and leave a review. Or share this with another educator who's one licensing violation away from quitting. I'm Jared Cuff. See you next time, probably stumbling, but still showing up.