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
When Pop Culture Enters Preschool
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Hollywood does not end when the credits roll. It shows up in your classroom as Spider-Man shoes, superhero scripts in dramatic play, and the kind of big feelings that lead to “You can’t be Spider-Man because I’m Spider-Man.” I unpack how early childhood educators can stop fighting popular culture and start teaching through it with a clear professional lens: storytelling, language development, sequencing, perspective taking, and social-emotional learning are all hiding inside that cape.
From there, I shift into a serious Florida daycare story involving an alleged child abuse incident and alleged attempts to avoid camera angles. We talk plainly about what cameras can and cannot do. Cameras can document and protect children and staff, but they do not create professionalism, they do not coach, and they do not fix a broken program culture. I share what proactive supervision looks like, why high-stress transitions like lunch-to-nap matter, and how leaders should respond when a child reports harm without dismissing or interrogating.
Then we take a surprising detour: an online Usher “clone” rumor becomes a clean lesson on critical thinking, media literacy, and the danger of confusing observation with interpretation. I connect that to classroom bias, incident reports, and how quickly adults can build confident narratives with zero evidence. We close with leadership advice on nonverbal communication, a practical breakdown of common holiday pay policy rules, and quick-hit ECE headlines on Head Start rules, universal pre-K demand, and the child care workforce crisis. If you found this helpful, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a review so more educators can find the show.
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Welcome And The Hollywood Hook
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out. I'm your host, Dr. Jared Cuff, and this is the place where we try to make sense of the good, confusing, and completely unnecessary. One workday at a time. Let's get into it.
Using Pop Culture As An Entry Point
SPEAKER_00Hey team, welcome to another episode of Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out. Today we're talking about Hollywood. Yes, that Hollywood. Um, because apparently the summer's box office is having itself a comeback. Big movies such as Spider-Man, Brand New Day, and The Odyssey have helped make this a major summer for theaters. Which means Hollywood executives are celebrating, movie theaters are celebrating, studios are celebrating, and somewhere a parent is spending $74 on popcorn, icy's, and chicken tenders, everybody wins. Except the parent's checking account. But what does this have to do with ECE? A lot. Because movies don't stay in movie theaters, they become Halloween costumes, birthday party themes, toys, backpacks, YouTube videos, lunchbox, pretend play, and eventually an argument in your dramatic play center. Hollywood doesn't stop at the theater, it walks directly into preschool wearing light up Spider-Man shoes. Early childhood educators sometimes act surprised when children bring popular culture into their play. All they want to talk about is superheroes. Well, therefore. What did you think they wanted to discuss? You know, municipal bond rates? Jaden, what are you building? The Batcave. Interesting. Have you considered diversifying Batman's retirement portfolio? No. I mean, come on. Children bring their world into the classroom. That's what they're supposed to do. They process experiences through play. Something captures their attention and they recreate it. They change it, they negotiate roles, they tell stories about it, they argue about it, and eventually somebody screams, You can't be Spider-Man because I'm Spider-Man. Congratulations, you now have a social, emotional, learning opportunity. And we also now have two Spider-Mans, which now means the multiverse has officially entered pre-K. See, adults see just Spider-Man, but educators should see storytelling, language, negotiation, problem solving, symbolic representation, emotional development, and peer interaction, just to name a few. Same child, same cape, different professional lens. As always, here is where ECE will inevitably go too far. Because we cannot simply observe an interest. Oh no, we must laminate it. You know, child mentioned Spider-Man Monday morning, by Tuesday, Spider-Man counting worksheets, Spider-Man alphabet cards, Spider-Man coloring pages, which you should not be using coloring pages, but I digress. Spider-Man calendars, Spider-Man bulletin boards. By Friday, Peter Parker and Miles Morales have, you know, apparently received their teaching license. That's not what I'm talking about. Children's interest should be entry points into learning, not the entire curriculum. Okay, so a child talks about a movie. Great. You want to ask what happened first, what happened next, who was your favorite character, how did the character feel? You know, what would you have done differently? What do you think happens after the movie ends? Now we're working on sequencing, recall, you know, vocabulary, perspective taking, um, emotional literacy, prediction, uh, narrative development, critical thinking. That's teaching. You didn't need a worksheet, you didn't need a pent board, you didn't need to order 47 things from Amazon. You just needed to have a conversation with the child, revolutionary, apparently. Here's the biggest opportunity that I see. Children are surrounded by media that acts them to consume. Watch this, click this, buy this, play this, subscribe to this, go ask your exhausted parent for this. You know, ECE can flip that though. Instead of let's watch another movie, let's make one. How about that? How about you draw a character? You know, build a movie set with blocks, create, you know, costumes from classroom materials, make movie tickets, create a theater in dramatic play, act out scenes, you know, tell a completely new story. Now, here's where my cynical side arrives. Because everything I just described requires something incredibly controversial in ECE. Teachers having time to plan. I know, radical concept, right? You know, we want teachers to observe children's interests, individualize instruction, document development, create meaningful extensions, manage behavior, sanitize everything, disinfect everything, complete assessments, and design engaged environments. But planning time? The best we can do is, you know, give you seven minutes during nap time. This is a leadership issue. If we want intentional curriculum, teachers need planning time, materials, coaching, professional knowledge, and reasonable expectations. You cannot demand creativity while structuring the workplace around survival. And there's another piece worth mentioning. Children aren't just bringing movies into the classroom, they're bringing culture. The characters they love matter. Who gets to be the hero, the scientist, the princess, the adventurer, the funny character, the powerful character? Representation matters because children incorporate these characters into how they imagine themselves. And educators can expand children's thinking by introducing stories and materials where you know heroism, intelligence, beauty, family, imagination aren't represented through one cultural lens. Popular culture is going to enter your classroom. You can fight it or you can just teach through it. It is what it is. The goal isn't, you know, we're doing Spider-Man week. The goal is the children are interested in superheroes. What developmental opportunities can we build from that interest? There is a huge difference.
Florida Daycare Abuse Allegation
SPEAKER_00Moving on, there is this wild story in Florida that I want to tell you all about. Now remember, I've always said it's always crazy shit goes down in Florida and Texas. I don't know why, but it does. So the police say in the city of Gainesville that surveillance footage from small world daycare showed a teacher allegedly striking and shoving a child. According to reporting, investigators said the employee appeared to position herself and even angle a cart in ways that blocked or obscured the camera before the alleged conduct occurred. One clip reportedly showed the child's head striking a metal trash can. The employee was later arrested and charged with child abuse without great bodily harm. These charges remain allegations unless proven in court.
SPEAKER_02The now former teacher worked at the small world daycare and learning centers here on Northwest 4th Street. According to an arrest report from the Gainesville Police Department, 58-year-old Tara was arrested after the victim's motherfuckers after the fate of the child's age has not yet been released. According to the arrest report, the school's director was able to provide the victim's mother with security footage from inside the building. According to the report, you've seen the same thing slapping the victim and hitting them once more after time with the back of her hand track. The report also states after the bow the victim can be seen finding a side craft against a nearby middle track plan. And according to the victim's mother, even though it's great from the force of the slab. Safety and dignity and the well-being of every child entrusted our care and remain our highest priority after the standard guiding efforts. So every staff member can participate in mandatory child safety, mandatory reporting, and positive guidance training. Now Houston was arrested at her home yesterday and booked into the Olachua County jail on a charge of child abuse without major bodily harm. There has been no bond set as of right now. In Gainesville, I'm on Alvarez TV 20 new.
SPEAKER_00Hmm. What do I say? Well, I got a lot to say. First off, she knew where them cameras were. Let's just be honest. Not oops, I forgot the cameras existed. Not like, ooh, the incident happened outside the camera's view. She knew where them damn cameras were. Investigators allege, you know, that there were active positioning to avoid surveillance. I could agree, which creates an entirely different conversation. Because when somebody knows exactly where their cameras are, they also know exactly what they should be doing. Let's talk about that. Let me actually let me just start here for a second. Cameras do not create professionalism. Cameras reveal whether professionalism was already there. A camera should not be the thing stopping you from hitting a child. And let me repeat that because apparently we need, you know, continual education on this. The camera should not be your moral compass. If your thought process is, can the camera see me from here? You are already far behind a coaching conversation. Because now we're not discussing classroom management, we're not discussing difficult transitions, teacher frustrations, or needing better behavior support. We're discussing alleged conduct that investigators say was intentionally obscured. That's not, you know, I lost my patience. That's allegedly, you know, I gotta say that allegedly, you know, let me adjust the production angle. You shouldn't be like reposting furniture like camera one can see me, but camera two has a blind spot. Let me move this cart, like what? At that point, the problem isn't cameras, the problem is character, judgment, supervision, and culture. After stories like this, it's always somebody that has to say every preschool should have cameras, and I understand why. You know, in this case, the center itself said is camera systems provide objective documentation that allowed leadership to determine what happened and take action. This kind of almost reminds me of last week's episode where we talked about who was watching the camera. If you want more on that, you can go back to that episode. But you know, on I'm with them, absolutely. Everything they said correct. Because you know, cameras can document, it can cooperate, um, clarify, it can protect children, it can protect staff from false allegations. I've had that happen many a times, you know, and it helps leadership investigate uh incidents, it really does. But cameras are not supervision, cameras are not training, cameras are not culture, cameras are not leadership, a camera doesn't intervene, a camera doesn't say stop, or it doesn't say what I need you to be doing. A camera doesn't coach the teacher, and a camera doesn't recognize escalation frustrations unless somebody is actively monitoring patterns. Now, directors, here's where you enter the story. A lot of centers advertise we have cameras in every classroom. Okay, but who's actually reviewing them? Because having cameras
Cameras Reveal Culture Not Character
SPEAKER_00and never reviewing footage unless a parent complains is like installing a fire alarm and only checking it after the building burns down. You should use cameras proactively. I sometimes just sit at the cameras and watch multiple classrooms at one time to see what is happening when they think nobody's watching. Yes, I'm watching. And I want you to feel like Rocco, somebody's watching me. That's what I want you to feel like. Because I am. You know, you should randomly just view transitions, mealtimes, naps, you know, toileting routines, you know, where permitted, you know, arrival, departure, high stress moments throughout the day. Because you want to look for patterns, you want to look for harsh handling, yelling, grabbing, children being isolated, staff appearing overwhelmed, teachers consistently position themselves outside the camera view because one strange camera angle, maybe it's a coincidence, maybe. Somebody's repeatedly finding the blind spot. Now I have questions. And directors, you need to get comfortable asking uncomfortable questions before parents or police have to ask them for you. Now, there's actually more to this story than what the news section reviewed as I continued reading. There were some things they left out. So, rest of the reporting says that the child repeatedly told his mother that his teacher had hit him. The mother then contacted the center and asked to see the footage. That's how we got to this situation. See, and that's another major lesson. Children communicate, sometimes imperfectly, sometimes with limited vocabulary, and sometimes through behavior, sometimes repeatedly saying, you know, teacher hit me. Now our job isn't to immediately dismiss, our job is to investigate appropriately. Not, you know, oh, you know how kids make things up. Now you don't automatically assume every statement is fact, but you also don't automatically assume it's fantasy either. You document, you report when required, you review, you investigate. And please do not interrogate a preschooler like you're on a law and order snack unit. Follow your mandated reporting procedures. Here's rest of it for me. Small world daycare said it's the word daycare. Ugh. Okay. Small world daycare set it closed for a day so all employees could complete mandatory trainings on child safety, mandatory reporting, and positive guidance. Leadership fired the employee after reviewing the footage, cooperated, you know, cooperated with authorities, and conducted a center-wide retraining. Those are appropriate corrective actions. That is what licensing is going to ask. I already know. But I'm going to be me for a second. One day of training does not fix culture. It doesn't. These are things that you do for the public and for licensing to be like, ooh, we did it, but see, there's a big problem in there. And see, for me, it's the mandatory reporting. See, something about that, something's not right in the milk. Because why would that be a topic? Really think about it. Why would you be covering mandatory reporting, which says somebody already seen this and didn't say something, and now we need to go back and review it? That's what that says to me. I'm just hearing what's being said, and I'm also hearing what's not being said. But you know, moving on, you know, if your problem is, you know, somebody allegedly hit a child and tried to hide it from the camera, please don't think a PowerPoint and a Continental Breakfast have solved the organizational problem because it hasn't. You know, like slide 14. Remember, children should not be struck. And the teacher's like, oh, you got a real big problem. You know, training has to be followed by several things. It has to be followed by increased observations, by coaching, by holding people accountable, stronger report, you know, stronger reporting expectations, clearer consequences, you know, psychological safety for employees who report co-workers and leadership presence. Otherwise, everybody is signing the attendance sheet, and then the next day arrives. The alleged incident reportedly happened during the transition from lunch to nap. See, it when you read, you learn more stuff. And yes, lunch to nap. Oh yes, the daily hunger games. Children are tired, somebody can't find their blanket, suddenly somebody needs to poop, somebody, you know, decided that the cottage is a trampoline, one child is crying because the other child looked at them, teachers are exhausted. I understand. You still can't hit children. Positive guidance isn't, you know, use developmentally appropriate practices unless you're irritated. You know, emotional regulation is part of professional competence. If an educator is so dysregulated that they cannot safely manage a transition, leadership needs to know so they can, you know, fire their ass before the child pays for it. This case is really bigger than just one employee. It raises uncomfortable questions for anyone that's in leadership. What happens in your classrooms when leadership when you aren't present? What happens behind shelving on the playground? What happens during nap, during closing time, when the director goes home, when teachers believe the cameras aren't watching? Because your true organizational culture isn't what employees do during your walkthrough, it's what they do when they think nobody can see them. Children need adults who behave appropriately even when nobody is watching. And if an employee knows the camera angles better than the lesson plans, we have a problem, and we'll be right back after this break.
Program Leadership Book Break
SPEAKER_00Let's just be honest, leading a program where center sounds cute until the staff calls out, the goals make no sense, the policies are doing backflips, and somehow everybody is looking at you for answers. That's why I wrote The Program Leader: How to Lead, Set Goals, and Achieve Lasting Results in Your Program. This book is for directors, supervisors, coordinators, and leaders who are trying to build structure without losing their minds. We talk leadership, goal setting, systems, staff development, and how to lead with intentions, even when work is getting on your nerves. You can get your copy at abbreviatedlearning.com or just continue to do what you're doing, making no progress. Okay, we are back, and I'm about to cover this. Yes,
Usher Clone Rumor And Critical Thinking
SPEAKER_00I am about to discuss a national emergency because apparently, if you've been on social media, you have learned that the singer Usher might not be Usher. Yes. This is where we are as a society. Let me catch you up if you haven't seen it. So after Usher's August 7th performance at Met Life Stadium, clips started circulating online, and some people thought that the person performing looked a little different. Which naturally means you know the internet considered all of the reasonable possibilities: the lighting, the camera angle, the distance, video compression, a lookalike, and then they selected clone. Because why consider basic explanations when conspiracy is available? And then Usher, you know, he responded on Instagram and joked, IA ain't that advanced. And thank God he cleared that up because apparently Usher had to provide proof of life because somebody in section 327 had an Android. But this ridiculous story actually connects to something very important in the early childhood education field, critical thinking. Because we're raising children in a world where grown adults can watch an eight second blurry video and announce, oh, I know what happened. Here's what fascinates me somebody sees a video, somebody adds, you know, they add a little caption, y'all. That's that's not Usher. Now suddenly everybody is a forensic investigator. Look at his ears. His walk is different. Usher don't turn his head like that. I've been watching Usher since my way. That's not him. Ma'am, you've never even seen that man. You saw him perform nice and slow in 1997, and now apparently you're with the FBI. This is the problem. We've confused seeing something with understanding something. Let me say that again. We confuse seeing something with understanding something. And those aren't the same. And see, children do this naturally. See, preschoolers are supposed to jump to conclusions. Their brains are developing, they're learning cause and effect, they're learning how to interpret information. But adults, we were supposed to progress. And apparently some of us stopped at pre-operational thinking and then we got Wi-Fi. Here's how this plays out in ECE. Teachers walk into the block area. There's blocks everywhere. Marcus is standing there. The teacher says, Marcus, why did you throw all these blocks? Marcus says, I didn't. And then the teacher says, You're the only one standing here. Oh, well, case closed. CSI preschool has solved another one. No witnesses, no investigation, no questions. Marcus was near the crime scene. Therefore, Marcus has been convicted. I was gonna say something, but this isn't the podcast for that. So moving along, you know. The big question what I want to ask is what did you actually observe? You observe blocks that blocks were on the floor. You observe that Marcus is standing near the blocks. But see, what did you assume? See, you assume that Marcus knocked them down, and those are two completely different things. Maybe another child did it. Maybe Marcus was cleaning. Maybe the tower fell. Maybe six children were playing there 30 seconds ago. Maybe Marcus just walked over there. But because adults love a good storyline, Marcus is always doing something, and now we've created the preschool version of the Usher clone conspiracy. We don't have evidence, but we've got confidence. Now here's where the joke stops being quite as funny though. Because assumptions aren't distributed equally. Some children enter classrooms already more likely to be interpreted through negative assumptions. And once that narrative exists, everything becomes evidence. See, Marcus runs, see, he's out of control. You know, Marcus is talking loudly, see, he's aggressive. Marcus disagrees, see, he's defiant. Marcus is sitting quietly, you know, he's probably getting ready to do something. It's like, damn, Marcus can't even sit down correctly anymore. He's four years old and already under federal surveillance. And this is why evidence matters in ECE. We need to separate observation from interpretation. See, observation is Marcus pushed the chair approximately two feet after being asked to sit. Interpretation, Marcus was being disrespectful. One tells me what happens, the other tells me what you think it means. And your interpretation can contain your bias. Teaching critical thinking is not hard. It really is not. You don't need to take like a preschool course called, you know, Introduction to Misinformation and Digital Epistemology 101. Therefore, calm down. You just use simple activities to help teach. Like a classroom photo. Show children a picture and ask them what do you see? Not, you know, what do you think happened? First establish the evidence. Picture books, you know, stop halfway through and ask, what do we know? What do you think might happen? You know, how are those different? You know, mystery objects, put something in a bag and give clues, let children make predictions and then ask, what made you think that? That's the critical thinking. It's so easy to do. You're teaching children that conclusions should contain or connect to information. I know this is, you know, revolutionary concepts, you know, apparently that's unavailable on Facebook. But directors, please don't make this only a children's lesson. Try it during your next staff meeting. That's what I ask for you to do. You know, present a classroom scenario. You know, here's one. A child is crying near the sensory table and another child is holding the shovel. And then ask them, what do we know? And they'll probably say things like, Well, the other child took the shovel. Nope. You don't know that. What we know is one child is crying and another child has a shovel. That's it. Do that in your meeting and see who's always jumping to a conclusion. But this matters for behavior documentation, incident reports, family communication, assessments, discipline, and supervision. Because incident reports should contain facts. So, what has Usher allegedly being, you know, replaced by his secret clone taught us in early childhood education? First, the internet remains undefeated at its foolishness. Second, seeing isn't necessarily understanding. Third, confidence is not evidence. And fourth, critical thinking needs to start early. Now, I just want to say this too. If you see Usher in public, ask him for two forms of identification before approaching. You know, we just can't be too careful.
Nonverbal Cues That Undermine Leadership
SPEAKER_00Continuing on, my leadership advice this week is to beware of your nonverbal techniques. So that's body language, facial expression, eye contact, gestures, you know, these are also known as all the ways you can be disrespectful without technically saying anything. Because apparently professionalism does not stop at your mouth. Your face is employed too, and some of y'all have faces that have already submitted a two-week notice. You can say, Absolutely, I'd be happy to help. But if your face says, I would rather chew aluminum foil, people are going to believe your face. So today, we need to discuss how your body can completely sabotage the professional sentence that just came out of your mouth. So let's start with your body language. Crossed arms, you know, turning away, slouching, standing with your hands on your hips, aggressively sighing like somebody just asked you to rebuild the Hoover Dam. All of that communicates something. Imagine your supervisor saying, Can we talk about what happened yesterday? And you immediately cross your arms, lean against the wall, and go, sure. No, your mouth said sure, but your body said I've already retained counsel. And see, this is where people get confused. I didn't say anything disrespectful. They love to say that. I didn't say anything disrespectful. You would be correct, but your entire upper body just filed a grievance. Body language affects how people interpret what you're saying. If a parent is telling you about a concern, turn and you're turning away, you're looking irritated, or you're continuing to type while they're speaking. What that can communicate is I don't care. Even if you say, Well, I completely understand, no, you don't, because you haven't looked up from the computer since last Tuesday. Now let's discuss facial expressions, because this is where many people lose the battle. Some people have extremely expressive faces. I am one of them. You know, their mouths can be professionally trained, their eyebrows are freelancers. You can hear something ridiculous, and immediately your face starts conducting its own press conference. A parent says, My child told me another child took his crayons yesterday, and I really think we need to discuss what safety protocols are being implemented. And I get it, it's just it sounds just as foolish. But your face, your face goes, ma'am. Now you didn't say ma'am, but your eyebrows absolutely did, and they said it with an attitude. This is especially important for supervisors because employees watch your face. You can say, that's an interesting suggestion. But if you immediately like, you know, squint, tilt your head, purse your lips like somebody just suggested, you know, replacing the preschool curriculum with a cage fight, you know, they know nobody believes you. Your face betrayed you. Now, let me be honest, I'm not saying you need to walk around smiling like you know you just won the sweepstakes. That's creepy. What I'm saying is that your facial expression should generally match the professional tone that you're trying to create. Neutral is your friend. Practice neutral. Some of us need to practice it extensively. I had to practice it because my face always gives away what I'm thinking, and so I have to intentionally say to myself, Jarek, watch your face. Jarek, what is your face doing? And now the eyes. Eye contact matters. Looking at someone communicates that you're listening, but there's a balance because appropriate eye contact is, you know, I'm engaging in this conversation. If it's too little eye contact, it kind of says, I'm currently looking, you know, I'm currently trying to escape through this wall. But then too much eye contact kind of becomes, you know, I know where you live. And we don't want that. Also, the eye rolls, the workplace classic. Probably one of the most efficient ways to turn a minor conversation into an HR meeting. Your supervisor says, remember, everyone needs to clock out before leaving, and an employee eye rolls. And suddenly this meeting is no longer about timekeeping, and now we are discussing your attitude, and this is where people say, But I didn't say anything correct, but your eyeballs did. And see, your eyeballs gave me a whole TED talk. And see, that eye roll is particularly dangerous because it communicates contempt. And unfortunately, once people believe you are being disrespectful, everything after that becomes harder. Now you're trying to explain my eyes were dry. No, they were not. You roll those eyes so far back you briefly saw your childhood. Then we have gestures, pointing, waving people away, throwing your hands up, shrugging dramatically, you know, making that little hand motion that says, please hurry up because this conversation stopped being interesting 90 seconds ago. Again, you have said nothing. But the message you delivered, imagine telling an employee, I really value your feedback while checking your watch, then looking towards the door. Then waving your hand like, well, wrap it up. The employee does not feel valued. That employee feels like the commercial break is coming. Gesture should support communication, not turn the conversation into an interpretive dance. And nowhere is nonverbal communication more obvious than the staff meeting. You announce we're going to be making a few scheduled changes. Immediately, one person crosses their arms, another person's eyebrows disappear into their hairline, somebody looks directly at their work bestie. Brenda slows, you know, Brenda slowly puts her coffee down, and one employee reaches for their phone. Nobody has said anything. But somehow, you already know the meeting is going to go badly. This is part of non-verbal communication. The entire room can become hostile before the first PowerPoint slide. And supervisors do this too. Let me be clear. Because an employee says, Can I talk to you about something? And the supervisor, like, sure. Well, congratulations. You have just successfully communicated. You are a burden. And now you're going to spend the next six months wondering why employees do not bring problems to you. Well, they tried. You just sigh, your sigh told them to go away. And see, that is the bigger point because communication is not just words. People are constantly interpreting your posture, your expression, you know, where you were looking, how close you're standing, what your hands are doing, whether you appear interested, whether you look irritated, whether your face is currently screaming, this meeting could have been in an email, because we all think that. And sometimes you cannot control every reaction. We are human. Sometimes somebody says something so wild that your face responds before your professional development training can intervene. And I will be honest, that is me sometimes. We're all a work in progress, but awareness matters. Because if your words are saying I'm listening, while your body is saying please disappear, people generally believe the body. So check yourself. Uncross them arms, stop rolling your eyes, look at people when they're speaking, use gestures intentionally, and please gain custody of your facial expressions, especially your eyebrows, because professionalism is not just about what you say, it's also about everything you are broadcasting while you're saying it. And we'll be right back.
Practical Training Message Break
SPEAKER_00Through Abbreviated Learning, we provide practical training and professional development for early childhood programs, schools, and organizations that need strategies people can actually use when the meeting is over. So if your team needs more than another cute handout, book your next training with us at abbreviatedlearning.com where we know how to make the work make sense.
Coworker Red Flags And Reporting Steps
SPEAKER_00And we are back with Asking for a Friend. Hi everyone, I've been working at my local daycare since May 2025. I'm looking for advice on a situation with a coworker that has gone from annoying to upsetting. This coworker has always been a minimal effort employee. She refuses to follow our new closing protocols, signing off on duties, which gets the whole team in trouble. More disturbingly, she openly refuses to change certain toddlers if she deems them too fat or heavy or says they stink. Last week things turned physical. I was in the toddler room where my own son is enrolled and was in the middle of a diaper change. She decided to leave the room, leaving me over ratio. As she exited, she closed the door and caught my son's finger in the frame. Instead of checking what the resistance was, she physically held the door shut from the other side to force it to latch while my son was screaming in pain. I had to yell for her to open it and she actually said no until I abandoned the diaper change while carrying the child with me and barred the door open. Her excuse was I thought it was just a kid trying to get the door open and toddlers whine anyway. My director told me that since I'm the parent, we don't need to file an incident report. I feel like this is a massive cover-up for a staff member who is a walking liability and potentially neglecting children. What are my next steps? Should I report this to licensing myself since my director is refusing to document it? Okay. So let's just start with the easy part. You know, she's not signing the closing checklist. Annoying. You know, refusal to do assigned duties, unprofessional, getting everybody else in trouble, classic workplace, you know, classic workplace nonsense. Every center has had at least one employee whose work philosophy is, you know, if I ignore the task long enough, perhaps it'll become somebody else's spiritual journey. Fine. And then we get to refusing to change toddlers because they're too fat, too heavy, they stink, all of that. Absolutely not. A diaper change is not an optional customer service. Upgrade is a it is a basic care, it is hygiene, it is dignity, it is part of the job. You cannot work in a toddler room and suddenly develop selective objection to toddlers being, you know, heavy, messy, loud, sticky, or smelly. That is the demographic. If a dirty diaper offends you on a philosophical level, early childhood just may not be your calling. It is what it is. Now that we've gotten the easy part out the way, let's dive into this the real seriousness of this. The coworker leaves the room. That meant you left another teacher out of ratio. Already a problem. And on the way out, she closes the door on a toddler finger. The child is screaming instead of stopping, close it even harder. And then you said no when she said to open the door. Let's talk about the red flags. Because if your professional framework is toddlers wine anyway, then how are you distinguishing, you know, when they're frustrated, when they're in fear, when there's injury, pain, distress, or there's an actual emergency? Because you aren't. You've decided children's communication is background noise, and that is dangerous. Then the director allegedly says because the injured child belongs to the employee, an incident report does not need to be filed. Oh, well, that's just convenient. Apparently, parenthood now voids documentation requirements. So if I work at the center and my child gets injured, the injury disappears administratively. Fascinating. Maybe OSHA should start trying stuff like this. Like you work here, you so technically the broken arm is internal. No, the child is still a child in care. The events still happened. The staff member was still functioning as an employee. The program still has a responsibility to document safety events according to its policies and any regulations wherever y'all live at. And beyond paperwork, why is the director not asking why did the employee leave ratio? Why was a child's distress ignored? Why did the employee continue forcing the door? Why has the same employee allegedly refused basic care tasks before? This does not sound like one random bad moment. It sounds like a pattern nobody wants to confront. Does she got something on somebody? Because programs love calling somebody a walking liability after something serious happens. But usually the liability has been walking around the building for six months. It's like everybody knew she doesn't really change diapers, she doesn't, you know, she disappears during closing, she doesn't follow procedures, she doesn't like heavy kid, she says children stinks, and then management says, Oh, like we're coaching her. No, you're not. Coaching her towards what? Basic human decency. There's a point where performance management becomes organizational avoidance. See, directors sometimes keep people because staffing is bad, and I understand the pressure. Ratios are brutal, hiring is hard, callouts happen, but a warm body is not automatically a safe body. Sometimes the person helping your ratio is actually increasing your risk. So my advice is to document everything factually, keep dates, timed, witnesses, and exact statements, avoid vague avoid vague language, and follow whatever reporting obligations apply to wherever you live. Don't write things like she's crazy and she hates kids. You know, things like at approximately 3.10, the employee left the title of the room, leaving one staff member with, you know, 12 children. You know, the closing door contains the child's finger, the child scream. Employee was instructed to open the door and initially refused. The director was notified at, you know, 315. Remember, facts are stronger than objectives. And if there's a reasonable concern that requires reporting, contact licensing. That's what I would do. I would contact them as a as an employee and as a parent of the situation that happened. That's just what I would do. And I don't even believe in weaponizing licensing, but stuff like this, definitely. Okay.
Holiday Pay Policy And The Brenda Problem
SPEAKER_00Moving on, it is now policy time. And remember, something became a policy because someone didn't mess the shit up for all of us. And today's policy is holiday pay. Now the handbook says to receive holiday pay, team members must be available to work their regularly scheduled hours, both the workday before and the workday after the holiday. After completing the initial 90 days of employment, any alteration of this policy must be approved by HR. This is a basic normal ECE center-based policy. Anyone that has been in the field forever. You've kind of heard this. So, this policy kind of translates into you know, you cannot vanish December 23rd, reappear January 3rd, and still expect us to financially participate in your vacation. The company is saying we will pay you for the holiday, but we need evidence that you still actually work here. See, holiday pay policies like this exist for one very obvious reason. Attendance mysteriously becomes a spiritual struggle around holiday season. Suddenly, everybody has migraines, car troubles, family emergencies, uh, stomach viruses, dead batteries, you know, travel delays, um, unexplained circumstances involving Southwest Airlines. Any other Tuesday, everybody is healthy, everybody's at work. But on December 24th, the entire workforce has entered hospice. So, employers, you know, what employers do is they create policies like this because they are trying to stop employees from strategically calling out before or after a paid holiday, leaving no care for the children. Now, the logic is simple. If the company is going to pay you while you are not working on the holiday, they expect you to show up for the shifts surrounding it. It is the is it the warmest policy? No. Is it understandable? Absolutely, because we're talking about the care for our children. Could you imagine like 62 preschoolers showing up the day before Christmas or something like that, and you only have one teacher? So that's why stuff like this is in place. And then we have the part where it says after completing the initial 90 days of employment part. Again, somebody did something. And this is usually the employer saying, you know, you cannot start Monday, receive Christmas pay Wednesday, and then resign on Friday. Because without a waiting period, you know, Brenda can technically work nine business days and leave with a polo shirt, a name badge, two paid holidays, and absolutely no emotional attachment to the center. The 90-day requirement is basically, you know, please demonstrate at least one fiscal quarter of commitment before we start funding your federal holiday lifestyle. And from an employer's perspective, that makes sense. Holiday pay is a benefit. Benefits often come from eligibility requirements. The organization wants to reward employees who have made it through the onboarding, training, and the introductory period. Or, in you know, simple ECE language, you survive, child. You have survived, you know, your first parent complaint, three call-outs, a licensing visit, and somebody vomiting during circle time. Congratulations. Here is eight hours of holiday pay. That's what it's saying. Now let me tell you why this probably had to be written. Our favorite person, Brenda. See, Miss Brenda has worked at the center for two years. Brenda knows the handbook. Brenda knows Christmas is on Wednesday. Brenda's scheduled Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Brenda has already decided she will be in Atlanta by Monday afternoon, knowing she's on the schedule. Has Brenda requested PTO time? No. Has Brenda talked to her supervisor? No. Has Brenda secured coverage? Absolutely not. Brenda's plan is basically, you know, it's based entirely on confidence, prayer, and the assumption that management would just figure it out. So Sunday night, Brenda sends a text. Not a call, she sends a text. Hey, just letting you know I might not make it tomorrow. Something came up with my family. You might not make it, but okay. Something came up alright. Yes. A boarding pass. Monday morning, so Brenda called out. On Tuesday, she's still unavailable. It's just so hard for the family. On Wednesday, it's Christmas. Thursday morning, Brenda texts, my flight got delayed. Of course it did. We didn't even know you was gone, but of course it did. And then on Friday, Brenda just does not appear. Now Brenda returns Monday morning with, you know, she got fresh braids, uh, she got three airport Starbucks cups and the audacity to ask, so when does holiday pay hit? Ma'am lady. You have been gone since the previous administration. Brenda is somehow shocked when payroll says no holiday pay, and then her response is, but I've been here for two years. Exactly, which is why you should know better. Well Brenda's not finished because Brenda believes every consequence is a misunderstanding that can be escalated. So now Brenda emails HR. I feel that I'm being punished for spending time with my family. No, you are being denied holiday pay because you are not available for your regularly scheduled shifts before and after the holiday. Those are different things. See, HR explains the policy and then Brenda responds, Well nobody told me. Brenda. Brenda, Brenda. Brenda signed the handbook. Brenda completed orientation. Brenda attended the policy meeting. Brenda received the holiday memo. Brenda replied when it was text to her, got it with a thumbs up. But apparently got it meant I have received the information and chose, you know, not to internalize it. Then we get to my favorite part. Any alteration of this policy must be approved by HR or a regional manager. Why is that there? Consistency. Because if every director can make exceptions independently, then suddenly Brenda gets holiday pay, Marcus doesn't, Keisha does, Lewis doesn't, and now HR has an equity problem. The HR approval requirements keep exceptions from becoming favoritism, panic decisions, or well, I like her. And trust me, the moment one employee hears Brenda got an exception, everybody is becoming a constitutional attorney. Actually, under Article 2 of Brenda got paid, I believe I'm also entitled. No. Centralized approval protects consistency. Policies like this only work if managers communicate them before the holiday. Do not wait until December 27th and suddenly say, oh, by the way, you lost holiday pay. That is how you end up with angry staff, payroll disputes, and HR complaints, and seven people saying nobody told us. Now the best practice is to remind staff before major holidays. I like to remind them during the beginning of the month of November because holiday season is upon us. You have Veterans Day, you have Thanksgiving, you have Family Day, you have anything that falls before Christmas Eve, then you have Christmas, then you have New Year's. There's a lot of days off, depending on what state it is. If you're in Nevada, you have Nevada Day, which is a weird state holiday that we don't quite understand. Um, maybe you get off of Halloween. I don't know your life. All of those things happen. So I like to do them at the beginning of November. Because the worst thing you can do is have a strict handbook policy that leadership enforces differently depending on you know who called out, whether you like them, or how desperate you are for staff. That is how policies become suggestions. So why is this in the handbook? Because somewhere at some point, Brenda, an employee discovered that a paid holiday could become a seven-day vacation if you were just bold enough. And see, managers management said never again. And so the policy exists to reduce strategic call outs, reward consistent attendance, establish benefit eligibility, and make exceptions consistent. Is it exciting? No. Is it glamorous? Absolutely not. Does it exist because somebody tried something? Without a question. So as
ECE Headlines And Why They Matter
SPEAKER_00we conclude this episode, here are a few noticeable ECE headlines for this week. The Trump administration proposed a major rewrite of Head Start rules. Health and Human Services proposed removing roughly 1,400 federal regulatory provisions and giving states and local programs more control over areas such as staff-child ratios, group sizes, screenings, transportation, and other program requirements. The administration argues this would reduce costs and expand access. Head Start advocates warn it could weaken the consistency, quite the consistent quality standards that distinguish Head Start. Importantly, this is a proposed rule, not a final rule. Why do we care? This could fundamentally change what Head Start quality means. Directors could eventually operate under much more state-dependent standards, creating significant differences in quality and services from Nevada to California to Texas. Who knows? New York City's free preschool for two-year-old program is already massively oversubscribed. New York City announced more than 5,700 applications for just over 2,000 2 through K seats in its inaugural year. More than 2,000 children received offers. Why do we care? Because we've spent years talking about universal pre-K. From universal pre-K, then we start going from 3-year-olds to K. Now, a majority of cities are pushing publicly funded education down to age 2. The demand also tells us something important. Families aren't struggling to find preschool because they suddenly became picky, they need affordable care. The ECE questions now become: who staffs all of these classrooms? What are providers paid? And what happens to private infant-toler programs as government-funded options expand. A Texas County tried and failed to create dedicated local funding for child care. A Harris County judge proposed a property tax increase to continue a program providing free child care preschool for as many as 1,000 low-income children and training for providers. The program's federal relief funding expired at the end of 2026, but the tax proposal failed to get enough support to even reach voters. The county reportedly has more than 90,000 children on its child care subsidy wait list. Why do we care? This is a sustainability problem in one story. Everyone agrees that there aren't enough affordable child care slots until someone asks, okay, who's paying for them? Local governments are going to face this question repeatedly as temporary funding disappears. The child care workforce lost about 5,700 jobs in just July. So the Bureau of Labor Statistics released August 7th shows seasonally adjusted employment and child care services dropping from 1.0974 million in June to 1.0917 million in July. Why do we care? Because you can expand child care without childcare workers. We can create universal programs, subsidies, QRIS initiatives, you know, initiatives, grants, beautiful strategic plans, but a classroom without a teacher is still a closed classroom. One month doesn't establish a trend, but this is just worth watching. New affordability data puts childcare squarely in the economic crisis conversation. Findings highlighted August 3rd by the first five years fund reported that nearly 16 million families with children 12 and younger struggled to make ends meet in 2024, with about 4 million families pushed into financial insecurity, specifically because of child care costs. The analysis estimates that making care more affordable could enable another 1.3 million parents of young children to participate in the workforce. Why do we care? This is important framing for ECE leaders. Child care is economic infrastructure, the thing I've been saying forever. When families can't afford care, it affects enrollment, employment, business productivity, workforce participation, and eventually the entire economy, not just parents with preschoolers.
Final Reminder And Closing
SPEAKER_00Well, that's all that I have for you all this week. And remember, if a toddler is screaming because their fingers are caught in a door, open the damn door. Talk to y'all later. Bye. This has been another episode of Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out. If this episode entertained, educated, or inspired you, go ahead and subscribe and share with others. I'm Dr. Jarek Huff. Catch you next time, Stumbling, but still showing up.
