A Day in the Life of a Preschool Teacher

My preschool is crazy! Some days I wonder why on earth I’m doing this insane job. One mom recently told me that I had to be none other than a saint to even contemplate running the preschool. Today was so bad that the other mom assisting me was doing a countdown to when it would finally end! I am clueless as to what set it off, but something about today just made everyone go nuts and nearly drove me mental!

I’m struggling to teach the kids how to share. We’ve done the Rainbow Fish and other similar stories on sharing, talked about it, and tried to implement it. Some of the kids get it and will walk over and share their toys, others flip out and refuse to share. I had one girl who cried for 3 days in a row anytime she didn’t get something she wanted. And it wasn’t little bouts of crying either, it was full on inconsolable crying for 30 minutes if she saw something she wanted and couldn’t have. Yikes! I’m also trying to work with the nannies; some of them are more helpful now and will assist the other kids. But I still can’t get one nanny to stop bringing this little insane little toddler who gets in the way of everything. And I don’t have the time to prevent him from eating the marbles or beads we’re using. This same nanny lets her little two year old throw temper tantrums that disrupt the entire class. I’ve had girls come up to me and complain that “my ears hurt teacher! Her crying hurts my ears!” So what do I do? I talk to the nanny, request she please take her girl outside, but of course she doesn’t do anything. One day it got so bad that a mom who was helping me ended up kicking them out and making them go home. It’s hard for me because though I may be in charge of the preschool, I’m only 17 and I don’t like to have to stand up against adults and tell them to please get rid of their bratty child.

But again, today was a nightmare. I had 13 kids, 1 baby, 2 toddlers, one parent, and a couple nannies. The nannies were no help today; they were the ones disrupting story time so badly we had to tell them to please stop talking so the children could focus. During music I was dancing around and leading about 6 kids in the hokey pokey while 2 were fighting and tackling each other, one was trying to escape, 4 were trying to use the toilet at the same time, and another just kept running around in endless circles. What am I supposed to do? If I had stopped dancing with the 6 kids they would have turned around and gone crazy too. My parent helper stayed in the bathroom with the 4 kids, and I had to shout to the nannies to please break up the fight. Right as I thought I was going to lose one child to the patio my friend came in and swooped up the child. Thank goodness! I forced my friends Julie and Kate who had originally just came by to say hi to sit on the floor, grab a child, and paddle together to row row row your boat. My friends had to leave shortly after music time sadly, so I started the craft. We were using popsicle sticks to construct treasure boxes, stars, and whatever they could create that would hold their attention. Everything was sopping in glue, and I had my hands in about 4 construction sites at once. It was chaotic, but it kept them entertained for a while, though I had to pronounce them done before the glue spread to anything else.

Story time was difficult with the nannies chatting, kids running to the bathroom, and of course me pausing for minor interruptions like stopping kids from killing each other and inquiring about Josh’s potty dance. “Josh, do you have to go to the bathroom?” “No teacher.” “Are you sure Josh?” “Yes!” “Then Josh, why are you doing the potty dance?” “ ‘Cuz it’s fun!” “Can you please stop and sit down?” “No.” “Why?” “Because I have to go potty now!!

Before they painted we put each child in an enormous men’s t-shirt and used clothespins to keep it from falling off. They stayed amused until their boxes were done, and out of desperation I grabbed my friend who returned to help me and we began assembling star ornaments as fast as possible so they could have something else to paint and stay busy.

Of course that didn’t last for too long, and after cleaning everything from shoes, to hands, to eyelids they were ready to go outside and play. I started chucking balls, Frisbees, chalk, anything I could find outside to keep them entertained. It took 2 adults, 4 nannies, me and my friend to keep the children on the patio. I chased after several kids on numerous occasions who tried to run home. By 12:05 when the nannies were still sitting on the patio relaxing and watching their kids run wild we started handing out the craft projects and trying to nudge them to leave. I guess they eventually got the hint and finally took everyone home. My parent helper agreed it was the craziest she has ever seen it get. Thank goodness it’s finally the weekend!

Kate and her mom stayed to help me clean up and I went out to lunch with her family. It was nice to pause and relax with friends after a stressful morning. As they were getting ready to take me home her mom mentioned maybe taking us by the Co-op and a purse store upstairs. Of course we couldn’t resist some shopping therapy and we headed off with high hopes. Kate’s mom had recently purchased a knock off Coach purse from this place. In fact, I had been admiring it earlier and had no clue it was fake! It was really beautiful and well made. Who cares if the knock offs don’t last a lifetime? I figure if they are a good price, look nice, are good quality, then why not buy one even if it only lasts a couple years. I’d rather buy lots of fun knock offs than one expensive one that lasts forever.

As we walked through the grocery to go up the escalator to his little shop the vendor saw us and followed us upstairs to open up for us. I was amazed at the vast expanse of purses he had. He had the most unique styles of purses, wallets, baggage, and jewelry. It was fun to look around, and very therapeutic too. I found a Chanel purse that I absolutely loved. It’s black and silver and looks fabulous! The man kept coming and saying “you like? You buy now. No think, just buy.” I inquired to the price and he replied “no think price. No price. We find price.” He finally told me the original price and that “I make special for you!” Luckily I had Kate’s mom there who reminded him of the price she had paid last week and he let me have it for that. It was about equivalent 2 hours of working at the preschool, and I figured after all the stress and chaos it caused me, the least I could do was use some of that money (I save just about all of it)to buy a therapeutic purse. And I love it!

Teacher Molly

Well, how many 17 year olds can say that they started their own preschool? Somehow I think it’s a small number. However, I have my own preschool! Yes, it is stressful and crazy, but also very rewarding and fun.

My job in shipping finished on the 15^th of September, and I started preschool 2 days later. There had been requests and rumors over the past 2 weeks, and the Embassy finally decided to do something. Because of swine flu all of the preschools here have been delayed until the end of November, so there are lots of children that are just sitting at home desperately waiting till it starts up. So, I was the solution to the problem. The day before I started I was shown the room and they basically said just have fun and go for it. I asked around and finally got the key to an office that had some craft supplies and sports equipment. I raided our limited supply of children’s books at home and started a plan.

The first 2 weeks were stressful because I did not have any support. There was a pay proposal, but it wasn’t definite. They wanted to pay me for just the time I spent with the children. Apparently they couldn’t understand how I couldn’t just walk in and have everything magically ready. Every morning I arrived at 9, and had the kids from 10-12, and cleaned up for at least half an hour afterwards. It takes time to precut crafts, imagine games, set up… but it has been difficult communicating this. I was sent in circles talking to people and asking for a budget, better pay; no one wanted to take responsibility for me.

This week things have finally started to settle down with the new AEWA Recreation Director. She has been fighting for me, but they still can’t give me a budget. Also, only starting this Monday was I paid from set up till clean up. That means about half the time I worked earlier I wasn’t paid for.

But oh well! It may be stressful, but I know this will make a good college essay. The kids love it. I have 13 2-5 year olds, 2 toddlers, and 2 babies. The nannies come, but not all of them speak English, and when they bring the babies chaos normally ensues. Every day about 3-4 nannies come with the 2 year olds, and they provide minimal help. I’ve had a parent help me a couple times this week, but other than that it’s just me.

I’m actually amazed at all that we’ve been able to successfully do. Over the weeks we’ve done play dough, story time, music and dance, parachute games, duck duck goose, musical chairs, made tie dye fish, crowns, necklaces, moose masks, drawn and colored outlines of their bodies, colored, painted, done sidewalk chalk, free time with balls and jump ropes outside, tattoos, monster cars, airplanes…

The kids are so cute, I love how much they are able to enjoy it and the parents keep coming up to me with praise. One mom said her kids talk endlessly about me and daily look forward to it. She said they love the fact that I’m young and energetic and can relate somewhat more than an adult. I’m sure the fact that I run around dancing and singing like a fool helps a bit :) But I love my kiddos, and am slowly getting used to being called Teacher or Miss Molly.