A Few Questions

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

Hey, let us know how your first day went when you get off today!
I'm kind of put off by why an assistant should get stuck with all the diapers? I thought an assistant was supposed to "assist" not just get the dirty jobs the lead teacher doesn't want haha. I should have taken advantage of that! When I had an assistant at a church daycare I used to work out, we'd just take turns with the diaper changes. Whoever noticed, or whoever had a second to do it. Obviously if I was busy with an art project and the assistant was just doing some clean up, they'd do diaper duty, but other times I'd just be playing with one of the toddlers while the assistant was up to her elbows, so I'd take the little one for their diaper change.

Hope you had a great first day OP!

[crazydaycarelady]

I have not had time to read all of the responses but as someone who has an assistant I would offer this:

Please don't check your phone incessantly (like every 2 minutes.)

Jump in and help, don't wait to be told or asked every task, especially tasks that take place every single day.

If nothing is going on, engage this kids in a game, read a book, etc. Don't just sit there.

Good luck - you'll do great!

[Pineapple]

Hey, let us know how your first day went when you get off today!
I'm kind of put off by why an assistant should get stuck with all the diapers? I thought an assistant was supposed to "assist" not just get the dirty jobs the lead teacher doesn't want haha. I should have taken advantage of that! When I had an assistant at a church daycare I used to work out, we'd just take turns with the diaper changes. Whoever noticed, or whoever had a second to do it. Obviously if I was busy with an art project and the assistant was just doing some clean up, they'd do diaper duty, but other times I'd just be playing with one of the toddlers while the assistant was up to her elbows, so I'd take the little one for their diaper change.

Hope you had a great first day OP!

Thanks. I did! It was fun. Exhausting too though. I will sleep well tonight! :: And I think I did well for my first day, and the teacher likes the "About Me" pamphlet idea as well, so I'm going to make something like that soon.

And I think our diaper-changing procedure is similar to your church daycare's. The teacher helped change some of them, but I definitely changed most of them. The way I had it explained to me is that "diaper changes are one of the primary responsibilities of the assistant." I figured that was the way most daycares do it, but maybe not? By the way, I tried keeping track of how many diapers I changed, just to be able to answer my own question, but I lost count at some point. Suffice it to say, I changed more than enough. ::::