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So I am new here, and I joined because I am also pretty new to working in daycare as well. I worked in childcare for 8 years at a family resource centre, but because it was drop-in, we didn't follow a strict schedule and we definitely didn't have nap-time. Well, here I am, in a daycare centre, and it's WAY different. We follow a pretty rigid schedule. I am only working part time because I am in uni studying ECE. I get there right when my group of 8 children are supposed to be waking up from nap time. But I don't have all the same children every afternoon. It always seems to change, and some children have a REALLY HARD TIME waking up. I almost never get my group outside on time, and one of the other teachers is pretty frustrated with me. I start by opening the blinds and turning on the lights, and then I put on some lively children's music and start waking up each child, but some of them are sleeping so deeply and it's hard to get each child awake, shoes on, pillows and blankets in their bins, mats out in the hall, take them to go pee, and get out the door to play outside. I hate forcing children to wake up, but I have no choice, because one teacher wipes all the mats and others start their van runs to pick up the school-age children from school, so there isn't anyone who can stay with the children who are still sleeping. So I'm wondering what I am doing wrong and if anyone has any tips for waking up sleeping children? Thanks!
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Maybe the other members will chime in tomorrow. You said that the group is never the same but my thought would be trying to first start to awaken those that have a hard time getting up. If they are the same ones that are in deep, try stirring them earlier than the others. -
Yeah, I'll have to try that. It's been extra hard this week because the school age children had spring break for 2 weeks so all the kids were on a different schedule, and now we're back into the regular schedule, so I think the pre-k's might be having some trouble adjusting to the (new) regular schedule. I feel like I should be able to do this on my own, because all the staff, aside from the manager, have their own group of children they are responsible for, so it doesn't really work for anyone to help me out with my kids because then they would be over the ratio. Today all of them had a hard time waking up. Some of them get there after quiet time has started, so their nap ends up being shorter than other kids. It just seems so cruel to wake children up because there is a schedule to follow. If it were my own centre and I could do it my way, I would allow children to wake up naturally, unless they really were sleeping too long. At the drop-in family resource centre where I worked for 8 years, if children were tired we took them out to their parents, so we never really had to deal with waking up children.Comment
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I'm wondering if there is some other way to not wake them up. It sounds like you have to get your group outside. Why outside? Someone is cleaning the mats in your room, but why must they do all the mats right then? Is there someone outside with other kids? So you can send yours out one at a time as they wake? Or can you have your kids that woke up already, stay inside and you watch them as the others wake- don't make them stay quiet and probably they would end up waking the others a bit? Maybe with more details, we can figure out a different way. Do they have afternoon snacks as they wake? Can they do that in there while you are all waiting for the whole group to wake?...Comment
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Thanks for your reply. Everything is on a tight schedule. The centre opens at 6:00 am, and the staff person who wipes down the mats is finished her shift once the mats are wiped down. Each of us has our own group of 8 children, and we rotate through all the rooms and take turns outside. If I stay in with the kids who are still sleeping, there is no one else to take the other kids outside, and if they joined another group, that teacher would have way more kids than is legal. My group has snack when we come back inside, and there are only 2 rooms where the kids can have snack, so we have to rotate all the groups through each room. The room where they nap is not set up for eating. There is no table and the floor is carpeted, and, I can't send some children to a different room to join another group to eat snack because that teacher would be over ratio. The space we have is not ideal. It is in a church with small Sunday School rooms, and the playground is not visible from those rooms. And the Sunday School rooms are upstairs, so I can't just send one child at a time outside. We also have to negotiate the parking lot before we get to the fenced in playground.
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I think I would start waking them a little earlier, so they're not so rushed, but not immediately flip on the lights. Open the blinds, start making a little noise....give them time to adjust. Like Michael said, start with the deep sleepers first.Comment
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If they are ALL this hard to wake, can you speak to whoever has them in the morning and ask that they do down for rest time a little earlier?
I hate the rigid schedules and go by my littles cues. Some days we have early lunch/rest and other days we are later, or if everyone wakes up early we wake up and get going, if everyone is still sleeping we get more rest.Comment
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How long do you generally allow for children to wake up?Comment
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I usually try to have a window of 20 min. or so. I change diapers/potty break the ones already up and I wait until toddlers are standing to get them out. I would not blare music or be overly hyped, I understand the rush to get going but it's not working now and could be making for a bad wake up experience for the kids. I would also wake up earlier, especially if you have a schedule and they're taking a while to wake up. When I worked with getting kids up I would rub there back and say gently their name to coax them awake, then I'd give them a few to get their bearings, to sit up and not be so bleary eyed.Comment
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I've tried gently waking each one up, but the staff person who wipes the mats gets annoyed with me when I do that. And several kids simply won't wake up until someone has them sit up. One little boy is only there every other week, because the week he lives with his dad he doesn't come to daycare. He always cries so hard when he wakes up, because he seems wake up expecting to be at home. I can't even have the children who are awake first go to the bathroom while waking up the other children, because the bathroom is down the hall, and obviously I can't send them unsupervised to the bathroom. There just doesn't seem to be time to gently wake up each child. I have half an hour to get them all awake, have them each put away their pillows and blankets, go down the hall to the bathroom, get jackets on and go outside. Heaven help me when I have to start applying sunscreen before going outside. The other staff seem to be able to do it, and I feel like there is something wrong with me because I don't know how to manage this. This isn't something that has been covered in any of my classes so far. I am great at planning sensory activities and open ended art activities and engaging children in conversation and making each child feel special. But waking them up from nap time, not so much.Comment
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To be honest, if your coworker is that unhelpful, I would insist she help. That's what being coworkers is about. I honestly would be none to pleased and be very open in doing things 'my' way and if she doesn't like it, too bad. Then she can grumble and wait, I'm surprised she doesn't try to help you, I'm sure there is nothing barring her from doing so, like wiping up mats is her only responsibility in the place. I've had coworkers like this, they ****!Comment
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She is in a hurry to wipe the mats because her shift is over half-an-hour after I get there. She said yesterday that she's going to show me a "tip" for getting the children up and moving, but I'm not at all sure how that's going to go. I am dreading going to work this afternoon, and I have to leave in 45 minutes.Comment
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Yeah, they don't teach you this in classes. This is really where the director and staff have to plan and solve problems together. Having 8 children to yourself in a center doesn't work. You have to be a team because you cannot send one to a bathroom alone and have one eating snack and 6 half asleep and the 'wiper' standing around waiting to wipe
. We really need tons of details here to help solve the problem. But j stead, solve it with those people that have all the details and the power to change things! The director and staff. Is here a sink your room? If so, they should be able to wake, wash hands, and eat snack (snack can be served on a kids table that seats 2-4, on a small plastic mat). The 'wiper lady' should be in the hall watching them go in to the bathroom (and they could wash hands there before snack if no sink in the room). There is no good reason to be forcing those kids to get up when they aren't ready. Timing can be changed, staff can be moved, mats can be wiped later that day, outside time can be done later, naps can start earlier. The whole plan needs to be revisited... Good luck today with wiper lady's tip!
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