I volunteer at the daycare center at my church. How can I get my assistant to stop putting toddlers in danger?
My assistant and I look after 4 toddlers every evening. They are 13 months, 15 months, 19 months, and one is 2 years old.
I’m just going to come out and say it, my assistant is an IDIOT. She doesn’t know I thing about toddlers and does potentially dangerous activities with them that aren’t age appropriate. She’s a know-it-all and refuses to listen to me when I tell her she’s making a mistake or doing something that could cause harm.
She even takes them outside to play in the parking lot and they run around all over the place and skin their knees. Yesterday, one of the little girls was almost ran over by a vehicle when she was chasing after a softball.
By the time they come back inside from playing, they are usually covered in mud, sweaty, and have scrapes and cuts all over their little legs were they have fallen on the pavement.
They do GREAT when they are in the nursery playing with toys, but my stupid assistant wants to take them outside all of the time.
OH, I forgot to tell you about the time she gave one of them hard candy. Fortunately, I knew how to perform the heimlich maneuver or else he may have died that day.
How can I get through to my assistant that she doesn’t know what she’s doing?
I’m 17, my assistant is 23.
I used to be the only person their who would volunteer. One day she offered to help so I thought "Hey, why not".
Little did I know how bad she was going to be at it.
Talk to the toddlers parents and see if they can explain it to her. Sometimes if it comes from a parent it will cause her to change.
April 13th, 2010 at 8:58 am
I am a Mentor Teacher at a Early Head Start program and the quickest way to get someone to realize the danger that they are potentially putting children in is to a) if the offense is serious turn them into DHS b) do a center wide training session c) warn her and tell her if you see the behavior again you will write her up and then write her up if the behavior persists.
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April 13th, 2010 at 9:22 am
You fire her, I know it’s a church, but you have documented all the examples of what is wrong and she’s not listening to you, the boss, so she needs to go.
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April 13th, 2010 at 9:31 am
If she is endangering lives you need to tell whoever is in charge and have her replaced. It is not fair to the kids to be put in danger.
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April 13th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Wow!!! she’s the assistant don’t you have the higher authority over her
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April 13th, 2010 at 10:30 am
You need to go discuss her behavior with YOUR boss. Let them know what’s going on, and that you feel that she puts the kids in danger. This isn’t about being a tattle, these are children’s lives we’re discussing here. The boss can take care of her, and that takes you out of the loop of responsibility if they get hurt (at least on paper). Of course, as long as the behavior continues and you’re around, you’ll have to make sure you do what you can to ensure the children’s safety…but if (God forbid) something were to happen, it would be known that you had taken the proper measures to report the things that may have been the cause. Good luck.
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April 13th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Talk to the toddlers parents and see if they can explain it to her. Sometimes if it comes from a parent it will cause her to change.
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Mommy
April 13th, 2010 at 11:50 am
What do the parents think? You’d think they might have something to say about it, no?
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April 13th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
if you cant get rid of her on your own just tell the kids parents what shes doing, im sure they will give her a boost out the door.
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