Aussie Childcare Network Forum

Hi everyone. I was hoping for some advice. Every Thursday I dread coming into work because I work in a 1-2 and a half room and we have 18 children, we have the correct number of staff but it is just so mentally exhausting I go home and nap for two hours most thursdays although I regulary exercise, sleep well and eat healthy. Our second busiest day of the week we have 16 even that day is not as bad. l just don't agree with large numbers unless the children are older as the staff and children get overwhelmed. I assume it is normal for big centres to have large numbers, our room can actually hold 28 and our centre would let there be 28 children in the room if they could, not thinking about the demand on staff. We are in talks about using the dividers in the room so it breaks up the number of overwhelmed children. Hopefully it works. My question is how do other workers deal with their mental exhaustion ?

Hi kjp,
I'm can't reply to your situation as I'm in FDC having its own issues.
But I feel for you cause at the moment I have 2 out of the 4 little ones in my group being 2 years old and they are exhausting at the end of my day I can't even imagine how you feel.
Hope someone has some advice for you
Linsaa fdc

At Goodstart they have 2 separate rooms for the children 0-2. They eat, sleep and play in these rooms and play together outside. It makes things so much easier when there are only 9 babies as opposed to 18 in one big room.

I worked in a 32 place 0-2 nursery. We had 2 yards and the inside area was a converted house so it was rather large. It was crazy so I understand where you are coming from. We used a free play open door program most of the day. There were a lot of group times. There was mainly one or two people who looked after bottles and cot sleeps. It definitely wasn't ideal.
They had divided it at one point (when I was working in another room) but management decided to open it back up because they felt the staff from both sides didn't support each other appropriately. Also the children were used to being able to go wherever they wished and got upset about having borders.
Teamwork in that kind of environment is really important. You need to support each other as much as possible to ensure everyone is able to keep their cool and no one is over worked. Work out each other's strengths and go from there. Make sure everyone is being positive with each other.

P.S some good treasure bags/boxes can work wonders.

I think as edcuators working in childcare we probably face one of the most stressful, tedious, exhausting and physical jobs. Looking after children is not easy and some days can be worse than others. Working for big centres, having big rooms, having more children within the room is probably beneficial for the centre numbers but for the educators working in the room, it gets a little overwhelming.

In the room maybe you can create "groups" within the room. So, with 18 children you should have about 5 staff. The 5 of you should be divided into 2 groups of 8 and then 1 staff for 2 babies. During indoor/outdorr play then the groups can all come together but for group time, nappy changing, feeding and sleep the educators should stick with their group of children and be responsible for the kids within their group this can also include observations and programming.

In regards to mental exhaustion it;s tough. AS soon as you walk outside those doors to go home you dont need to worry about the centre until you start work the next day. What ever happend during the day, whatever crap you went thriugh, try and forget about it and go home and try and relax. Probably get yourself into a hobby or take a fitness class you could go to after work... Before I had my little one my after work release was my playstation! So, you just have to find what works for you...

Hope you can find something that helps your stress!

,
Lorina

Thank you to everyone that commented, one of the great things about this industry is that we all support each other. Eeca, I do not think I could ever work in a 32 place nursery, the most children I have worked with has been 24 and they were older children. I couldn't imagine what it would be like with 14 extra children on our busy day. I love the quiet days where I get to interact with the children in a meaningful way rather than on the busier days where it is just about getting through the day. We have decided (as people have suggested) to divide the children in half, the more active children will be on one side of the divider closer to the outdoor area and the more sensitive children will be on the other side. We will have two staff on both sides and the fifth staff member will go between both rooms. You are right Lorina, I should find a release after a busy day to keep myself awake. I actually love to exercise, I do it 3-5 times a week, so when I am tired, I may have already worked out 3 times that week so I will use it as a rest day. I also like to study and I study a course, it is also easy to say I am too tired to study I can't think, I will just sleep. Exercise and studying are my main hobbies so I might have to try something different like computer games, reading, cooking or even a shower might work instead. I could probably try harder to keep myself awake when I am exhausted, then I wouldn't be so frustrated that work has just occupied too much of my day. Thank you everyone.