What causes you stress in this field?

Paperwork and no time out of the classroom to do it. Extreme behavioral needs with no additional classroom support.

Crazy expectations from parents, directors who are the worst, and not making enough money to pay rent

Management. More specifically micromanaging and lack of communication.

Previously: management and co-teachers that were bullies. Currently: I have an incredibly challenging group. It’s constant chaos. I feel like I’m herding feral cats all day. And I have a chronic biter in my class so trying to keep everyone safe, and then having to call both kids parents when something does occur is incredibly stressful.

When I first became lead teacher of my room (I work with infants), I was super stressed and trying to do everything. I would take projects and paperwork home, and never actually left work. Now, 4 years in, I have learned to delegate and rely on my team members more. I now have a strict rule about not bringing work home, and not working on work-related items outside of my 40 hours a week (unless it is a training of course). I have also significantly reduced the amount of fun projects I do for the families. Whenever a child moved up to another classroom, I would buy a small photo album with my own money, then print out all of their pictures to give to their parents. This took forever! I would also make them a graduation certificate. I never had time to do this during the day on top of all of my other responsibilities, so I ended up staying late a lot. Ditto with fun crafts to celebrate random holidays. The only crafts we do for holidays are for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Winter holidays. That being said, I still have stressful moments, like when we have multiple new children starting at once. I know that it is hard, but I think that a lot of us teachers need to stop pouring absolutely everything into our professions. There has to be some room for other things in our lives. I’m glad that you are enjoying your job! God bless!

For me the stress comes from being paid so little. I am worried about money all of the time, and can never pay my bills on time. I don't spend my money on anything exceptional but the minimum cost of living is 500 more a month than what I make.

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-Finding out that pretty much all the teachers are doing something that was never discussed in a meeting, no one wants to be the only teacher not doing something fun or cool. St. Patrick's Day was on a Saturday this year. Being new, and not having it brought up in meeting I figured this place doesn't make such a big deal out of it. I find out at the last minute that the school does get festive for St. Patrick's day. So then my time after work is spent running around to a bunch of different stores to get St. Patrick stuff. Even though it's only 3 days until St. Patty's Day most store have already moved on Easter. So I had to go to 3 different stores. By the way while I am going to all these stores I find out my 96 year old grandma is in the hospital, plus I'm suppose to spend time doing my college classes. This happened for the last day of summer camp too. Everyone but me and this other teacher planned a pizza party. So then like a few days before the last day we had to ask parents to bring in food.

Management is a big source of stress for me. I feel I don’t get the support I need in terms of time to do paperwork (lesson plans, assessments, and a newsletter are all required monthly) outside of the classroom.

My schedule is a source of stress too. We don’t get the next week’s schedule until around 5pm on Friday. Our schedule also only says when we have to be in and doesn’t let us know when our shift ends.

Pay is probably the biggest stressor though. Even though I love working with kids and I’m passionate about ECE, I’m looking for a career change because I just can’t afford to do this long term.

Trying to do the best I can for each child. Feeling like I'm not doing enough.

I’ve started a new job recently at a center and I just constantly feel like I’m not good enough. I cry all the time. I love the kids so much and I have a good connection with most all of them. This week my lead teacher is on vacation so I’m basically in charge and I’ve been having the worst anxiety. But I know I’m doing my best and that’s all I can do.

My director does her job based on her own emotions and opinions. Her management skills are so poor it trickles down and makes the rest of the job almost unbearable at this point. Also my current group of kids are all very chaotic and have trouble listening.

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At my former site, I found the physical building to be a constant source of stress. We had built in shelving everywhere, which was not ideal for storage and eliminated all child-height wall space in some centers. This includes our cubbies, which didnt have room for coats, bags, or boots. Those all got stored in the hall on hooks. It made getting ready to go out a more frustrating task than it needed to be. The biggest stressor was the half wall between our room and the rooms next door. The 3s room and indoor playroom were on the other side. It got very loud at times. Toddlers were playing next door during morning meeting. Sometimes the 3s class had music on too. Then we ended nap an hour before the 3s room. So I'd come back from my break and spend the next hour keeping my kids quiet so the 3s could sleep. I'm really glad I'm not there anymore.