To be in tears thinking about going back to nursery work?

[Stressful00]

I actually feel like I could cry at the thought of working in a nursery yet again next year. Reasons being-
The pay is laughable no matter how qualified or experienced you are.
The constant sniping and bitching from staff.
The long shifts which often make me feel physically ill by the end as it is such a physically demanding role.
Ungrateful parents.
Been unwell most of last year due to various bugs picked up from the kids.
The excessive cleaning up.
Constant nappy changes and again, getting sick if the child has an upset stomach through doing that and the parent not informing us.
Other staff members not pulling their weight.
Many, many more.
I used to be a nanny but the job market is pretty poor right now with the increase of WFH parents and the fact I don't drive and live in an area where not many roles come up. I can't be a childminder due to living circumstances and feel pretty stuck. Sorry for the woe is me post...

Could you re-skill as a Learning Support Assistant and apply to schools instead? Similar ball game to nursery work but less germs (especially with older DC) and shorter hours, term time only too.

Could you learn to drive and go back into nannying?

Look at being a TA, SEND specialism especially. Pay may be slightly more or certainly equal per hour, hours are more social and generally there is less cliques and bitchiness.
Have you looked on the NHS website? Sometimes jobs come up such as perinatal early years practitioner or play worker. Also you could go into early help or portage? Just a thought. Could you go self employed and set up your own baby and toddler classes?

Have you thought about looking to move to a hospital setting instead of a nursery
our local hospital has nursery nurses on the neonatal ward, the maternity unit, the childrens ward, with the community midwives, the health visiting team, the perinatal mental health teams and the perinatal inpatient psychiatric mother and baby unit.
most of the nursery nurses start by doing bank administrative/health care assistant/porter work on the wards, make themselves known to the team, then pick up bank weekend/evening work as a NN and then wait to Apply for permanent posts

Find another nursery job or use your skills to get a job in a school. Or retrain?
I used to work in a team inspecting private nurseries and I felt a lot of them were awful. Bad pay and conditions plus incredibly hard work.
You have a lot of skills. Don’t feel you have to stay there. You could also nanny or do something completely different.

Is there any way you could afford to retrain? Have a look at NHS careers maybe speech therapist? Occupational Therapist?

Or as pp said look into TA jobs.

Open uni while you work ? Then become a teacher or youth worker. It’s a long career to stay in nursery childcare

I do the same job and feel much the same, it's only because I work in a good team that I keep going some times! I hate how dismissed our sector is for the level of professional training we do. At the moment I am personally struggling with just the sheer number of SEND children that are in our setting, many of them could really do with one to one care due to their needs and behaviour but the funding for this only really starts once they reach school age. My setting does wrap around care and I don't think I'm cut out for working in a school. I'd quite like to be an early years advisor and go to difference settings who need support but otherwise I'm pretty much exhausted with the level of care some of the children need right now. When I started there was definitely far fewer children with autism, speech and language issues and behavioural issues to care for so you could do different activities and more trips out than is possible now.

You've put yourself in a bad situation, you live in an area where to nanny you need to drive but you don't, you don't have the home circumstances to child mind, you seem to have worked at a horrendous nursery. DM worked in and then ran a nursery attached to a college for nearly 25 years, and other than the occasional irritating parent I don't recognise a lot of what you're saying. She's got a super human immune system even now, from the low level germ exposure, and I find it odd you complain about clearing up and changing nappies what did you think childcare for children of that age would be? You need to retrain and do something else as it really doesn't sound like the career for you. No judgement it wouldn't have been for me either, but that's why I didn't go down that route.
I do something a lot of people wouldn't/couldn't can't stomach, but I knew what I was getting myself into.

Agree that schools are crying out for TAs at the moment and you might find that more enjoyable. I couldn't work with toddlers all day.

Driving seems like it would be an investment in your future. Can you afford a couple of lessons per month and get your theory test done?

The trouble with being a TA is even if the hourly rate is more it's never more than a part time job so it'll be a big pay cut.

Sounds shitty OP

I just wanted to say that I hold my child's nursery workers in high regard and very much appreciate them. They are all extremely professional and work really hard to help my daughters development. She loves each and every one of them.

I really wish that early years workers were paid at a level which recognises the fact that they are qualified professionals and work really hard to ensure that our little ones are so well cared for.

Ex Nursery Manager here. I get it op. I would not step foot to work in a Day Nursery ever again.

You do not have to stay there and there are plenty of options:

• You can become a TA as pp have said
• Hospital role perhaps? Play therapist or a Maternity Assistant? Have a look on the NHS website.
• You can go into becoming a childcare Assessor working for a Training Company delivering childcare apprenticeships. You clearly have the vocational experience but would need to gain your Assessor certification and adult teaching status.

However , saying that I think the lack of driving skills is a problem and I would focus on learning to drive as you can then really broaden your horizons.

Good luck.