To not enjoy working in nurseries

[Pekoe78]

I’m currently wrestling with a problem in my working life. For financial reasons I’ve had to take on bank work for a couple of local nurseries. I’m qualified in early years so it seemed a sensible way of getting some much needed extra income. Obviously my personal job choices are my own responsibility so I’m not asking for personal job advice, I’m just asking if anyone else has tried working in nurseries and not really enjoyed it? I feel like I should like it as much as I loved working in a preschool but I find myself dreading the days I have to do bank work.

I find with both nurseries the staff don’t seem to particularly enjoy being with children. I see very little children (two) being told off for not painting correctly, for getting a puzzle out that hadn’t been laid out previously, for being too noisy, for not being able to immediately sit down to eat. I’ve even seen a baby being told off for dropping their sippy cup. It all just seems so oppressive and a bit joyless and the expectations of very small children quite unrealistic. The staff can be quite moody and abrupt and obsessive about rules and regulations to unnecessary levels. I know I’m sometimes not the most “on the ball” person, lack confidence and probably deserve to be snapped at now and then (as I have been) but at least I try to enjoy the job and try and make the children’s experience enjoyable. I find the days there very long and I’m on edge, afraid of putting a foot wrong. I never felt that at my old preschool.

I don’t know if it’s just me not gelling with a different approach or whether others have found nurseries quite challenging places to work?

This is a very eye-opening thread!

Sorry I didn’t mean to worry anyone, the children are well looked after, fed and stimulated, I think that because you have a minimal number of adults looking after a large number of children it becomes more about control rather than playing and enjoying the children’s company.

Part of the problem is the commercialization of childcare and the need to make a profit, leading to poor pay and conditions for childcare workers.

Absolutely. 30 years in childcare, many as bank. Standards have slipped.

The same with nurseries themselves. Spaces are so limited that shit nurseries can still fill their spaces.

Ideally you want enough staff about that the crap ones can't get work, and enough nurseries that the shit ones can't get children.

Also, level 3 qualification (NNEB) took 2 years in college and placements. I work with somebody who just got a level 3 in 6 months while working full time. And now the ratios are raising, and ""free"" places are funded for less that it takes to provide them.

Hope nobody wants any good news.

I absolutely hated it. Not the working with children aspect, but being micromanaged. I was also a former teacher, and using it as a sort of stopgap while I figured out what I wanted to do after teaching. I'd worked with children for so long that I forgot I had other skills.

It’s hard work looking after little children and we all get things wrong, I could certainly do with being more hyper vigilant sometimes but I think the priority should be giving the children a nice time and you can’t expect very little ones to have perfect self control all the time.

I used to work for a supply agency that would send me to help out at schools and nurseries. I didn’t really enjoy the nurseries either. I loved the children but in a lot of nurseries I found the staff very cold and judgemental, to the children and to me as a new staff member. I found that they usually expected me to know everything when I hadn’t worked there before and had no patience to explain anything to me. I once went to work at a nursery while I was pregnant (they knew this) and they made me get out all the children’s fold out beds which were big and heavy out for nap time with no help. They then complained that I didn’t know the routines of the day and hadn’t spoken to the other staff members enough. Nobody had told me the routines and I spent all day looking after and playing with the children so probably didn’t talk to the staff much, nobody had talked to me either. This was an extreme example but I received similar treatment working in several other nurseries. Never again.

I occasionally got sent to nurseries as a supply TA. Hated it. Noisy, sticky, very needy kids (not their fault as v young) and every 5 minutes changing activities and endless toilets and hand washing visits. Sometimes the staff were hard work as they made me wince with bad grammar being modelled to the children and incorrect ideas about science, maths etc in circle times .

This is a good point.

I don't want parents to be worried, reading this thread. Nurseries do vary enormously.

For some comfort - DS’s nursery (called a preschool but I’m pretty sure it’s the same thing) is now lovely. He loves it so much in fact that as Christmas this year fell on a Monday, once the pressies were opened he was quite disappointed not to be going! 😂

He’s ASD and not always the easiest but the way they talk about him and notice his individual passions and triggers shows how much he is loved and cared for by them. They lost a lot of staff so their leadership team went back into the rooms which to me showed that they were putting the daily experiences of the children before budget, PR and all the other bullshit stuff that leaders often concentrate on.

Great nurseries are out there. I think you just have to go with your gut and if it feels wrong, find one that feels right. ❤️

I was a nursery nurse for around ten years .Worked in a variety of settings but the worst was a private day nursey. If you want to know how good your nursery is ask how long the staff have been there High staff turnover is what you should be worried about . Some of the staff I worked with genuinely loved the children and had very close bonds with them .myself included .Mainly I think the hours are too long for the children and staff . I often ponder the damage done to these very young children when you get a not so professional care giver . I think it really can have a lot of negative impact on their mental health.
I also worked at a private school which had a preschool . Very well run .The nursery manager had a degree and was very professional. The children were pushed academically but it was what the parents wanted.
when I had my son I took him to the local preschool in a church hall and I got a job there not long after too. It was just what they needed for their age and it was just mornings so perfect for part time workers or SAHM’s . Such a contrast to the stressful environment of the privately run day nursery. My son settled in there easily as he had attended the toddler group they ran to make their settling in easier.

I've worked in many different nurseries, and out of all them, there were 2 that I hated working at. I felt like everyone was walking on eggshells around the manager. However, I have worked in some lively nurseries. Some people should not be employed working with children as they clearly do not enjoy the work, yet I've worked with many people who adored their job. As did I for a long time. May be it's just the nursery you're at? Can you look at working elsewhere?

I agree. DD2 started in baby room a year ago and all the staff bar one are the same as when DD1 started there 3 years before. I hardly ever see a staff member I don't recognise (I can't remember the last time I did) so I don't think they have much need for bank staff. I definitely see this as a big positive, not just in terms of continuity for DD but in terms of being a good sign that it's a nice place to work.

Sorry to hear. I've wasted a childcare qualification 20 years ago I wished I'd never done. I didn't find a good nursery to work in then. I've tried to get back into it last year and I don't fit, in my 50s I was also the oldest. My observations weren't good enough a few months ago. This has taught me that a nursery will never be the place for me to work in. Schools are much nicer but incredibly difficult to secure. I just wished there were plenty of supermarket jobs nearby.

All of this provides further evidence to me that my instincts were indeed correct when deciding whether to return to work or put my babies in a nursery. I gave up my career and stayed at home to look after my babies until they started school at the age of 5. I went without holidays, nice clothes and material things and I don’t regret one minute of it. I got a whiff of all discussed above when I went to view 5 private nurseries and hated the idea of my children being in that environment. That was 18 years ago and looks like things still haven’t improved!

I used to be a primary school teacher (now in early years) and did supply work for an agency for a bit. Found it very similar to you, and probably for the same reasons: the naice little village schools had their own lists of friendly supply teachers (so I never ended up there). The hard work inner city schools didn't, and had to rely on the agency. I wonder if it would be similar for you?
My setting is teeny tiny and very different from one of those nursery chains, so we're in a situation more like the village primary school - we wouldn't need to use agency bank staff, because we've got our own list of people we'd call on.
I guess that means maybe it's worth calling round all the preschools, to see if they have any bank staff vacancies?? But probably you've already done that. Good luck OP, sounds tough.

The decent chains don’t need agency as they retain their staff. Any nursery that relies on agency staff to function has bigger issues. I’m not talking about last minute emergency situations, but settings that regularly engage any old agency staff member so they can open in ratio. The agency staff that I have encountered have cost a fortune and don’t do much more than make up numbers unfortunately!

It wasn't my experience at all when viewing nurseries for mine. Mine go to an excellent nursery with low staff turnover.

Mine are thriving at nursery and I'm glad that I didn't have to give up my career.

They very much vary, I work in a great one but it's expensive. We have plenty of staff, only very rarely use agencies. I personally wouldn't want to send my child to nurseries full time for long hours after working there though unless I had absolutely no choice. My child did part time so had a balance, in the younger years they really do thrive off of 1:1 care at home

absolute WORST most LOATHESOME SOUL DESTROYING DESPICABLE job i've had BY FAR...

i was jumping for joy when i finally left...oh happy days...oh blessed merciful relief.

cleaning men's toilets in a well known fast food restaurant AND in a warehouse didnt even come close...

absolute WORST most LOATHESOME SOUL DESTROYING DESPICABLE job i've had BY FAR...

i was jumping for joy when i finally left...oh happy days...oh blessed merciful relief.

cleaning men's toilets in a well known fast food restaurant AND in a warehouse didnt even come close...

Please tell us why! This is really sad :(

What’s your reason? Do you think they get leas attention?

Oh god what did they do to the kids or were they just. Bit negative?

@Newsenmum It’s a personal choice and I’m only talking about full time here, I think part time nursery in a good nursery can be great for children 😀 But yes, the under 2s who are in for full time, long days do miss out on that 1:1 attention that they thrive off, at the end of the day they have to fit in to the routine (just little things). If you have to send your baby full time then you have to and they will be absolutely fine. But if mothers had a financial choice to go part time I do think at a young age the child benefits (assuming a stable home life of course).