AIBU to consider a career change?
I have been working with children for over a decade. I, like many have in recent years, made the switch from educational settings to private childcare and nannying.
Of course this means I am spending most of the children awake hours with it then making me an active participant in how they are raised as from morning until night, im the adult responsible for showing them how to behave. But it is honestly getting too much.
The past few years the parents I have worked for just have no boundaries for their children. They are working so hard (which I of course do not judge) that they are just giving into everything their children want or enabling bad behaviour. I work so hard modelling good manners, teaching them to be respectful, understand personal boundaries. But when the parents nip in, the children start screaming to them ‘I want this I want that’ and then throw almighty tantrums because they know it works.
After witnessing behaviour today of one of my charges to their parent, who is such a lovely hardworking mum, and the mum just gave in after the child threw things at her, I just think why am I doing this? What’s the point of all the work I’ve put in teaching them please and thank you, to not treat me like a slave by throwing their stuff to me instead of putting it where it belongs, not hitting me because I’ve said no sweets before tea time etc if the parents don’t want to do their part for the last 2 hours before bed time!
Sorry for the long rant, it’s just very much needed today. My current charges used to ask me ‘why do we need to say please all the time’ and now with me they are polite and lovely children. But when I witness how their behaviour changes the second their parents appear and that the parent just allows it, I don’t know why I’m putting in the work