Dear Right Advice,
-BlahBlahBlah- I just started working in a daycare -BlahBlahBlah- my boss says my tone of voice is too harsh. But the women I work with grab the children by arms or legs and move them around like rag dolls. -BlahBlahBlah- If I say something to the boss she may not believe me and I'll risk my job. If I say nothing I'm still at risk of losing the job because I'm too harsh. What should I do? -BlahBlahBlah-
Sincerely,
-BlahBlahBlah-
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You're working in a place where no one wants to be. The employees hate it, the kids hate it, and now you're up in there making all sorts of ugly sounds. Does this illuminate why your boss might be complaining?
Grab the shit out of those kids, just as long as nobody's day gets any worse.
Here's a typical day for one of your daycare kids:
No piano lessons
No bike riding
No play dates
Just sugar for breakfast, then several hours at underfunded institutions (where everything is sticky) followed by a microwaved dinner leading to the day's crescendo which is staring into a glowing box until bedtime.
The quality of life for pre-latchkey children is pretty much shit.
You think verbally reinforcing these kids (as hard as you can) puts you above the other burnouts who merely corral these kids so to not get fired?
You know what's happening while you're trying to micro manage children? The other ladies are assing it at craft tables, talking shit. There's not a lot of room in that place for an idealist.
Your stupid Harsh-Tone approach is a major waste of air; especially in an environment where the bar has been risen to almost jerking a kid's arm out of the socket.
Though physically accosting a kid might seem unnecessarily bold (and reckless), one can do it while maintaining the facade that they still have their shit together. The inherent flaw with using a harsh tone is that it compromises (in front of the whole room) a major constituent of leadership; leaders don't lose their cool.
My advice to you: Until someone actually instructs you to jerk a kid by his arm, keep your mouth shut and resign to just cleaning up after the kids.
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