Daycare - Stories and Memories from Volunteering with Toddlers and Babies

Working in a daycare, there are certain comedic moments that become part of the daily routine. I am working with the youngest age group in the program (5 months to 2 years old) and sources of entertainment can be short lived. There is one,  however, that without fail brings at least 30 minutes of chaos and excitement. This is fruit time. Everyday around 11am the kids tend to get bored of chasing each other around and the teacher swiftly instructs everyone to sit on the tiny blue chairs and get ready for their fruit. The kids all bring their own food to the daycare each day and included in every lunch box is some sort of fruit. This activity always turns quickly to face painting and squabbles for each other's fruit. There is one little boy Bruno who by the time it is fruit time each day, he is quite ready for a nap. The way fruit time generally goes for him begins with a crying fit for at least 10 minutes about some issue or other with his fruit (the other day it was a slight bruise on the apple) followed by falling asleep directly face first into his plate. 

There is one little girl I see every day whose name is Minerva, but everyone calls Mini. It always makes me laugh hearing how the teacher's voice changes when little Mini isn’t listening – going from “Mini! Mini!” to “MINERVA VEN AQUI!!!”. Another thing Mini has shown me is that one of the biggest dangers of a two year old classroom is long pigtails. Little mini has really long hair and one day the teacher put them into two big pigtails and for some reason it became the biggest temptation for all the other kids. Poor Mini got her pigtails pulled at least three times each hour and would burst into tears anytime someone's hand got close to her head. One kid Salvador just loved to just walk up behind her with no warning and yank them. The other girl Itzaé would pull Minis' hair and then start crying immediately when they told her off and the two girls would sit there together and cry for at least 5 minutes each time. 

Apart from the two year olds there are also three babies that come most days to the daycare, ranging from 5-9 months. One little boy Noah is only 5 months old but has the most hair I have ever seen on a baby and comes to the daycare each day in a different fuzzy onesie – my personal favorite is a soft brown one with bear ears. 

As my classroom has both the babies and toddlers, it is so cute watching the toddlers interact with the babies as they love them so much and always want to “take care” of them. They like to baby talk to them even though they can barely talk themselves, hold their hands, play with them, and squeeze their cheeks and when the babies are crying the little girl Mini goes up to them and tries to shh them. 

Potty training in a classroom with multiple toddlers is not a challenge I would be ready to take on but the teacher is trying anyway. This, however, comes with a very prevalent danger of accidents – one this week that unfortunately ended up on my shoe. The teacher had taken Mini’s diaper off and told her repeatedly that if she needed to pee she had to say “Miss, piss!”. They practiced saying it together a few times (Mini’s tiny voice and little accent saying “piss” was extremely cute) and the teacher gave her her bottle of juice. She waddled over to me and sat on my lap to watch the videos the teacher gave her when after about five minutes, I suddenly felt an unusual warmth on my foot! Apparently, the teacher had not been clear enough that to say “piss” she would have to take the bottle out of her mouth and it seems that when faced with the decision to remove the bottle and talk or continue with her juice, the juice won. Fortunately, my shoe was the only victim (rather than my whole lap) but walking around the rest of the shift with a damp shoe was not the most enjoyable. Unfortunately, Mini’s communication skills did not improve the rest of the day and she peed in every pair of pants she had and the teacher had to resort to tying a jacket around her waist like a skirt. 

Saying goodbye to the kids on my last volunteering extremely hard as I know I will never see them again. I wish I could see how they grow up and keep getting to know them better – they are each so unique and it was so interesting getting to know their little personalities. 

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The girl in the purple sweater is Mini (2.5 years old), the little boy with the huge head of hair, chubby cheeks, and bear suit is Noah (5 months), the boy with the blue bib, overalls, and orange vest is Matthias (9 months), the boy with the bottle and jeans is Bruno (2 years, brother of Matthias), and the girl with the pigtails is Lea.