Originally Posted by thelearningtreetx:
I think my mindset has a LOT to do with the school I worked at last year. We were a NAEYC accredited preschool and while I LOVED it, it was exhausting. We were not allowed to do ANYTHING while the kids were awake besides BE with them. On the floor, all the time. We got in trouble if we sat in a chair while the kids were on the floor. As a matter of fact, there were NO adult chairs in the classroom except the ones locked away for Staff Meetings. If we weren't on the floor, we were sitting at the table with them doing an activity. Basically, the kids had to be engaged in play at all times. We didn't do any sort of paperwork until nap time and we did minimal cleaning (wipe tables and quickly sweep) while our co-teacher would play with the kids.
It was HARD and mentally a challenge when we had assessments, PT conference paperwork, licensing paperwork, lesson plans, weekly and monthly newsletters, potty training and SO MUCH MORE to do besides just playing with them.
We also practiced Conscious Discipline which was time consuming, especially for some children who did not take to it as easily.
I need to get out of that mindset now that I am on my own. I remember vowing that I would NOT run my program like that because of the way I felt, and yet I feel guilty for not being on the floor constantly because it was so ingrained in my head.
I thought FCCERS and ECCERS specifically required you have adult seating AND I heard when they observe you for your score, they have to SEE the adult seating used or it doesn't count. So I would think an NAEYC place with no adult seating used was actually lowering their standards..?