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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Breaks
loischerry 12:21 PM 01-31-2019
hello all! just a question thats been rolling around in my head a few weeks.

what do you all do with your break time?

i know its very rare that a dcw gets a break and most of that time its during nap times, if at all. long story hopefully short. At the previous daycare i worked at we were all allowed to take 1 30 min break at nap time, not at the same time we'd rotate. they had a separate break room we were allowed to use, we could leave or stay . it really was up to us. well one dcm who had many issues with the daycare showed up at nap time that day, because of the building configuration the break room faced the front of the building. well that day dcm "forgot" her code and started banging on the breakroom window which is where i was that time by myself reading a book and eating my sandwich , i was not allowed to let her in as i wasnt a lead or the director. i told her this through the window and called the director who told me that they would be there soon to deal with her. idk what the issue was as there were many with that family but this dcm ended up taking her frustrations out on me while waiting for the director. she was yelling through the closed window that i was being negligent and irresponsible. i ended up just getting up and left the break room. a few weeks after this incident the center changed their "break policy" & made us stay in the room or do paperwork/coping/art planning during our break. so since then ( its been 2 decades) ive felt guilty & been gun shy and feel very horrible if i "take" a break during nap time. and usually fill my nap time no kid time doing paperwork, planning and cleaning. the question started because a few weeks back id found myself with no actual planning/paperwork to do during nap time, and found myself on facebook instead.
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e.j. 02:00 PM 01-31-2019
If I'm lucky enough to get a break at nap time, I clean up the lunch mess first and then come here (daycare.com) to unwind a little. My computer is located just outside of the room where the kids sleep so I can read new threads while still keeping an eye on the kids as they sleep. I also check out Pinterest, my email messages, respond to parent texts, prepare afternoon snack, complete paperwork, read etc. It all depends on what needs to be done/what I feel like doing.
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Ariana 02:30 PM 01-31-2019
Wow that one mom took the one thing that would make a daycare teacher sane, their small 30 minute break time. That mom is an idiot in purest form. When I worksd in a centre I was unionized so we HAD to take our break and were not allowed to do work.

I get a two hour break during nap. I clean up lunch and then do whatever I want with the rest of the time. I work 10 hour days.
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jenboo 03:22 PM 01-31-2019
Do you clock out for these breaks? I would look into the legalities of it. When I worked in a center we had to clock out and were not allowed to work during that break. The director said it had something to do with labor laws
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Bluemoon5 03:31 PM 01-31-2019
At my center, we work 9 hour days with a one hour unpaid lunch break. We can do whatever we want with that hour. There's no real break room; most people leave. I usually sit in my car. Sometimes if it's been really crazy I'll make copies or get supplies, since it may be the only opportunity to leave the room I have all day. The other hour of nap time is spent in the room, cleaning, organizing, doing paperwork, getting the kids who wake up back down.
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CityGarden 04:19 PM 01-31-2019
Personally when I am on the clock I am 100% with the kids - during nap time I would eat lunch quickly in the same room as the kids but was also lesson planning, prepping work for the next day, cleaning, etc.

At my dd's preschool center teachers were required to clock out and either go completely off site or upstairs to the break room (that was out of sight from parents and the kids).
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storybookending 05:29 PM 01-31-2019
If you are working in a center and they are making you clock out for breaks but also making you work that is illegal. I myself working from home watch Netflix while the kids nap while doing my physical checks every 5 minutes. I rarely do any daycare work during nap.
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springv 05:58 PM 01-31-2019
I usually eat my lunch during nap, prepare snack for the afternoon, letting other teachers get their lunch if needed and get on my phone
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racemom 07:02 PM 01-31-2019
We don't get an official break, but nap time is our time to relax. We stay in the room with the kids, but after cleaning room and toys, planning activities, we are free to do whatever. This is the time of day we are allowed to be on our phones, relax and talk to coworkers. This is also a great time to get supplies, make copies or talk to the director/other staff.
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loischerry 10:08 AM 02-01-2019
Originally Posted by jenboo:
Do you clock out for these breaks? I would look into the legalities of it. When I worked in a center we had to clock out and were not allowed to work during that break. The director said it had something to do with labor laws
both before and after the policy change the answer was no. we were hired for 9 hr shifts and the position touted a paid 30 min break. funny thing is though they used to have all these in services to keep us up to date on all our ceu's and one we covered more than anything else was burn out (which is very very real but i dont need to tell anyone here that) so the policy change never made any sense to me. which leads me to believe it was the dcm who caused this all. leading me back to still feeling guilty about how it all went down leading me then to uneasy about breaks. vicious circles and all that.
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Cat Herder 10:11 AM 02-01-2019
If you must clock out, unpaid, you don't work.

If it's paid, you expect for it to be occasionally interrupted. Not daily. Otherwise, it is called planning time, not break.

If you work for yourself, you do what you want.
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Lil_Diddle 08:09 PM 02-04-2019
I’ve worked in different centers. At one we would get 30 minute planning times daily and those were for just that planning for our classroom. At nap we could do as we pleased as long as we were quiet and stayed in the room and lesson plans were turned in weekly. . This was before smart phones and Facebook so I used that time to read.

At another we were not given breaks, naptime was for working. No phones or books allowed. If you had nothing to do you better find something.

Currently I’m an in home provider. So no breaks, but I work 10 hour days 5 days a week. So from 1-2 I use as my personal time no matter what. I eat lunch, play on my phone, read. Then from 2-2:45 I work on whatever needs done.
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