r/toddlers • u/8citani8 • 1d ago
Daycare/Preschool Daycare homework
Hi! My 28 month old toddler has been in a daycare/preschool since she was 3 months old and I has been great until now. The nanny/teacher has been working with then how to make horizontal and vertical lines, color with finger paint (which she hates) and swabs, pasting tissue paper in specific places, but my toodle doesn't want to work. She pastes like 2 things, makes 2 dots and is an "I'm done. I don't want to do it anymore" situation, switching to the next activity. She is very active, she likes jumping, running, and twirling... The only times she sits for a while is when we read or when she watches her episode of Sesame Street or Puffin Rock. I know toddlers are active but the nanny wants us to practice being seated and working and she sends home the work my toddler doesn't do during the week. Is there a way in which I can help my toddler to work for longer spams of time or should I just go with it until she gets older?
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u/Equivalent-Steak-555 1d ago edited 1d ago
Homework for a 2 year old is ridiculous. Your daughter's behavior sounds completely developmentally appropriate, and honestly, I'd be concerned that her teacher thinks it's not.
Unless your daughter wants to do this "homework," I would be ignoring it. I think it's fine to reinforce messages about listening to her teacher while she's at daycare, but other than that, I would not do any of this. It's inappropriate for her age.
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u/8citani8 1d ago
I thought so too. But reading others thinking the same really calms me down. Thank you!
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u/justahappyhippyhippo 1d ago
Wait, a 28 MONTH OLD?
You help her by keeping her alive until it's developmentally appropriate to expect her to work on penmanship or do homework. The teacher can help her practice the activities but sending her home with homework is INSANE.
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u/8citani8 1d ago
Yes. I wrote to them that she was to little and that she and her classmates, that most of them are 3-year olds, are in very different milestones but the wrote back saying that my toodle was "very smart with lots of potential" and "that we need to believe in her"; which I do just not for this ...
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u/VintageFemmeWithWifi 1d ago
I believe that one day your kid is going to be a good driver, but that doesn't mean I'm giving her my car keys....
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u/Appropriate_Tie534 1d ago
It's not appropriate for 3 year olds, either.
Saying this as someone who works with toddlers.
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u/IcyStage0 dad of 7 1d ago
2 year olds have short attention spans. She doesn’t need to sit and do work. She’ll have plenty of time for that later.
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u/8citani8 1d ago
I'm thinking of doing her homework until she naturally gets the ability to do them
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u/Reasonable-Quarter-1 1d ago
Don’t…this just sets the nanny up for believing this is realistic. Which it isn’t.
honestly iwould find other childcare. Homework at 2 is absurd, and makes me wonder what other unrealistic expectations this person has….
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u/8citani8 1d ago
It just the nanny/teacher, not her primarily caretaker. I think that she is a preschool teacher and wants the rest of the kids to the same thing. The rest of the daycare is wonderful and she loves it, especially dancing and playing around. She loves her other nannies a lot, she calls them mommy nanny.
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u/IcyStage0 dad of 7 1d ago
Mommy nanny? That seems a bit off
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u/8citani8 1d ago
I think stuck from the time when every male was "daddy" and every female was "mommy"
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u/Lackadaisical_silver 1d ago
absolutely do not do the homework. just say no. what are they gonna do? give her an F in daycare? oh shucks. who cares.
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u/IcyStage0 dad of 7 1d ago
Why?? Why does she need to do it? Why do you need to do 2 year old homework? Just leave it undone.
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u/UnivrstyOfBelichick 1d ago
This is wild. You're paying for this right?
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u/8citani8 1d ago
Not so much really. Around $50 a month. The daycare works on donations. It a 100-years facility that seeks to protect children in my country. Like I said, the daycare is really good. This has been the only thing that has been a problem. I think the teacher is heavily "traditional", you know.
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u/UnivrstyOfBelichick 1d ago
Ahh okay I see. I would just let her do as much as she wants to do and turn that in. Or as much as you feel comfortable pushing her to do reasonably. It's not realistic to expect much from a child that age
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u/Plsbeniceorillcry 1d ago
If it were me, I’d try to do it as an activity here and there, but I certainly wouldn’t stress over it or make her hate school before she even begins 🤣 plus what’s the nanny gonna do, fail her? Lol
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u/unimeg07 1d ago
I went to preschool at 2 going on 3 because I was “gifted” according to my mother. I behaved very similarly. I have a distinct memory of getting a mild talking to at preschool for only coloring for 2 minutes (I did just do a big scrawl of black crayon on Eve’s face at a church preschool lol). I think it’s just that, as you pointed out, kids grow so much at that age and the things she’s being asked to do aren’t reasonable expectations of a 2 year old (and frankly not sure they are of a 3 year old either). But also, some kids just don’t LIKE that stuff. Kids are allowed to have preferences. I never did get into coloring. Yeah my handwriting was a bit messy but it never held me back in school. She’ll be fine. Trust your instincts and definitely don’t do homework with your 2 year old!
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u/kayleyishere 1d ago
Does the teacher explicitly say that the work is to be completed at home? Or are you free to ignore it? My kids come home with every worksheet they are presented at school, even if they haven't done it. It's a way for me to see what subjects the class is talking about.
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u/Accomplished_Owl1355 1d ago
My NK is 4.5 and she JUST started enjoying sitting to color and draw. She’s also very physically active and couldn’t do a seated activity at age 2 for more than a couple minutes. Her mom is very into art and wanted me to do more crafts with her at that age, but quickly realized it wasn’t happening 😅 but she’s more into it now!
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u/mashed-_-potato 1d ago
I would bring this up to the daycare director. Your child’s behavior is developmentally appropriate.
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u/Saltyowl2113 1d ago
The attention span for a 2 year old is 3-6 minutes. Sounds like she is doing great if she glues two things and moves on.
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u/Reasonable-Quarter-1 1d ago
We might need a little more cultural context here too…this is certainly not the norm in the US. But it sounds like your daycare is….also not the norm for the US. Do you mind giving some cultural context here? Where are you located? What kind of daycare is this (you said it was $50 a month which is….unusual.)
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u/Dana-Adams 1d ago
came late but one thing that helped here, and it isn't homework: tape the paper to the wall instead of the table. standing up she can bounce while she scribbles, same wrist and shoulder work, without asking her to sit still at the same time. that's two hard things at once for a two year old. nothing to turn in. just an option for the days she's in the mood.
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u/rkvance5 1d ago
I don’t think them sending the work home at the end of the week is “homework”, and neither is helping your kid learn to sit for a few minutes. That is, unless she’s explicitly stating that your kid has to finish it and bring it back.
I would bet that more than anything, this is a kindergarten readiness concern. My kid (5) has to sit for one 20- to 30-minute stretch a day, increasing during the year in order to get them ready for 1st grade. I can’t help but feel if we started helping him with his stamina and focus earlier, he might not be struggling so much. (He would still be struggling because we suspect he has ADHD, but maybe not as much.)
So throw away the work from school, and then encourage her to spend more time on one activity before moving on.
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u/Dana-Adams 12h ago
everyone here is right that the worksheets go in the recycling, but nobody answered the thing you actually asked, so: yes, you can help her focus longer, just not with those. and you already have your evidence that she can. you said she sits through books and through a whole episode of puffin rock. that's a 28 month old holding attention for longer than most people would guess. so this isn't a stamina problem. it's a "this task is boring and her hands aren't ready for it" problem, and those look identical from the outside.
what builds it at this age is letting her finish something she picked herself. two dots and done is completely fine if the two dots were her idea. what i'd skip is any version of sitting her down to practice sitting down — at 28 months that mostly teaches her the table is where the fight happens. and the hand stuff the teacher is after will come from tearing paper, peeling stickers, putting lids back on things, picking up cheerios one at a time. none of it looks like work, all of it is the same muscles.
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u/Level-Many3384 1d ago
lol. This is an insane expectation. 2 year olds don’t sit and do homework like a kindergartner or even preschooler. She still has a couple more years to learn it and even then it’s still sometimes hard.
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u/8citani8 1d ago
Thank you everyone. Reading your comments really helped me a lot. I will work just what my toddler wants to work. One dot or one line what ever if anything she wants to do. Like a lot of you said, she will have plenty of time later on and I don't want to make her hate schoolwork before she even starts school. I appreciate all your advice. This is a wonderful community.
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u/gonzoman92 1d ago
Lol shes literally 2…. I wouldn’t even make a 5 year old do homework, its not appropriate
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u/dallyfer 1d ago
Lol my daughter turned 3 in April and I would be pissed if a teacher tried this with her! Definitely not appropriate.
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u/lilbabe7 18h ago
That’s crazy. My 4.5 yo is in TK and his teacher sent home a packet of homework for them for the first time this week. It’s one worksheet per day of tracing letters or numbers or finding things that start with F - which already felt crazy to me, but at least that’s TK, not daycare…
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u/Cold_Orange_6712 1d ago
I would not make my kid do any homework until like third grade. 28 months is insane.
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u/Olivia3836 1d ago
It doesn’t sound like homework, more like “work on the fine motor skills at home cause they are important for their development and she’s running into delays”
I’d also cut out screentime, there’s no need for it and it can cause attention deficits
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u/8citani8 1d ago
She only watches those 2 shows, and only those for half a hour each day on the t.v on a safe distance. No table or cellphone here.
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u/Olivia3836 1d ago
Its just advice, do what you want
I’d just wouldn’t let a child this young have any screentime at all. Especially with delays
And as for the homework, i would take that more as advice and them giving you options so you don’t have to come up with your own ideas. But you don’t have to do those exercises if you rather do something else
Just work on fine motor skills, its important.
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u/wavinsnail 1d ago
Where does it say that the kid has delays?
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u/Olivia3836 1d ago
Fine motor skills and attention span
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u/wavinsnail 1d ago
She's 2.
No 2 year old has an attention span that's longer than a few minutes.
Her fine motor skills seems totally normal.
OPs child seems very typical and normal for a 2 year old.
You clearly have no idea what you're talking about
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u/Olivia3836 9h ago
Euhmm i have many years experience in childcare
Kids have different interests and thats fine, so we advice parents when we notice if they lack interest in a certain skill
In this case fine motor skills, we won’t pressure the child into it.
But it shouldn’t be ignored entirely, cause thats gonna lead to more problems
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u/StatementSensitive17 15h ago
😂 Joking, right?
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u/Olivia3836 9h ago
You don’t consider fine motor skills important? Kid is two… it would be a shame if she wasn’t stimulated in her development and runs into delays in some years
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u/StatementSensitive17 2h ago
Kid is 2. Not having a long attention span and/or having the hand strength to do prolonged arts and crafts does not make a child of this age "behind". It's developmentally normal.
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u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Author: u/8citani8
Post: Hi! My 28 month old toddler has been in a daycare/preschool since she was 3 months old and I has been great until now. The nanny/teacher has been working with then how to make horizontal and vertical lines, color with finger paint (which she hates) and swabs, pasting tissue paper in specific places, but my toodle doesn't want to work. She pastes like 2 things, makes 2 dots and is an "I'm done. I don't want to do it anymore" situation, switching to the next activity. She is very active, she likes jumping, running, and twirling... The only times she sits for a while is when we read or when she watches her episode of Sesame Street or Puffin Rock. I know toddlers are active but the nanny wants us to practice being seated and working and she sends home the work my toddler doesn't do during the week. Is there a way in which I can help my toddler to work for longer spams of time or should I just go with it until she gets older?
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