MissDaniel

Off the top of my head:

• Just because you want it doesn't mean you can hit someone over the head and take it.
• Sometimes you just need a cuddle.
• The best time to be nice is when you get absolutely nothing out of it.
• It is okay to be sad, and you don't need to put your tears away.

Lots of different reactions, I'm afraid.

With the older kids the reaction is generally more positive. I usually get "Oh they need to have more male role models, good for you! Good for you!" and the back patting starts. One school I worked in the parents then started coming to me for everything, even if their child wasn't in my class. It was kind of weird. The director would always put me up front through to show "yes, we have a man!". That said, the worst experience I had with a parents was a girl in 4th grade. She didn't like me since I would make her do her homework, so she would often tell her Dad awful things about me. What sort of things, I don't know, but he did show up several times to threaten me. Once physically. Since the director wouldn't do anything about it, I quit.

Younger kids, such as where I am now, are always tricky. The kids, boys especially, are all over me and try and use me as a jungle gym. Parents, especially parents of little girls, are always super wary at first. It often takes the parents a couple weeks to warm up to me, then I am treated no differently. Several times I've had parents specifically say they would rather I not change their child's diaper, they wanted female staff to do it. While insulting, I've taken the position that changing less diapers is ultimately a good thing.

I once heard a prospective parent ask who I was when they were being given a tour of the daycare. The director later told me that the mother didn't feel comfortable with me being in the centre and wouldn't leave their child here. The director was totally in support of me and said they'd rather have me than a closed minded parents.

The only weirdness I get in terms of comments would be that everyone, staff to parents, wants to know who/what I am dating. I think they want to know whether I am gay or not, so I am always deliberately obtuse.

All the time. I've been accused of using my teacher voice on people, which I tell them if they weren't acting like kids I wouldn't need to use.

I use my 'swear alternatives' like "oh bunnies" and "cheese and crackers" instead of actually swearing now.

We tell the preschoolers (aged 2-5) when someone does something they don't like to say, "No thank you, I don't like that!". I say that to my boyfriend all the time when he bothers me. You have to say it somewhat slowly, and really pronounce each word.

I learned the hard way. Tiny fists are tiny, but it doesn't take much pressure to do some damage. I'm nearly ninja quality.

There was one boy, about 2 and a half, that was really taken with me. He even got his mother to get his hair cut to look like mine. For some reason he started yelling "I love rainbows" and would hug me. When he would hug me he would rub his face into me. Because of his height, this would mean he was mashing his face into my crotch and effectively motorboating my man-parts. My co-teachers in my room thought this was HILARIOUS. No matter how much I told him not to he kept doing this. Finally one day he just walked up and grabbed my junk. I told my director, who laughed, then said I should tell mom.

So I had to tell a 2 year old's mom that her son was molesting me at work. I don't know who was more embarrassed, her or I. It had to stop though, because if a parent saw that at the wrong time, hello police!