Preschool Teacher. Needy child, only acts up w/ me.

[mrbrad]

I am a Preschool Teacher, I am a male (19) and working on my nursing degree. I am the only male teacher in the facility, and I work with the younger ones 1's & 2's. l typically come in later in the day. There is this one little one year old boy, who does great all day, till l get there. When he sees me its always "Daddy!" and comes running l hug him and start saying hello to the rest of my class, as soon as l pick up or hug another child, he throws a screaming rampage and wants me to hold him. So l do, to comfort him because his fits are outrageous. Well as soon as l pass him off to another teacher he is fine. but as soon as l walk into the room he begins again. One veteran teacher, saw me holding him and said "Put him down! He only acts like that with you!." So I did and he was throwing a fit and it was snack time. It was me and another teacher in the room,and we where washing hands and setting down at the table, he was crying and screaming, at my legs when l turned away from him, to get the snack, suddenly he latched on to another child and bite her hard (this bite was terrible). He hasn't bite in a long time. l do not know what to do. ignoring him clearly isn't the answer and l tried to comfort him like hugging him or playing with him but nothing works, he has to be held and be the center of my attention. But sometimes when l have a classroom full its hard. He has a new baby brother and l suppose by the way he acts Daddy isn't around a whole lot, so I do understand the behavior.  But what do l do?

[allmymarbles]

Specialmom's idea is a good one. If there is no way to separate the two of you another possibility is for the child to be taken out of your school and placed in another. the present arrangement is not good for the child, or for the other children in the group.

[specialmom]

Hi.  Kind of feel bad for this little one longing so much for his daddy!!  I wonder if you should just be in a different room rather than in his room.  do they have multiple classes that you can be a part of?  it might work for you to switch rooms as it causes emotional distress for this little guy and disrupts the flow for the other kids.  

good luck

[KaylaMarie25]

You may be his "favorite" teacher. Therefore when he sees you, he wants all of your attention. I agree that you should talk to your boss and let them know what's going on and talk to the parent(s).

When I was 18, I was an assistant manager of a daycare and I had a 2 year old who was VERY clingy towards me and me only, when I wasn't giving her my attention she'd scream and cry or if I wasn't working that day my coworkers would say that she cried for me the whole time and on more than one occasion, I was called into work for this specific reason. Basically what I did was, I sat her down and explained to her that I can't just play with her, that I have other kids that want to play too. She was also, semi-antisocial with other kids, so I would have a group play and that seemed to help, I was able to walk away. Of course, she would always look in my direction to make sure I was still there. It took about 3 weeks for her to completely stop being so clingy.

It might be harder to explain this to a 1 year old, but you can try to explain to him that other kids need your attention. You can do what I did and try to get him to engage in play with you and other kids (so it's not just you and him).

Sorry this is so long, but I know how you feel about the situation.

[mrbrad]

Thank you! The mother said she is going to bring him Pop Tarts..I just hope this works! This behavior is new.

[AnnieBrooke]

Talk to the parent, or to your boss who should talk to the parent.  Be detailed and specific, as you have here.  The person who runs the preschool should develop a plan with the mother (and father) of the child, it should not be only on you.