I’m someone who works in a daycare as a co-teacher. If I could tell you the physical pain I’ve had from stress while feeling guilty if I desperately wanted to leave to rest or even to ask for more help regardless of the required ratios. It’s enough to break a person and I went to the hospital once for it already due to abdominal pain from stress and a period cyst.
I got to have a mental health day or help in the room when I REALLY needed it at the time due to the children needs because I broke down in tears from physical or emotional pain.
Not to say they don’t help me other times, but when I really needed help one time and literally couldn’t reach the phone because my hands were covered in poop from a child who got poop on their person, my crying as I broke down from the stress served as the call for help so to speak.
And I needed it as I was in bathroom and henceforth couldn’t safely watch the other kids in the room. Toddlers are strong enough to push over heavier furniture with other kids near them, which I also stopped in time the times I was in the room with them. They didn’t do that when I was seeing to the situation with the child who had her poo on her from reaching into her diaper, but I like to be on the floor to prevent that if possible.
It’s stuff like that that makes me think the ratio for certain aged kids to teachers should be changed because those things can happen and should be taken into account as these are young kids.
In my opinion, the more a child won’t sit or stand still in the bathroom when they got contaminates like poo/pee on them you’re trying to clean off and they’re still running around, or if you have a messy diaper that takes time and more than a few wipes to clean up their bottom, you need to have another person in the room even if you’re in ratio.
My voice doesn’t do much when kids need me to physically stop them when they’re being unsafe in the room and I’m in a bathroom with a child who needs me to hold them safely on the changing table until their clean so I literally can’t leave. This is also accounting for if they pee while you change them.