ECE Unhinged

Brittany and Crystal
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ECE UNHINGED A Podcast for Today’s Early Childhood Educator Real stories, raw conversations, and chaotic, messy, unhinged energy from two early childhood educators with nearly 50 years of combined experience and absolutely no desire to sugarcoat anything. We’re talking burnout, behavior charts that should’ve been banned, impossible expectations, admin nonsense, and the real, ridiculous, beautiful chaos of teaching small humans. New episodes drop biweekly, each followed by After Dark where you can call in or leave prerecorded SpeakPipe messages to be heard on the show. This is where it gets extra spicy, the gloves are off, the stories get wilder, and nothing is off limits. If you’ve ever cried in your car after work, rage texted your coworker, or said “I cannot do this again tomorrow” and still showed up anyway… yeah, this is your podcast. All of the updates and topics are in our Facebook group ECEUnhinged Podcast - Listeners Lounge https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18ZTQFrJNu/

  1. 3d ago

    Passion Doesn't Pay The Bills...But Do Our Feet?-A Sandbox confessional

    In this Sandbox Confessional, Brittany and Crystal read an anonymous letter from "a teacher with tired toes." She loves the children, but she's exhausted and underpaid. She's started to wonder whether a very different side hustle might pay better than her full-time job in early childhood education. The hosts get a few laughs out of the letter, then take its question seriously. Is it wrong to think about leaving a career you love because you could earn more elsewhere? In this episode: What early childhood educators actually do all day, beyond finger painting and songsWhy leaving feels like abandoning the children, and why it isn'tThe "it's a calling" trap, and why self-care can't fix a paycheckThe things educators accept as normal: constant illness, buying classroom supplies, and unpaid time outside the classroomWhy the pay problem is hard to fix when centers' costs are so highWhether you see yourself in this field for 40+ years, and what the hosts would tell new teachers just starting outTheir verdict: you can love the children and still want a livable wageThey also share what's next. The rest of the year will be lighter, with more funny letters and silly episodes, and the heavier topics will return in the new year. Send in your own Dear Abby-style letters, and they'll turn them into skits. If this one hit home, share it with your ECE friends.

  2. Oct 29

    UPK- The Rabbit Hole That Never Ends!

    Technical difficulties couldn’t keep us away forever—we are finally back in the studio to wrap up our Colorado UPK series. Thank you for your patience while we sorted out the tech gremlins! In this finale, we’re tackling the final six questions you sent our way, digging past the state talking points to look at what Colorado’s 5-Year UPK Roadmap actually means for educators on the ground. In this episode, we break down: The 5-Year Roadmap Reality Check: Overhauling Colorado Shines, targeting national benchmarks, adding classroom monitoring by 2028, and redefining contact hours. What’s promised, what’s still completely vague, and what teachers will actually feel.The Degree Dilemma vs. Private Centers: The roadmap pushes for bachelor’s degrees, but compensation hasn't budged. Could higher credential mandates end up pushing private providers out of the market entirely?The District vs. Private Pay Gap: Why school district UPK teachers earn substantially more than private center staff—breaking down funding streams, breaks, benefits, the Praxis exam, and the real tradeoffs on both sides.Classrooms Compared: How UPK actually operates across sectors: licensing discrepancies, class sizes, rigid schedules vs. curriculum freedom, and yes—even the battle over lunchtime.The IEP & Paperwork Void: Who is really drowning under the documentation? We examine the reality of managing IEPs without support, and why the state’s roadmap barely acknowledges it.Burnout & Attrition: Low wages, chronic understaffing, ballooning waitlists, and why incredible teachers are walking away.What’s coming next: Keep an ear out for our upcoming Sandbox Confessional, pitch your 2027 hot topics, and celebrate our one-year anniversary with us! Join the conversation: What is UPK really looking like inside your room? Come share your experience in our community group (anonymous submissions always welcome). And if you work in ECE and have a story to tell on the mic, hit us up—we’d love to have you on.

  3. Oct 7

    UPK_ The Rabbit Hole Continues!

    Colorado UPK sounds simple until you try to make it work in a real classroom. The 15-hour week, the hidden assessments, the confusing enrollment process, and the IEP roadblocks reveal a system that is far more complicated, and far more frustrating, than most parents or teachers realize.Brittany breaks down what educators are actually doing inside UPK classrooms to stay compliant while still keeping four-year-olds engaged, moving, and learning. From the “guided play continuum” to matrix-style assessment tracking, this episode exposes how teachers are squeezing evaluation, curriculum, and play-based learning into just three hours a day.You'll hear how classrooms are being engineered with interest areas, visual transitions, mini lessons, and peer-to-peer learning to survive the UPK crunch, plus why the state’s own benchmarks, funding tiers, and Colorado Shines ratings may be shaping more than anyone is admitting. The conversation also digs into the tension between child-led learning and academic expectations, and why many teachers feel the system claims one thing while demanding another.Then it gets bigger. Brittany lays out how the application process can quietly exclude low-income and rural families, why “universal” preschool is not actually universal in childcare deserts, and how the separate process for children with IEPs creates even more barriers for the families who need help most. The result is a program that looks different depending on your zip code, your internet access, your language, and whether you already know how the system works.This one is for parents, preschool teachers, directors, and anyone trying to understand what UPK really means on the ground. If you’ve ever wondered whether the promise matches the reality, this episode will make you see the whole system differently.

  4. Sep 23

    Colorado UPK- The UPK Rabbit Hole Part 2- Follow the Money

    This episode discusses Colorado UPK, CCCAP, childcare funding, and provider economics based on publicly available information and our experiences working in early childhood education. Program rules, funding levels, eligibility, and enrollment policies can change, and individual counties may administer programs differently. We encourage listeners to check current state and county information for the most up-to-date details.We thought we were making one episode about Colorado’s Universal Preschool (UPK) program. Then we started following the money. In this episode of ECE Unhinged, we go down the financial rabbit hole behind UPK and ask some uncomfortable questions: How are childcare centers actually expected to make the numbers work? What happens when public funding covers only part of a child’s care? Where do CCAP, grants, gap fees, and UPK fit together? And why are childcare providers still struggling to keep classrooms staffed and doors open? We dig into the difference between family childcare homes and larger private centers, the financial realities of infant and toddler care, workforce shortages, provider funding, UPK’s limited hours, and what the program actually means for families who need full-day childcare. We also unpack the much-discussed "$6,300 savings" and why that number does not mean parents are receiving a $6,300 check. And then we get to the really complicated part: Colorado’s childcare system can simultaneously have families waiting for assistance while providers report open or underfilled seats. Current statewide data and reporting show just how complicated that picture has become. This isn't a simple "UPK is good" or "UPK is bad" episode. It's us trying to understand the math. Because somewhere between the funding, the promises, the gap fees, the staffing requirements, the waitlists, and the parents trying to make it all work... the math stopped mathing. And yes. We found another rabbit hole. Actually... several. Listen in, then tell us what we're missing. If you work in a public school, private center, family childcare home, or you're a Colorado parent navigating UPK or CCCAP, we especially want to hear your perspective.

  5. Sep 9

    Colorado UPK- The Preschool Rabbit Hole Part 1

    Colorado’s Universal Preschool (UPK) program sounded simple… until we started digging.  In Part 1 of our UPK rabbit hole, we break down how the program works, who qualifies, the two major legal challenges surrounding UPK, and what Colorado’s own evaluation says about access, quality, teacher qualifications, and enrollment. We also take a closer look at the 15-hour vs. 30-hour conversation—because while UPK generally provides up to 15 tuition-free hours per week, some children may qualify for additional hours based on income and other qualifying factors. We’re sticking to the facts, asking questions, and letting you decide what you think. And yes… there’s a LOT more to this rabbit hole.   ECE Unhinged — where early childhood education gets real, messy, and occasionally unhinged.

  6. Aug 19

    The Boss's Husband Is NOT Your Boss! | When Nepotism Takes Over the Classroom

    What happens when the director's husband suddenly becomes your “assistant director” — and starts showing up late, taking hour-long lunches, micromanaging classrooms, and undermining teachers in front of children? In this episode of ECE Unhinged, we're diving into a wild Sandbox Confessional about favoritism, nepotism, blurred boundaries, and what happens when the boss's spouse becomes the boss's problem employee — except nobody is allowed to say anything about it. We talk about the damage nepotism can do to staff morale, what happens when family members interfere with classroom management, the impossible position teachers can find themselves in when the director is also the owner, and why speaking up can sometimes make YOU the target. And because we've both lived through versions of this ourselves, we're sharing some of our own experiences with directors' spouses, family members, favoritism, workplace drama, and the infamous “you just have to understand how they are” excuse. So what should our anonymous teacher do? Document everything? Try to ride it out? Or update that résumé and RUN? Spoiler: We're leaning toward the résumé. 😂 Have your own Sandbox Confessional? Send it our way! We want your wildest, most frustrating, and completely unhinged ECE stories. ECE Unhinged — because sometimes surviving early childhood education requires caffeine, sarcasm, and a very good exit strategy.

  7. Aug 19

    We're Not Burned Out… We're Grieving | ECE Hot Takes After Dark

    Is ECE burnout actually burnout… or are we grieving the career we thought we were going to have? In this episode of Teachers After Dark, Brittany and Crystal dive into a pile of unpopular opinions, hot takes, frustrations, and uncomfortable truths from the early childhood education field. We talk about why educators may be experiencing more than burnout — including grief over what ECE used to be, what we thought this career would become, and what we've sacrificed financially and emotionally to stay in a field we still deeply love. We tackle everything from parents expecting teachers to do it all, children being asked to regulate emotions adults haven't mastered, unrealistic expectations, weather-appropriate clothing, parent communication, sick days, teacher appreciation, developmental concerns, and why childcare educators are expected to be teachers, nurses, therapists, chefs, entertainers, administrators, and human octopuses all at once. We also get real about something a lot of ECE teachers quietly think about: what our lives might have looked like if we'd chosen a different career. And then there's the question we keep coming back to… How can we love what we do so deeply while also admitting that the way this field operates may no longer be sustainable? Plus, we have a few laughs along the way — including our completely reasonable proposal for a Dutch Bros truck parked outside every childcare center. 😂 These are our hot takes. Some are funny. Some are uncomfortable. And some hit a little too close to home. What do YOU think? Are ECE educators burned out, grieving, or both? Welcome to Teachers After Dark — where we say the things ECE teachers are thinking but don't always feel comfortable saying out loud.

  8. Aug 5

    Licensing Says What? - The Crazy things licensing has us do

    Join us for our teachers after dark as we talk about some of the wild and crazy things licensing makes us do!

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About

ECE UNHINGED A Podcast for Today’s Early Childhood Educator Real stories, raw conversations, and chaotic, messy, unhinged energy from two early childhood educators with nearly 50 years of combined experience and absolutely no desire to sugarcoat anything. We’re talking burnout, behavior charts that should’ve been banned, impossible expectations, admin nonsense, and the real, ridiculous, beautiful chaos of teaching small humans. New episodes drop biweekly, each followed by After Dark where you can call in or leave prerecorded SpeakPipe messages to be heard on the show. This is where it gets extra spicy, the gloves are off, the stories get wilder, and nothing is off limits. If you’ve ever cried in your car after work, rage texted your coworker, or said “I cannot do this again tomorrow” and still showed up anyway… yeah, this is your podcast. All of the updates and topics are in our Facebook group ECEUnhinged Podcast - Listeners Lounge https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18ZTQFrJNu/

Information

  • Creator
    Brittany and Crystal
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Brittany and Crystal
  • Show Website
    ECE Unhinged