There's an epidemic of the whines at my house!!! :(

I need to vent a little and gather some advice too please!

The group of kids I have right now is THE most whine-iest I have ever had, it is driving me mad. I hear these kids speak to their parents in the same tone of voice and the parents do nothing to correct it. It is not the child's normal speaking voice either. How do you deal with whining at your daycare? I am being driven around the bend here, it is my biggest pet peeve. I've tried reminding the big kids when they are whining and to use a big kid voice, that only works for a minute. I've tried the when/then (ie. WHEN you are ready to use your big kid voice, THEN I'm ready to listen to you). I've tried telling them that I cannot understand whining and to try again. I've even tried ignoring and walking away. Nothing seems to work here, and I'm sure it's not helped by the fact that they can whine all the time at home with a response from a parent. PLEASE HELP ME SAVE MY SANITY! lol TIA :)

Whining is a huge pet peeve of mine as well! I usually have a younger crew that is just learning to speak so I don't normally have this issue....thank god!! lol

Have you tried a sticker chart or something similar? In this case, I might actually do the opposite ( I know, I know...supposed to praise good behaviour, not dwell on the negative) but I would give them a sticker every time they whined. If they get x amount of stickers, there is a consequence. Maybe 3 stickers results in having to be last at everything (getting food, going outside, doing art etc) or having to wash a small bucket of toys (my kids wouldn't see this as a punishment though lol) or having to sweep the floor (not sure how old your kids are!)

Sounds like you have tried a lot of different approaches....might be time to get tough now? Good luck!!

If any of the kids in my house whine (all but two are between 4 and 6 years old) I sternly remind then that we don't whine. I will also sometimes model the sound of their whining voice back to them so that they can hear what it sounds like and talk about what a normal voice sounds like. If they continue with the whining then it is a time out. I usually give one reminder for any behaviour and if it continues there is a consequence. I find that it doesn't seem to matter what their parents allow, most of the daycare kids behave much better here than with the parents.

Five Little Monkeys - sweeping wouldn't be much of a consequence here! They usually fight over whose turn it is to use the broom! LOL

Lol, they fight over the kid sized broom here too! May have to finder harsher consequences lol

I've tried time outs after a reminder and tried modeling their whine back to them. The time outs don't seem to get through to them and modeling either makes them giggle or get really mad lol
I may have to start with the going last for everything if they're whining! Thanks for the advice :)
Sweeping, cleaning wouldn't be a punishment around here either, they love helping and actually argue over who gets to help :)

Mine love cleaning too !!! I give them all wet ones and they are soo happy !! The $ store has the cutest duster we use for mops !! But .... Whining , I have two that try it and I usually tell them to come back when they are talking like a big ..., sometimes if they are arguing about something I will give the item to the non whiner and just explain I can't understand whining , blah sometimes works ! I have tried , you sound tired , your using your baby voice maybe you need a nap ! To be honest I don't know if it works but I just try to consistently call it !