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gentil-minou · 8 months

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MDZS Daycare AU where Wangxian are co-lead teachers for a class of 10-18 month old babies and have a secret of their own.

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Lan Wangji is the morning lead teacher while Wei Wuxian is the evening lead, and their shifts overlap for about 5 hours which is where max chaos ensues.

Mianmian, the assistant teacher in the mornings, and Mo Xuanyu, the assistant in the afternoons, like to confer over their findings when they take their breaks during nap time, leaving their heads in the classroom to...stare? Glare? at each other. They're not sure.

When Mianmian gets in for her shift at 8am, Lan Wangji is already there with the youngest kid on their roster, Wen Yuan, who always gets dropped off first every morning before she even arrives.

The babies trickle, with a mixture of tears and giggles, and of course a complete mood turn around once their caregivers have left them, A-Qing especially who goes from sobbing bloody murder to laughing maniacally as soon as her dads leave.

Lan Wangji keeps the morning peaceful with circle time and baby meditation which is mostly him and Mianmian trying to get the babies to sit still and somehow succeeding? Lan Wangji has to be magic.

They read a few books and sing some cute songs with the babies and it's all really nice and tranquil.

Then at 10AM, Wei Wuxian comes in and all hell breaks loose.

Where Lan Wangji is all about structured play meant to engage the babies' fine motor skills, Wei Wuxian is a "let them run free and wild" type.

His favorite activity is to cover a peace of long sheet paper in puddles of paint and let the babies go wild. Sometimes Mianmian and Lan Wangji are able to get smocks on them first…but most of the time there's a frantic clothing change before lunch so the babies don't fall asleep in paint covered clothing.

Mianmian has no idea how Jingyi always manages to get pain in his diaper, but yeah. Always.

She's trying to change as many babies as she can while she watches Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian argue again about Wei Wuxian's plans for the afternoon activity, which is really just "collect mud during out walk from outside and bring it inside!"

Lan Wangji glares at him with his mouth in a straight line while Wei Wuxian is clearly trying to not laugh at his face. At least little A-Yuan is there tugging on their pants to act as a cute buffer. No one can ever resist little A-Yuan.

He still hasn't learned how to crawl yet, so he scoots around everywhere on his butt which is insanely adorable. And he recently learned how to say "Ge!" and Wei Wuxian just about burst into tears the first time he did.

To be fair though, right now A-Yuan calls everything "Ge".

His teachers, including Mianmian? Ge.

Friends? Ge.

His carrots? Ge.

His bunny stuffy? Ge.

Naturally, nobody minds at all.

Around lunch time, when half of the babies are nodding off in either their simple rice dishes or mess of mashed something, Mo Xuanyu comes in to help them get the babies ready for bedtime. They spend half the time getting Wei Wuxian to lower his voice, with Lan Wangji sending him a dirty look.

It's funny because Mianmian has seen Wei Wuxian fill in as the only head when Lan Wangji was out. He absolutely knows how to be quiet at nap time.

Makes sense why he just smirks at Lan Wangji instead of really watching his volume.

Once the babies are all asleep, the head teachers confer over their lesson plans while rubbing the backs of the few stragglers who never quite sleep as fast, Mianmian and Mo Xuanyu go out for a walk and eat their lunch.

There, Mianmian fills Mo Xuanyu in on the day's anctics, which mostly just becomes a chance for them to gossip about their lead teachers.

"They're insane, I swear," Mo Xuanyu says as he takes the cheese off his pizza slice and eats the bread and cheese separately for…some reason. "Like how did they even start working together?"

"I heard Yanli had them placed together because they requested it." Mianmian eats her pizza normally, thank you, with extra pineapple and ham and mayo drizzled all over.

"God they're like obsessed with each other, I swear."

They head back in just as Zizhen starts crying, waking all the other babies and then they're off, Mo Xuanyu heading diaper duty this time while Mianmian gets their afternoon snacks ready. Wei Wuxian reads a book with way more theatricality than necessary for babies who probably don't have the ability to understand yet, but they watch him, enraptured by his voice as Lan Wangji puts their sleeping mats away.

Mianmian leaves soon after, once the babies are seated with their cheerios and blueberries and sippy cups, leaving Mo Xuanyu to help out with the afternoon shift.

They take the babies out in a walk using a giant baby wagon that honestly looks like it belongs on a rollercoaster and Mo Xuanyu is a bit put out that he can't fit in the seats. He's tried. They checked.

They take the babies on a promenade around the waterfront area where their daycare is, Wei Wuxian flittering about grabbing sticks and leaves for sensory exploration and pointing out all the cool birds. At the same time, Lan Wangji stands perfectly stoic and vigilant for passersby trying to take pictures of a kid they don't know (like who does that???) as well as a sniffley nose.

Usually that sniffley nose is Wei Wuxian, who is getting more energy out than any of the babies. Lan Wangji hands him a tissue all the same.

They get back in soon after, which is around when Lan Wangji has to leave to get to his night classes for his Masters in Early Childhood Education.

Mo Xuanyu heads up the afternoon circle time, singing songs and making up the lyrics cause he really never had the chance to learn nursery rhymes when he was a kid. He watches from the corner of his eyes as the head teachers mutter something to each other by the door, heads close together. But he can't focus for long when Jingyi has decided to climb on top of A-Yuan who is, for whatever reason, perfectly unbothered.

Lan Wangji leaves and Wei Wuxian joins them, taking over circle time. That's when the real fun begins.

Wei Wuxian's goal at the end of they day is to tire the babies out as much as possible so their poor parents won't have a hard time getting them to rest.

Mo Xuanyu thinks that's just an excuse for all the caffeine he drinks kicking in.

They start with one of the messier art activities Wei Wuxian can't get away with when Lan Wangji is around, usually involving some bits of natures that he'd dub "unhygienic".

"Pfft," Wei Wuxian tells Mo Xuanyu, for the thousandth time. "Everyone needs to eat dirt. Builds immunity."

Mo Xuanyu isn't sure that's how it works, but at least the babies love splashing in mud and sticking leaves to pieces of paper.

Once they change the babies into a second set of spare clothes, it's dance party time. The best time actually.

Babies can't really dance, but it's cute watching them wiggle their little butts and try. Wei Wuxian usually picks at least one kid to dance to Old McDonald with, spinning them around and around.

Usually the baby he picks is A-Yuan. They're not supposed to have favorites, but well Mo Xuanyu can't blame him. He is the cutest.

Sometimes they get noise complaints from the other classrooms, especially the actual baby room with the 3 month to 9 month old and their sleep schedule that are basically all the time.

Wei Wuxian typically just smooths it over by bringing Jin Ling over to join their party.

It's technically not allowed, and theoretically they should be careful since he's the boss' son and all, but Wei Wuxian is the boss' adopted brother and anyways the teachers on the baby baby room just give him a grateful look for keeping the colic baby busy and away from their splitting eardrums.

Once the dance part is over and Wei Wuxian and Mo Xuanyu are lying on the carpet, letting the babies crawl over them in some attempt at "building movement skills", they get a bit of a reprieve before the real challenge of the day starts.

Pick up time.

This is when Wei Wuxian actually listens to Lan Wangji's suggestions for small group play, and they divide into three groups, one with independent play in the pretend area for the older babies that are more toddlers now and two others focused on sensory exploration and fine motor skills. Fancy words for saying the dollhouse area, the playdough zone (monitored by Mo Xuanyu because these babies will absolutely eat it) and the puzzle table that Wei Wuxian keeps an eye on as he greets the parents.

He's great with them, seriously. The parents love Wei Wuxian. It's like a switch flips and he goes from chaos gremlin to genius in childcare, offering really well thought out explanations for the activities the kids engaged in as he hands their artwork to the parents.

They ask him to babysit all the time, but Wei Wuxian deflects and makes some excuse about having busy evenings and weekends, then gestures to Mo Xuanyu who always needs the extra cash.

Mo Xuanyu is always struck with awe at this. He has a lot to learn from Wei-qianbei.

Sometimes the parents join them a bit for play, but a lot of the times, they just leave. Bustling their babies up in their coats with extra cuddles and taking them home, happy to spend a few hours with them before bedtime.

It's Mo Xuanyu's favorite time of the day actually. A good parent's unconditional love for their kid, who can resist?

The last one to leave, is, of course, poor little A-Yuan sitting at the puzzle table with Wei Wuxian. Once the second to last kid leaves, usually Jingyi screaming down the hall as his amused mom follows sedately after him, Wei Wuxian gives Mo Xuanyu a tired smile and tells him he can go.

"Are you sure? I can help clean up?"

The room looks like a tornado ran through it, every time. Mo Xuanyu always feels guilty leaving early, but he has night classes…so…

Wei Wuxian waves him off, "Don't sweat it, I have to stay a bit later anyways. I've got this."

Mo Xuanyu relents and goes over to smack a wet kiss on A-Yuan's chubby cheek before he leaves. He gets a gummy smile as his reward, and he and Wei Wuxian laugh as he leaves the room.

Mo Xuanyu can't help but feel a little sad for A-Yuan. The first to arrive and the last to leave. His parents must be so busy. He hoped they get to spend time with him on the weekends at least, hopefully.

The classroom is always quiet this time in the evening, and Wei Wuxian fluffs A-Yuan's messy mop of hair before he stands up.

"Well, A-Yuan…shall we clean up before your baba gets here?"

It doesn't take long actually, and Wei Wuxian has only just finished putting the toys away and is about to start on the mess in the sink when A-Yuan's other dad arrives.

Lan Zhan always come by after his last class to pick them up. He usually has a line of tension across his forehead, the long day having finally gotten to him.

Wei Wuxian smooths it out with gentle kiss and a hug, and asks "Who annoyed my poor husband today? Should I go beat them up for you?"

Lan Zhan's stiff shoulders droop as he relaxes into Wei Wuxian's embrace, releasing an exhausted sigh.

"Su She," he mutters into Wei Wuxian's neck, lips pressed against the soft silk of his skin.

Wei Wuxian snorts, "Of course. I'll get him for you, baby. Make him wish he never thought about messing with you."

Wei Wuxian runs his fingers through Lan Zhan's hair, luxuriating in the moment, before their son pipes up, not one to be ignored for long.

"Ge!"

His dad share a private laugh. "One of these days you'll call for us properly, right little bunny?" Wei Wuxian says, lifting A-Yuan into the air and smiling at his sweet giggles. "Come on, try it. Ba-ba. A-Die. Ba-ba." He sounds the letters out and points to him and Lan Zhan in turn, so there can be no mistake.

A-Yuan just tilts his head in confusion and gives them a puzzled look. "Ge?"

Wei Wuxian heaves a weary sigh as Lan Zhan takes A-Yuan from him and cuddles him against his chest. "Well, at least I tried. I'll just finish up here, and then we can head home, mmkay?"

"Mn." Lan Wangji nods as A-Yuan burrows into his shoulder with a sleepy sigh. He presses a kiss against the soft baby hair that grows wild on A-Yuan's head, swinging them gently back and forth as Wei Ying putters about and straightens the rest of the room.

He always wants to make the room prefect for Lan Wangji when he comes in early tomorrow morning. It brings a small smile to Lan Wangji's face thinking of the level of consideration his husband gives him, even with their conflicting teaching styles.

After this, they'll head home and enjoy a nice simple meal, spend an hour with A-Yuan just the three of them, before bathtime and bed.

Then, Lan Wangji and Wei Ying will have their own time, just for them.

Tomorrow, it will all repeat.

Maybe it's not the most conventional lifestyle in the world, but there's little Lan Wangji can complain about when he gets to spend every day with his husband and son, doing what they love, together.

fin.

(threadfic here)

#Ahh I really like this au.#this will also probably become a oneshot sdjfhsd also dont keep reading if you don't want spoilers #I see secretly married wangxian professors all the time but never anything with them as daycare teachers. I think they'd be so great at it!#Plus I got to use my own experiences working at daycares hehe #I miss the babies a lot T___T #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #cql #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wangxian #mdzs fanfiction #the untamed fanfiction #mdzs musings #bushy writing

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itspileofgoodthings · 27 days

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Well, I actually have the most mundane of questions, but it’s been so long since I’ve been in an English class that I feel like I’ve completely forgotten (and I’m curious how you do it): how do you go about reading a book as a class? Do you assign them the chapters to read at home and most of them actually do it? Or do you give them class time to read? Do you have the kids who try to spoil the rest of the book for the class? Basically, how does one teach a book in the year 2024? 😀

And do you have your students annotate inside their books? (I know the English teachers in my school require the students to do that, and I get why, but I inwardly shudder every time I see a student marking up a page.)

Haha I love this question because I too am always asking myself how DOES one each a book in 2024?

It’s sort of a combination. I absolutely assign reading every night (almost) unless it’s Shakespeare or any play in which case we read it all in class. But for a novel there’s a couple chapters a night. I read aloud to them a lot too. Sometjmes I make them read aloud to the whole class, rotating kids who read. Sometimes I assign a chapter to be read in class silently with questions or quotes due at the end of the reading. Sometimes I put them in groups and make them read aloud to each other. There’s no one way that works for sure and of course ultimately I have no control over how much they read and I’m not naive enough to think that most of the reading assigned for homework doesn’t get skipped most of the time buuuuuut.

My bottom line is that I believe it’s my job to get excited about the actual text itself (easier for me in some cases than others but overall pretty easy because it does fill me with excitement) and then commit to taking them on the journey of the story with me. And my goal—that I’m sure I often don’t reach—is to make that experience so much more fun if you have actually read. And the way that I teach is pretty text heavy which is why I always make sure I’ve read the chapters for the day and am not just relying on my memory because the way I do it is just sort of absorbing it all up like a vacuum-cleaner, schwooooop, and then either pulling stuff out of the reading to look at directly or directing them to do the same thing. So the big thing that I have going for me, if any, is buy-in. Is getting kids excited about actually reading the actual text. I also speak often and passionately about the evils of sparknotes etc. not because they help kids get better grades or whatever but because they present you with the husk and shell of a story, stripped of all that makes it interesting, and that by reading that alone they’re reading something so dry and dull and are not achieving what I always want them to achieve —which is, have an Experience with the Literature.

Again, it never works perfectly by any stretch and there are so many ways I want to explore in my quest to get better at it but overall I think, at my very best, I can create this wave of energy and excitement in the story itself which is the most organic and ultimately most helpful way to get them to want to read.

Also no haha. I don’t let them annotate! Though occasionally kids DO of course. But sometimes they bring in their own copies in order to do that. The spoilers absolutely happen and are annoying but I sort of get by it by moving on very quickly and/or talking about how it’s often not the ending but how you get there that makes it interesting. Because that’s just true!

#gosh does this answer make sense #I am so passionate about doing it well and there are huge gaps in my teaching in terms of concrete stuff #but I am doing ….. Something in terms of bringing literature closer to them #and that’s what I want to do!#also love love love the bonus of getting to reread great works over and over until they start sinking into my brain #and I think (well I usually don’t think about it) but I think that the experience for them of watching me read it again #(and sometimes literally I won’t have time to read I need 10 minutes to finish this chapter and tell them to shut up)#(while I sit there and read it)#reminds them that I AM committed to doing the work with them. that I am actually doing it and that I want to!#and idk I think that is both a rarer experience and one that’s kind of underrated in terms of how much warmth it can create #because I have nothing in common with 16 year olds we couldn’t be friends in real life without it being very weird/possibly inappropriate #but in class we have a Thing to be friends about #we have a shared goal! and not just an arbitrary one but a deeply beautiful one #idk. there’s still a lot of boredom a lot of pushback a lot of disinterest #but I’m always amazed at how often kids do want to …. idk sink their teeth into something real #it’s REAL food for their minds. and the hunger for it is there even if they decide they’re too lazy to join the group #my goal is to —merely by the situation itself—make you feel left out of the fun if you refuse to do the work #so you can CHOOSE that but it’s less fun. it’s cold. it’s boring and it’s isolating #because refusing to do the work and insisting on being a little toad SHOULD come with natural social punishments in the form of exclusion #from the best kind of fun. it often does NOT. but yeah. I think I’m also getting better at shutting down toad behavior from adolescent male #this is where teaching co-Ed helps because there are some girls who are like ‘if you stop my learning I will kill you’#not ENOUGH girls but some #ooooof this is a long answer but literally always on my mind #thank you for asking!!! also haha I assumed you were an English teacher yourself!

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