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* I am just one of many professionals who
have worked over the years to achieve excellence in child care. I have
always been one to make sure I have the facts before making
assumptions or conclusions about any topic. With this in mind, the
book I've written is a compilation of the research I have studied,
along with my personal experiences that I have used to draw
conclusions about the state of child care in the United States.
I know that many different perspectives exist to try to educate
others on child care and ways to improve early education efforts. My
intentions are that this book will be looked at as another perspective
and that you as an informed reader will make your own conclusions
about what you believe. I have included many resources that I have
found to be useful and credible and hope that they will assist you in
your search for quality child care.
And, as always, in any personal story, the names of children have
been changed to protect the identity of those mentioned. All stories,
however, are completely true.
THE FOLLOWING IS A SAMPLING OF SECTIONS FROM MY BOOK.
INTRODUCTION
The term child care is thought of in many different ways. Some
believe that it is simply caring for children and maintaining their
health and safety. Others believe child care should, at a minimum meet
health and safety requirements but also encompass early childhood
education at the same time. Still others believe early childhood
education is only up to those institutions providing preschool
programs, such as Head Start and public programs within the school
system.
Because of the research on early brain development, I think it is
important for parents to know that no matter what you believe, and no
matter what type of child care your child is receiving, your child is
learning and growing more in the first five years than at any other
time in his life. Therefore this need for quality in child care is of
the utmost importance.
THE GOOD
Let's face it. As a parent, you have a limited view of what you see
everyday in the care that your child receives. Parents always see
whether their child's clothes are dirty or not and can usually tell
what types of things their child has done that day based on the
marker, paint, food, or dirt stains. Parents always see the scratches
and bruises accumulated throughout the day and either assumes their
child was active or that their child was in an argument. And parents
always see their child care bill.
What parents don't see is when a child is working with markers or
paint that he or she is drawing circles and triangles, or mixing
colors and learning science. Parents don't see that when a child is
eating he or she is learning manners and patience by waiting for the
bowl to be passed, and learning self-help skills by serving himself
applesauce and learning responsibility by cleaning up when he or she
is finished.
_Research by the American Academy of Pediatrics notes that "Children
who attend high-quality early childhood programs demonstrate better
math and language skills, better cognition and social skills, better
interpersonal relationships, and better behavioral self-regulation
than do children in lower-quality care."_
Traditionally we think of a family as a mother, a father, and a child
or children. However, over the years, the family structure has changed
from this idealistic image to include grandparents, adopted children,
foster children, multiple mothers or fathers, divorced parents,
parents overseas, and even teenagers as the parents. With all these
changes, child care may be the one consistent thing about a child's
life.
_BOOSTING THE ECONOMY_
I know many parents only look at how much child care costs and how it
affects their pocketbook, but if you look at it from a different
perspective, child care is a growing industry in the United States,
creating jobs for millions and boosting the nation's economy.
THE BAD
This is one of the most heart-wrenching parts of working in child
care; watching a mother or father have to leave a crying child so they
can go spend their day with people they may not want to be with, while
making less money than they are worth. And many times, these mothers
and fathers are leaving their children with people they would not
consider the best choice to care for their child, especially infants.
These moms and dads know that their child will have to compete with
many other children for the attention of the one caregiver in order to
get the care they need. They know that their child will be missing
them all day long and asking for them, and they will not be able to be
there to give them a hug, or comfort them when they need it.
Looking at the caregivers that take care of your child everyday and
thinking about how important it is that your child is cared for by
someone who can be a great role model, you may wonder what makes a
person qualified to be in this extremely important position.
Let's look at the other types of jobs that also have these strict
entry level requirements: cashier, fast food worker, waiter/waitress,
car wash attendant, convenience store clerk, parking lot attendant,
etc. Recall the last time you had an encounter with one of these
highly trained professionals, and imagine that person taking care of
your child.
I recently had the privilege of working with a mom who went into
child care because she had been a stay at home mom for the last 17
years, and child care was the only job she knew she could get. She was
hired to co-teach with me, because she was such a great person and a
great mom, yet she had no education in child care, other than her own
experiences as a mom. When she found out she was expected to be a
co-teacher with me, plan developmentally appropriate weekly and daily
lesson plans for children ranging from ages 2 to 4 , write daily
anecdotal assessments, along with handling 18 different personalities
and behaviors, and practice consistent discipline and classroom
management, needless to say, she was overwhelmed. She quit after two
months. I'm surprised she hung in there that long.
___The child care workforce experiences an annual job turnover rate
between 25 and 40 percent (NACCRA). _
THE TRUTH
Healthy brain development begins even before a child is born. While a
child is developing in the womb, the brain is in charge of
establishing connections to assist in basic movements including reflex
actions such as breathing and heartbeat as well as movement of the
arms, fingers, and legs. Development continues to include regulating
the senses including developing hearing and sight. Research has shown
that newborn babies respond to familiar sounds such as a mother's
voice.
_Eighty percent of a child's brain develops by age 3 and 90% by the
time they are 5 (NACCRRA)._
11.6 million children under the age of 5 are in some form of child
care in the United States. Note that not all of these children are in
a licensed child care facility. Some are with relatives or neighbors.
The average child spends 36 hours per week in child care. (NACCRRA)
WHAT'S A PARENT TO DO?
I know that if you are reading this you are probably a concerned
parent, interested in what is best for your child. However, think of
how many millions of parents don't ever read a book or magazine about
parenting, child development, or other related literature. These are
the parents who think it's okay to just parent the way their parents
did, or that they'll just figure it out along the way. Which,
sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. These are also the
parents whose child is swearing, hitting, and bullying from the time
they are two years old. As a parent, it is your job to protect
yourself and your child from these uneducated parents and out of
control children.
There are many books out there that are written from the perspective
of someone who doesn't have an inside view of what child care is
really like.
I've written this book to give you an insight to the child care world
from the perspective of a veteran child care worker.
I also hope it will help parents with some basic guidelines to help
you along your way.
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Thank you again,
Angie
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