A normal day for a daycare facility is to have many classrooms full of students like a typical public school; however, they are younger children and are being supervised by an adult. That adult is responsible for, on average, four to ten students at any given time, ages ranging from zero to six. During that time, a lot can happen. These busy workers have many responsibilities throughout the day. The most important one is safety. Because these children are so young, they are also adventurous therefore need a lot of attention. Daycare workers have to spend much time supervising these children while performing other tasks throughout the day. Not only do children need to be supervised to be safe, but they also need to have a safe, clean and presentable environment that the daycare workers of the facility are to maintain. One way to keep things clean is to sanitize, in which is a big task of these workers. Children are always putting things in their mouth and then passing it off to other kids; therefore, sanitation is a big deal in these types of facilities. Another responsibility that daycare providers have are to enforce rules. When rules are broken, these providers are to then enforce discipline policies. These can sometimes become an issue seeing that these providers are not the parents of the children thus they have to consult with the parents on certain discipline techniques to use on specific children. On the other hand, these providers are similar to parents in the sense that they wash children's clothing and clean up after every child. In addition to all the other responsibilities, daycare providers also have to maintain current, accurate and confidential client files per child. These files are to consist of observations and r...
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... this career can be maintained with just a high school diploma with the option of secondary schooling. However, as easy as it is to start being a child care worker, its just that much harder to deal with the everyday struggles and well as qualifications.
It is often argued that daycare workers get paid just enough or more than enough. Thus it is understandable that parents do not want to spend more than they have to of their well earned money. This fact is very understandable. Parents have to pay for their living and they have bills just like child care workers. Anybody in the working field knows what its like to work hard and make so little. Child care workers are a big example of this. They work a hard, sometimes stressful job and they do not seem to get appreciated for it. Parents feel it is okay to ask for raises or more benefits, so why cant child care workers?
Changing demographics in America are leading to an increased need for preschools. In 1950, only 14% of mothers of children under six worked outside the home (Williams 351), but in 1995, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 63.5% of mothers of children under age six worked outside the home (Garey 4). The number of families with two working parents is steadily rising; the number of single-parent families is also increasing. Many families cannot afford to have a parent at home full time but have a hard time affording preschool or childcare costs. A publication by L.M. Casper, printed by the U.S. Census Bureau, found that on average, parents spend 8% of their family's income on childcare (Kinch 68). Many of these parents make great sacr...
The minimum standards released by the Texas Department of Family and Protective services concerning ratios do an insufficient job of ensuring that children receive quality care. The NAEYC releases recommendations for childcare operations and as journalist Anthony Jennings puts it, these ratios “are considered the best practices to ensure the level of care is of high quality.” These allowed ratios depend on whether the daycare is a licensed center, a licensed home, or a registered home. While the ratios Texas minimum standards allows in al...
Each education level, level of hands-on experience and continuing training is different for each position in child care. For example, an aide position only requires, “an orientation upon hire and must 16 years of age” ("Careers in Early Childhood: A Maryland Guide"). On the other hand, a nursery school teacher must have several more respectable qualifications. These include, “a Bachelor's degree, 120
"Child Care Quality: Does It Matter?" LifeSkills 1 (Dec. 2000/2001): 4.Http://www.danrpeoplelinks.ucr.edu/nb3/lib/ls_1_4.pdf. University of California. Web.
Some of the national and local guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding that affect the day-to-day work with children and young people
...ter, because in order to receive daycare help you must be working. A lot of times this still leaves the mother in a bind, due to the lack of hours she works and the lack of support she will receive. At times the mother has to choose a low quality daycare which only makes it worse on her children; they may not endure the proper amount of attention needed as well as nutrition.
children in day care so that they can go out to work. But some people
When a parent leaves their child off at a daycare, they often wonder why their child who was happy and content before they arrived cries and screams when their parent leaves to go to work. This is a very hard transition for infants, which is why it's our job as infant toddler teachers to make the transition as comfortable and relaxing as possible.
Childcare centers are regulated by the government. Many states also have education and training requirements for teachers and caregivers.
Retrieved April 20, 2003, from http://www.steoltingco.com/tests/catolog/TKFGRS.htm. Anderson, Jeanne. (2002). The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the ' Selecting a Child Care Program. The electronic version of the.
Having a safe and healthy childcare setting is one of the most important duties in a daycare. Educators practising good healthy procedures is a good way for children to learn about healthy choices as educators are, good role models.
Each and every daycare has their own menu for the children’s breakfast and lunch. Through my observations, I have noticed that the “Don’t Worry Childcare” has a variety of food selections throughout the month. For example, the children could either choose from fruit loops cereal, or frosted flakes for breakfast. The children’s snacks eaten varies every day as well. For instance, the children ate milk and cookies one day, and cheese crackers another day. An example of lunch would be, milk, chicken fingers, French fries, green beans, and mixed fruit one day, and spaghetti, corn, peaches, and bread another day. I observed the children eat ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and peaches one day for lunch. All those food options seemed very delicious.
It is common knowledge that a parent is considered the most efficient caregiver for their children. It’s also known that with daily responsibilities of caring for a child financially, parents partake in full-time and/or part-time employment. While needing to do so, many children attend daycare/preschool facilities. Granted, it is the parent’s responsibility to cautiously select where they decide to take their children. This is because parents know that while they are away for numerous hours of the day, their children are in the hands of another care provider and that their care would have an enormous impact on their children. At a young age, a child’s social and cognitive skills are continuing to take shape and the amount of time spent in these facilities has a resilient impact on a child’s development. With proper and superior care no matter the time spent, such positive effects on a child’s development should endure in a child’s cognitive and social development. In other words, there is a great benefit of childcare/daycare attendance on a child’s development.
A fourth group that I affiliated with was my coworkers from the daycare I worked at. I worked in a preschool room that was full of four-year old’s. People who do not work with children would not be able to understand how much energy these children can have and why we love our job. The people I work with shared the same passion for children that I have. Knowing how much we love children can affect our ability when it comes to issues involving children. As child care workers, we want to do what we think is right for our students. Personally, getting to know the children that we care for can influence the decisions we make about them. For example, if one of your students is in an abusive home, as teachers, we want to make the right decision for them. People outside of the child care group do not understand how much effort and energy goes into teaching these children. Many parents drop their children off thinking that their child is just eating napping and playing. They think that their child knowing something new is like magic. Some parents believe that children learn by themselves as they get older and do not realize that daycare providers are teaching them various activities over and over, so they can remember and build on a skill. After working with this group of teachers, I will forever look at people working in different proffecions as unknowledgeable about child development.
The idea of taking children to day-care is unacceptable by a good number of people. They probably think this way, because daycare involves putting someone else in the ‘parenting’ picture; as far as spending time with, and caring for the child is concerned. However, this is not exactly negative. This is because day-care provides care for little children while their parents attend to other matters, such as attending school or working to earn a living. It is important for those people who discourage day care to realize that not all parents can afford to stay at home with their children all day, as much as they would like to. This is because they need to attend to other pressing matters. In the end, the child benefits from this as the living earned by the parent during this time, or even education earned during this time, will benefit the child in future.