Why is the field of childcare so often belittled?

It has never felt good to hear people say, “All you do all day is watch kids.” First of all what do they mean, “All you do.” Working with children is a lot of work and definitely not given the credit it deserves. Working with children requires a lot of patience, understanding, improvising, creativity, and challenging different techniques that may or may not work.
Something that can often be very hard for an early childhood educator/caregiver is to express their frustration appropriately at work. Working with children is very different than working with adults. When working with children you cannot just sit down alone whenever you want or vent out to a co-worker all the time. A teacher/caregiver must learn to have control over even the strongest feelings and emotions and wait until an appropriate time and way to deal with them. Controlling one’s feelings is not always the easiest things to do.
Everything that is said and done must be done very cautiously. Just as the book New Possibilities gives the example of a fifth grade girl who was so excited for her blue ashtray and her teacher embarrassed her greatly when it blew up. Instead of creating a learning opportunity about how the air in clay can make it explode when it is being fired, she made her student feel terrible and it is an experience that has stuck with the student.
Also, anyone who says that this field is not very challenging has obviously never worked at an early childcare setting. Yes, it is very fun, and rewarding to work with children but the reward comes through hard work. Being an early childhood educator/caregiver means being able to not only think on your feet but to come up with solutions that are age appropriate and necessary. What is easiest is not always the best technique.
There is also the constant need to challenge things and find newer and perhaps better methods for different practices. This is truly a profession that should not be entered into lightly. A person who likes children will not always be the best person to leave in charge of children. This job requires a lot and there is not always anything given back in return. The reward has to be something.
To anyone who thinks that working with young children is a lesser job and that anyone can do it, you are seriously wrong and the easiest way to change your mind is to simply have you try it and see.

Kawai's Blog

Hello Everyone and Welcome to my blog. I am very excited for this semester and I think it is so much fun that we get to do our work on blogs. I think this is way more fun and we get to make our own page. I took a class with Jeanne last semester and we did blogs. It just seems more fun to check a blog than to check the regular messages. I hope you all have a great semester and try to have fun.

Remember to Smile

Kawai