What kind of person are you?

[playfelt]

Closing in on about 28 years in daycare and of course have seen caregivers come and go about as often as the kids come and go in care. Yes it does take a certain kind of person to do this job. You have to have a love and compassion for kids and a desire to nurture them towards being productive adults but at the same time you have to be able to remember your place and purpose and not let it get lost in being a mother to the children. The providers that have a hard time in care are the ones that see themselves as making up for a parent's lack of parenting, of thinking they have to do it all to impress others - sort of like they never left the corporate world. It becomes more about the caregiver and her image to others and then she becomes devastated when the world doesn't really care. Many overdue everything from meals to crafts to their daycare setup to their training trying to reach perfection and burn themselves out mentally and physically because they can not find the proper life balance. At the same time you can not do daycare if you see it "just as a job" because it isn't the type of job you can separate yourself from - especially if you are also a mother as days and evenings and weekends start to blend together.

For sure organization is one of the key skill traits for a provider. It takes a lot of thinking and planning and execution to keep 5 plus kids happy, healthy, and content for 10 hours a day in a home that was meant to serve a different purpose than a made for daycare centre. It means knowing when to ignore the crumbs on the floor and when to insist the shoes be lined up in pairs for quick access. Being able to see the big picture and not just the petty squabbles of the day is another skill - 2 year olds are just like that and some day eventually they will grow out of that annoying trait. Being an organized daycare provider also means knowing you can't be the saviour/martyr of the daycare world and acting accordingly.

As much as I have seen some try out daycare going into it with rose coloured glasses as they say - most coming off their maternity leave thinking it will be a wonderful compromise - paid to spend more time with their own chid I also applaud those that realize they made a mistake and stop doing daycare rather than continue and make everyone miserable or do irreparable damage to the mentality of those they have in care by making them feel they are being a burden to be cared for.