Occasional news reports blast indept daycare operations. Recent studies tie the hours a kid is in care to aggression later. But past the bad headline or horror story, the happy truth is that most early education programs provide a nuturing and positive experience for youngsters. Early childhood educators today are often more educated, better trained, have greater safety awareness, and are more experienced than in the past. And beyond that, they typically love what they do, which is to care for kids and help them soar! Here are reasons to feel good about what your kid does why you're at work.
No longer is child care for young children simply babysitting. Child care centers have mostly transitioned to centers for early education, where young tots are involved with early learning. The trend to learning centers is partly due to high parent and school expectations; it's also attributable to research that shows that kids are capable of learning early academics and other skills that previously were not taught until later.
While no system is absolutely fail safe, and occasional stories will continue to occur about child pornographers or sex offenders found to be working around children, the truth is that most child care providers are increasing measures to protect children in their charge. Increased security concerning picking up of children, additional background checks and screenings being done on prospective employees, and more surveillance and monitoring (both overt as well as the covert varieties) are helping to increase safety.
It's hard enough to find quality child care when you work traditional weekday hours. But what happens when you have rotating shifts, require overtime, or have to go out of town? About one-third of employees with young children work evenings, weekends, variable shifts, or more or less than 40 hours a week? While finding care during non-peak hours is often still difficult, more child care providers are beginning to offer more flexible hours to keep up with parent demand and provide a valued service.
Parents today can consider a wider menu of child care choices, and many families are choosing to use a variety of care options based on current needs. Some families may use a nanny for an infant, an in-home provider for a toddler, and then switch to a care center for a preschooler. Some families use one type of care during the school year and then another for summer months. Occasional care service options can include babysitters, drop-in care, specified parent night out nights, and even child care co-ops.
In today's instantaneous, "tell me now" society, communications between child care provider and parent continue to strengthen. Where once a month newsletters used to suffice in addition to daily greetings and goodbyes, child care providers are using a variety of tools to provide parents with ongoing information about their child's day. Some providers create websites where they post monthly menus, weekly day-by-day activities, and even behavioral reports. Others provide parents with a daily update that is then emailed (written during naptime). Even with technology, face-to-face communications is still the best.
