The
Importance of Good Family Child Care
___________________________________________________________________________________________
An Essay by
Jeanna Beker,
Director, The Soho Center
Each
of
us comes to the child care field with our own personality, background,
and life experience. And each of us has to figure out many
things
about children, parents, business, and ourselves in order to
successfully
provide quality child care.
Here's my story and some of my
thoughts.
My experience
in the child care field began over 40 years ago. I
worked briefly in Head
Start, became a family child care provider for toddlers and
pre-schoolers,
and then founded and directed the largest early childhood program in
New
York City for 17 years (with programs for infants through
pre-kindergarten).
I established several child care centers (including for the United
Nations),
organized after-school enrichment programs, taught parent education
classes,
trained teachers, led numerous workshops for family child care
providers,
offered providers a range of child care-related services, and developed
child-related media and print materials for providers, parents, and
child
care organizations nationwide.
As a result,
I look at the child care field from a lot of vantage points.
Here's
some of what I see.
America's
"family life" has changed for so many children in unfortunate ways.
More
and more children are entering full-time child care (and at an earlier
age). And our society seems too often to accept declining
standards
and lowered expectations as the norm. I am saddened (but not
surprised)
that national research shows that most young children in this country
are getting inadequate care and attention in child care
centers and family
child care homes. So many children are failing to form
trusting relationships
and to learn what they need to learn to be ready to start school
successfully.
The consequences
are enormous. From personal experience, I know how hard it is
to
run a quality child care program each and every day for every
child.
I also know it can be done and must be done - for a handful
of children
at a time - by every child care provider who cares. Since the
majority
of children in child care in America are in family child care, each
handful
of these children who get quality care adds up and makes a
difference.
And that's
why family child care providers like you are so important.
With understanding
and sincere respect for your complex job of being a provider, I offer
you
a handful of suggestions for providing quality child care.
Meet
Your State Regulations
Child care codes reflect basic, minimum standards - mostly to help
ensure children's health and safety (and also so children of different
ages get a reasonable amount of attention and the size of the group is
manageable). If you've met your state regulations (and gotten
voluntarily
registered or licensed), you've taken an important step in the right
direction.
Now, hopefully, you'll keep improving different aspects of your program
and do even more than the minimum standards require. If
you're not
regulated, call your state's Department of Social Services and they'll
tell you how to get started. Thousands of providers in every state have
successfully gotten regulated. And you can too!
Get
on the USDA Child Care Food Program
No matter what your family income, the Food Program pays you to
feed kids nutritious meals and snacks. It's part of the
National
School Lunch Act. If you've met your state's regulations, you're
entitled
to be on it. You'll get nutrition education and money each month to
help
pay for healthy food for the kids in your care. There are
about 200,000
providers (of all income levels) nationwide who have joined the Food
Program.
They know how important and helpful it is to get that extra
money
each month - to feed kids well, to keep their rates affordable, and to
earn enough to stay in business. Kids get better food, and
you get
a check each month.
If you're on the Food Program, stay on it!
Even with various legislative changes, you'll still come out
ahead. And
if you're not on the Food Program, join! Call the USDA's
National
Child Nutrition Program at 1-703-305-2600 to learn how. It's
really
worth doing!
Take
Care of Business
You're running a home-based busines, and it's important to learn about
record-keeping and all your allowable tax
deductions. Why?
By doing things right, you'll be legal with the IRS and keep more
of
your hard-earned money when tax time comes around. What else
should
you do? Act like a professional. Get business
insurance, publicize
your services, and have written parent contracts.
(Check out the Soho Center's DVD, The Business of Family Child
Care for some great tips. For more information, call
the Soho Center at 540-923-5012 or Click Here.)
Make
Use of Available Resources
There are many free and low-cost resources to help you run a quality
child care program. Unfortunately, most providers - even
those who have been in the child care field five years or more - don't
know about these available resources. That's why we've
compiled the National Child Care Resource Directory, now in its 5th
Edition. (You can get a copy for a very modest price from the Soho
Center. For more information, call the Soho Center at
540-923-5012 or Click Here.)
Keep
Learning
No one knows everything about children and child care.
Whether
you're a parent or a grandparent, a new provider or very
experienced,
there's always more to learn. Whenever you can, attend
training sessions on infant-child CPR, child development,
age-appropriate activities,
health and safety, business issues, you-name-it. Read books,
brochures,
magazine articles, and newsletters about children and child
care.
Meet other providers at training sessions and by joining a child care
association.
(You're in the same profession, face many similar situations, and have
a lot of practical information to share with each other.)
Each day, learn from your experiences.
Think about what works
and what doesn't. Notice what children are doing, saying,
feeling,
and needing. Whenever possible, ask yourself (and others)
three related
questions -
- "What can I do to make my
program even better?"
- "What else can I do for each child?"
- "How can I best communicate with
parents and keep
them involved?"
Keep
Teaching
You're not a babysitter. You're one of the most important
people in the world to the children in your care. Nowadays,
many
young children spend the bulk of their waking hours in child
care.
They depend on providers like you - along with their parents - to keep
them healthy and safe and to help them learn everything they need to
know.
Although it's a big responsibility, it's a wonderful opportunity to
make
a difference in children's lives. Good child care providers
need
to be good teachers - helping others learn, want to learn, feel capable
of learning. As a provider, you can be a good teacher for
each child
in your care. You can also be a good teacher for parents and
other
providers - sharing what you know.
Each of us has a lot to offer -
if only we would. And each of us has a lot to gain when we
do.
Please remember; what you do is important - so make it the best that
you can!
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