The Staff At Licensed Day Care Centers Are Not The Same As Babysitters
Caring for children, whether they be your own or someone else's
, is an awesome responsibility. Those responsible, intrepid individuals who care for children by providing basic care and individual attention, all the while teaching an age-appropriate academic program coupled with some heavy duty nurturing deserve everyone's applause. These angels on earth even manage to hone the social skills from the smallest toddler in the group right up to the belligerent older bully. We teach, love and nurture our own children with varying success at times. What must it be like to do the same for twenty kids that start out as strangers?In most states, child daycare centers are closely regulated. Human Services agencies or Child Welfare agencies are charged with monitoring and licensing of these facilities, which are considered businesses with an emphasis on care. In a licensed center, applicants for staff positions are required to meet minimum educational requirements which are often equivalent to those of a public school teacher. It is not uncommon to find a Bachelor's or even a Master's level educator seated on the floor with the two-year-olds. Even infants are given the benefit of specialists in education techniques for children in their age group.
In addition to highly educated staff, there is also likely to be a contingent of younger workers who may often seem not much older than their young charges. Daycare is a vocation which seems to attract young women and many of them take college classes part time while spending the rest of the day utilizing the skills they are learning. Young children seem to enjoy these student-teachers, as they have the youth and energy to play along with them. Gross motor skills are allowed to develop in the company of staff who run and jump and dance right along with the kids!
Licensing regulations in most areas also require close examination of criminal records. While not all legal involvement is reason for disqualification from employment in a licensed daycare center, anything involving violence or child endangerment is a red flag that would bar the applicant from working with young children. The agency that licenses the facility may scrutinize state police records, or may go so far as to require fingerprinting for FBI review. Even volunteers must undergo background checks, so parents may be assured that the sweet grandma rocking their baby to sleep has been cleared by law enforcement and child welfare authorities.
A prudent parent should always take the time and energy to investigate the daycare center they are considering for the care of their children. An interview with the center's director should include inquiries about the staff that would be involved with their child, and perhaps an informal visit to the classroom. A parent would then be able to make an estimation as to how their child might interact with classmates. The staff in that classroom should be able to answer individual questions as well.
Most state Child Welfare agencies have information available to the general public much like the Better Business Bureau for businesses. Many have a hotline that can be accessed to determine whether there have been complaints against a particular daycare center, and the center's individual licensing agent should be able to answer questions regarding the center's operations. The center's director should be able to direct a parent to a person within the licensing agency that can help them.
Assuming the responsibility for caring for someone else's children is not to be taken lightly. The vast majority of licensed daycare centers understand this, and put forth the necessary efforts to maintain educated and ethical employees. Being able to receive and verify information regarding the people that will have this responsibility makes a parent's decision to place their child in licensed daycare much less frightening and more comforting for everyone involved.
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