TEACHERS

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for continuing to provide high-quality child care in the face of systemic failure. You deserve better.

I know you want to advocate for the children you serve. I also know how tired and frustrated you must be. I was a full-time child care provider for almost 50 years.

With more and more high-quality providers leaving the field due to a lack of respect, wages lower than dog groomers, impossible ratios, and licensing rules that harm instead of support good providers, it may seem a bit hopeless. Things aren't better for us now than they were 50 years ago. Our jobs have gotten so hard that no one wants to do them, especially not for poverty-level wages.

But the children deserve better. If they don't get it, we'll see the results in society within a few short years. Even the lucky 10% whose parents can find and afford high-quality care will have to deal with the results of the other 90%. Lack of quality supervision in child care situations leads to bullying. That's why we need better ratios than mandated by the states.

The bottom line is that parents need to know what's really going on during the day in the programs where their children spend so much time. We need their support. If they think everything is fantastic because we're such talented teachers, and we can pull it off, they might just get cozy and wait until their children go to grade school to advocate.

Child care is about to hit rock bottom as fewer parents will be able to find care. Now is the time to work together and encourage them to advocate for their own and for our rights. We need to keep the talented people we have in the field as well as attract new talent. This is not happening as of now.

NAEYC, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, has ideas for involving parents in our advocacy work.

The state of Michigan is experimenting with a program called Tri-Share, in which one-third of child care costs are paid by the employer, one-third by the state government, and one-third by parent tuition. Here's the link to an article about that.

There is hope for child care. There has to be. The alternative is that women who work outside the home leave the workforce altogether. What a waste of good talent!

If you're a teacher and you feel like you're being put through the wringer each day, here is an idea, backed by science, that might help you cope.

Take just one minute each morning to reflect on why you decided to teach.  

Please click on the gift box for a special self-care treat! You really do deserve it.

Nanci J Bradley is an early childhood and family educator, author, teacher, family aerobics instructor, and an all-around fun-loving person. She believes in the power of sleep, healthy eating, lifelong learning, and most of all, PLAY!  She studied early childhood ed at Triton College and received her BS in education in 1986 from NIU. She received her MA in human dev from Pacific Oaks College in 2011. She lives and teaches in Madison WI and is the founder of early childhood rocks, a non-profit org dedicated to creating change through early childhood