I work hands on with child care providers in North Carolina. We work to increase the quality of care and create a brighter future for the children in our community. Part of what I see as a problem is that child care providers are not seen as professionals, make a VERY low wage, and have NO benefits such as health care and paid time off. They have very low education and it is very difficult to go back to school when you know that you will not be respected when you finish. These teachers (and they are teachers, not babysitters) often change jobs on a regular basis. Part of the behavior that is seen in the older classrooms is due to lack of consistency at an early age. If we give early childhood professionals more respect and opportunities to go back to school, you will find that this behavior will end.

It would be very easy to condemn the child care profession as a whole and say “this doesn’t work for children.” However, we have made great strides over the last 20 years to increase the quality of care for children. I was an early childhood teacher for 11 years and know how hard it can be. But I also know that the children that came out of my classroom were better prepared for public school than most of the children entering Kindergarten at the same time.

High Scope conducted the Perry Preschool Project and showed conclusively that high quality preschools have tremendous impact on children later in life.

I think that the solution is that parents need to be more aware and learn more about the system. Get involved in your children’s lives, go to the preschools, ask questions, learn about licensing and quality rating systems (lots of states have them!), ask the director for a copy of their philosophy, spend time in the classrooms and learn about what early childhood really is all about!