Would you ever compare your child's daycare teacher with a teenage niece who you had watch the kids on a Friday night? You may ask, how is such a question necessary? Who would place the two in the same category? It may sound like an illogical conversation but the unfortunate reality is that early education workers are simply not seen as professionals. Interesting? Kind of. What's truly interesting is that the field of education ranks in the top ten of earned bachelor's degree in the United States, yet questions about comparing these professionals with our summer babysitters do arise.
Brain development doesn't start when your child begins kindergarten but long before. Early education professionals have most American children in their care from six weeks old until the child is school age ready (4-5 years old). Studies are showing us today that proper (and professional) care at these early stages of life are vital to cognitive learning as well as social and emotional skills. A great example is how a child care's circle time activity with children translate into strong daily routine building when they become adults. The observation of these nuances are documented everyday by child care professionals as well as the application of early learning techniques that give children educational foundation.
Child care professionals are credentialed and must meet certain requirements in order to work in the field of early education. Our young niece does not have such requirements and though we do love her, she has only a job of maintaining safety for our children until we return home. An early education professional is a brain developer and nurturer. Early educators become partners to parents with all foundational learning (potty training, schedule awareness, colors, numbers etc..). What we expect from our child care professionals far differ from that of a babysitter and the perceived image should be different as well. Our teachers of higher education should be given credit and esteem for enhancing well developed minds, as should early educators for developing those minds first.
Thanks for reading,
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ECK (Early Care Knowledge)
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