Back to Childcare

Back in 1984 when i first began teaching 4/5 yearolds in a "daycare" center, i was paid $4/hour and was alone with 20 children from 9-5. i was so happy to have that job. After graduate school and teaching first grade, i began to look down on Childcare centers. Enter the second decade of the new millenium and i found myself longing for the good old days when i taught in a daycare center. i found myself begging for childcare jobs. Now you've got to know that the pc term is childcare not daycare. To quote an early childhood professional, "We care for children not days. Anyway, i now find myself spending this summer in a very pleasant childcare center having alot of fun and laughing more than i've laughed at my last two years teaching Preschool. Back in the 70-80's when i was in college and teaching at some excellent schools children attended preschool so they could play with their friends, sing nursery rhymes, blow bubbles, paint pictures and have milk and cookies for snacks. Fast forward to 2008-2009, it is no longer enough to finger paint and sing. Nooooooooooo parents now want their three and four year olds to attend bilingual schools where they learn to read/write, add/ subtract AND multiply before they enter first grade. Back to childcare, where i spent this week turning a box into a spaceship, fingerpainting with foam paint, and watching kids have a blast playing in a ballpit. As a whole we take ourselves way too seriously and we are stressing out our kids making mountains out of developmental milestones. When your husband proposed to you did he want to know how old you were when you began to read? At your last job interview did your prospective employer ask you how old you were when you were potty trained? Come on people, we're taking ourselves way too seriously!!!!!!!! Thank God, i had the sense to go back my daycare roots where i can sing, laugh and play with my students again. Oh, by the way, today they saw bees making honey, mixed blue and yellow to make green and read The Honey Bee and the Robber. How's that for learning?