By Frankie Seitz

Each day our most precious resource, children, spend their days being influenced by adults that are not directly members of their family. Thousands of young children in B.C. spend the majority of their day in childcare. Some can spend up to 14 hours a day in a childcare program. The people we entrust our children with are childcare providers!

Childcare providers are so much more than babysitters. Most have received training, education, and work in programs that are provincially monitored, regulated and specifically designed to encourage young children to grow and develop to the best of their ability. Yet, childcare remains one of the most under paid and under recognized professions.

The daycare workforce is predominantly female. The average center-based childcare educator earns minimum wage or just above that, despite their years of education. Even the providers who are likely to have a degree relating to child development and several years of experience, earn only $15 to $20 an hour.

Family childcare and Registered License Not Required (RLNR) providers, who care for small groups of children in their homes, earn even lower wages. Despite a high exposure to illness on the job, very few childcare providers have access to a medical plan, and even fewer have a pension plan. Many are expected to work nine plus hours a day without breaks, and program planning is often done on their own time without pay. Yet, many providers choose the profession, and to stay in the profession, not because of the money, benefits or recognition, but because they have a heart and love for children and that outweighs any wage or financial benefit!

The B.C. government has declared that May is Child Care Month and has set aside Thursday, May 18 as Childcare Provider Appreciation Day!

What does this mean for you? If you are a parent who has a child in a childcare program you can show your appreciation to your child care provider(s) with a very inexpensive gift/gesture.

You can appreciate your child care provider by taking a moment to remind them how much they mean to you and your child. A simple card or gift made by the child would be cherished for years to come. Or a small and simple gift that supports their work or help them “pamper” themselves would be appreciated too. Keep it simple! If you are not a parent you can still appreciate the people who care for children by celebrating them! If you know someone who works in childcare you can thank them, encourage them, and appreciate them. After all they are caring for your future! If you don’t know anyone who works in child care you can still celebrate them by encouraging the profession, saying “Hi” when you see a child care group cross the street, or simply smiling at a child!

If it were not for child care providers people would not be able to have their daily needs met! For example, your doctor, retail worker, truck driver, coffee barista, teacher, server, etc. all possibly need child care so they can do their job! So, for the month of May let’s celebrate the individuals who make it easier for “us” to have our needs met by meeting the needs of our children!

Ode to Day Care
Little children come to me for hugs and books and such
I care for all their simple needs and I also fix them lunch.
I pick up toys, I mop their spills and often dry their tears.
I change their diapers, settle fights, and kiss away their tears
I tie their shoes, I button coats and push them on the swing.
I really love these kids you see but there is just one more thing
Call me Mom or Aunt or Florence, and those names just might fit.
But please don’t call me SITTER because I never get to SIT!
~ author unknown

– Frankie Seitz is the East Kootenay Child Care Resource and Referral (EKCCRR) Consultant

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