Child care has become an increasingly important factor in America. Having children may sometimes come with a price to pay, especially with the increasing number of working women today. Finding child care is one of the most challenging hurdles to cross in parenting. Leaving a child in the care of another person means that you entrust the person with the task of keeping the child safe while at their responsibility. While the issue of trust is a significant concern for parents, the quality in child care centers also raises concern and questions. It is therefore essential that one considers many factors before settling for a facility that would best suit their children.

The definition of what quality in child care entails may vary from one parent to another.  Children’s abilities or family cultures can sometimes dictate parent’s definitions of quality child care with the need for them to be respected. However, for most parents, positive experience is the overall definition of quality care. A quality childcare facility should strive for the best in every child. It would be difficult for one teacher to supervise and take care of about twenty children at one go. Children are people who crave constant attention and seek to be lovingly taken care of, talked to and played with frequently. The setting should, therefore, have a low child to teacher ratio, and small groups of children in a particular room. Based on the interests of each child’s ages and teacher’s realistic expectations on children’s activities, a written curriculum should be established. The facility should also have guidance techniques and ensure that children learn positive behaviors.

The early years of a child’s life are crucial for their development. Babies need to be nurtured just as they need to be kept safe. As much as a parent must nurture the babies at home, the economic situation of our country is making it difficult to for them to do so. Most of the baby’s times get spent in the company of the caregivers, with the parents trying to juggle between working and taking care of their children. Growing babies need constant and close supervision. Safety hazards are some of the things that the environment should be free of. Knowing how active children can become, caregivers should be in a position to offer first aid and CPR. A strategy should be developed whereby regular drills are held, and a preparedness plan for an emergency setting should be available. The provision of a stimulating environment ensures that children’s needs get a response.

The health of children is an integral part of the child development process. By feeding children with a variety of nutritious foods, their developing bodies and brains are supported. Quality childcare, with the help of parents, should ensure that children are fed with building foods at the right time ensuring consistency. Keeping it consistent on daily activities with children helps in building and boosting their trust. When children grow up with the sense of confidence, they respond readily to communication helping them to learn and grow. Since children are delicate, they are more prone to get infected easily by diseases.  Teachers should know how to handle matters like infectious diseases. Health and safety procedures like hand washing should be insisted on.  The children should also be involved in more activities that nurture them to become reliable and dependable persons. Children should be provided with outdoors and indoor activities that challenge both their minds and physical body. Quality child care also ensures that children develop social attachments with their fellows. Helping children make friends has a significant impact on the control of their emotions.

In finding quality child care facilities, parents, children, employers, and the country end up benefitting greatly. High-quality childcare facilities provide tranquility and peace of mind for parents. Peace of mind, in turn, reduces the parents stress levels, giving them freedom from stress, anxieties, and worries which enables them to be more productive. Efficiency at workplaces is crucial because it is one way of keeping consumers satisfied while earning a living. Peace of mind also gives people the capability of thinking of boosting their thoughts and creative flow. Calm people tend to reason with much forethought and can find solutions to various problems — thinking before acting speaks volumes on the communication of a person because they have a clearer mind. If a parent can communicate clearly to the rest of the world, it means that children will benefit from the same. Being calm can boost one’s happiness because it reflects emotional and life control characteristics. When the country has more productive people and healthy people, the economy is affected positively.

The incomes of parents vary, so does their number of children. Both high and low income earning parents may need childcare. The case also applies to one-child parents and the more than one child parents. The issue of affordability comes in to play when one considers the aspect of income and children. Quality and affordability are two terms that rarely go together in childcare provision. The issue of quality versus cost and convenience has taken a toll on many low income earning parents. Low-cost options may benefit the parents, but they may not necessarily meet the standards of good child care. Low-income families have often opted for the prospect of relying on unlicensed people like neighbors and grandparents to provide much-needed child care. Children tend to learn a lot from their environment. They tend to develop an attachment through language and communication. They may also end up acquiring undesirable behaviors that would be difficult to change at an older stage of life. Teachers who have a formal education and training on how best to handle and mentor child development would be the best option. However, if such options may be difficult to come by, options like Head Start Programs would provide ideal yet affordable care.

Child care in the United States leaves a lot of room for change. While the importance of quality child care cannot be debated upon nor stressed enough, there are a lot of barriers experienced by parents in their quest to finding quality child care. Every parent, for the good of their children and all American children, should begin advocating for change through various channels like social media. When people start to speak out and telling their stories, it makes a difference. It may also offer a persuasive power over decision makers in the United States on child care. Decision makers if convinced enough, may make a move to provide funds that would enable child care subsidies to provide quality care for our children. Nevertheless, no parent should choose to leave the responsibility of childcare at the hands of a teacher. Quality facility or not, nurturing great minds and education starts and ends at home.

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