The hardest job a parent has is having a job.
It would be pretty awesome if being a parent also entitled you to an unlimited amount of time with your child. This is a lucky truth (I would hope) for some families, but the majority of families with children have two working parents bringing in the bread on a regular basis, and having a job means that someone else is going to care for your precious little angel while you're away.
You accounted for this when you decided (or maybe you didn't) to have a baby in the first place. You thought about how you were going to make money to raise your mini-me, what you were going to dress them in, what rules you were going to set, what type of diapers you were going to use, etc., including who was going to care for them while you had to work. You sat on google for hours researching nannies and childcare options only to feel overwhelmed with the thought of anyone laying a hand on your porcelain prince/princess.
Eventually, time caught up and you had to make a decision. You chose an early childhood education center. Essentially a daycare on steroids. One day a friend of a friend recommended this place and so you showed up after a 45 minutes conversation with the assistant director to tour a seemingly small building where you felt surprisingly small yourself, considering how many kids were actually playing inside.
This place is great, and affordable, but I don't know if I can trust these people...
So, I have a few thoughts, as someone who you decided to trust with your child while you slave over a hot whatever to provide for your little munchkin.
It's okay to cry!
If you think you're the only parent who burst into tears weeks before you actually dropped your child off for the first time, think again. No one* is judging your smeared makeup and red eyes when you show up on the first day, completely unready to leave the building because maybe this was all just a huge mistake. People cry over a lot of stupid things, but leaving your child in someone else's care is a completely justified reason to cry. Your child's teachers are touched and happy that you love your child so much, so let it out. We have PLENTY of tissues on hand.
*unless you're not so nice.
We will ask simple questions, and answer all of yours.
Despite what some people might think, teachers are not experts, especially when it comes to YOUR child. It may seem really silly when we ask how much diaper cream to use, or when we ask if your child uses a pacifier, because these things are just second nature to you as their parent, but to us this is a tiny human with their own tiny human needs a quirks, and we want to make sure they are getting the same TLC they would get when their butt is red.
In the same respect, it is more than welcomed when you ask questions of us as well. If you need to know how many plies of paper are our tissues, we will go find one and count if we don't know. Trust me, the questions we are asked are numerous, so don't think we haven't been asked before or been asked much worse. We don't want you to be concerned about the welfare of your child while you're gone, so bring the list of questions you thought of while you couldn't sleep last night, and we will work through it.
Your child is going to get sick.
It is a hard thing to explain to people WHY kids get sick as often as they do. The answer is actually pretty simple:
They. Touch. Everything.
If you have a young one who is with other little ones all day, there is bound to be some sort of swap of grossness at some point during the day. Granted, as a part of health and safety, kids wash their hands at school/daycare probably more than you do throughout the day. Before and after eating, going outside, going to the bathroom, crafts, and whenever else they are downright dirty, is a good time to use some soap and water. We don't believe in hand sanitizer...it simply isn't the same.
Long story short: your kid is going to get sick. Every few weeks or months getting better as they get older. We sympathize with having to pick up a sick child when you're in the middle of a project at work, but we know that YOU know it's important.
We genuinely love seeing your child grow.
There is nothing more rewarding as a teacher than experiencing the growth of the kids. When they learn new things like words, how to walk, how to count, and how to share, it is an amazing reminder of why it is we do what we do. We will celebrate the wins with you and mourn any failures that may arise while your child is in our care, but rest assured we are rooting for them!
We mean it when we say we love your children.
Every day I get to hold a child in my arms with sleepy or teary eyes and experience the true happiness that is loving a child. I am not this child's parent, and they will eventually grow up and move on with life and probably forget about me, but when your toddling baby falls to the floor and cries, it really does break my heart, just as seeing them get back up again makes me glow. There are many children in my care, but there is surely room for all of them in my heart.
