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Quality child care is defined as a Degree of Excellence! It’s not about quantity (the number of students), but an environment where Health and Safety are set at a higher standard. It’s an environment based on

 Uril Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System: Where teachers understand the importance of building fundamental relationships with their students and creating a classroom environment that is rich in literacy and communication. Where parents and stakeholders are involved.  

It’s not based on the number of books or toys in the classroom but how each book and toy is used to developmentally enhance every child’s social, emotional, cognitive, fine and gross motor skills.

It’s an environment where parents are involved in their children’s education. They share not only with their children but every child in the classroom. Whether it is reading a book, planting in the garden boxes, or chaperoning field trips. Where every child is engaged in age-appropriate special activities (soccer, yoga, etc.). Not just those whose parents can afford to pay, but every child. So no child is truly left behind!

There is an African Proverb that states “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” in Quality versus Quantity it takes that same Village to Educate One!  

What causes parents to struggle with child care versus home care? Perhaps it is the horror stories they hear about the mistreatment of children, the guilt parents experience if their child’s early years were not spent at home with mom or it can be the strong emotional attachment some parents develop that is so strong that they cannot bear anyone else to watch their child.

Studies show quality of care and relationships with caregivers make a big difference. There is encouraging research that when children are cared for at home for the first nine to eighteen months and have high-quality care situations, they do much better in childcare. Evidence also shows that these children have better relationships with teachers and do not have cortisol changes than those who started childcare at six weeks.     

There are many and I cannot list all of them in this blog so I will list a couple that I feel will be inspiring to those that read:

•  Prepare students to become lifelong learners
•  Create a learning environment where there is an enthusiasm for learning
• Show students how to connect theory to practice 
• They understand the importance of using instructional strategies that appropriately address the different learning styles.

One must realize that an effective educator has more than knowledge and experience, but possesses love and compassion for education and educating others. They have the ability to mirror an image that is positive and are willing to mentor students to become great educators.

A lot of parents feel pressured that their toddler is not reciting their ABC’s so they pressure their child’s teacher to teach them while they drill the child at home with the ABC song. Not realizing that the child is only memorizing a song and that does not verify that they know their ABC’s. Why? Because they cannot identify them. There are studies from credited speech therapists and developmental psychologists that show under the age of four it is not a major crisis for a child not to be interested in learning their alphabets and I concur. Although I do encourage reading daily with your child: it helps build vocabulary, teaches listening skills, it’s a great way for the two of you to spend time together.