I am Thankful for Early Childhood Educators

I am thankful that we are able to bring my son to a high quality childcare center that is two blocks from our home and filled with toys, activities, and friends. Even if I didn't work, I know that he would do well in this environment.

I am especially thankful for his teachers. Besides changing diapers, wiping noses, and warming bottles, my son's teachers do the following: create a safe environment that can be explored freely; model how to treat each other gently and with patience; observe each child to learn individual signs for hunger, sleepiness, and boredom; determine how to react and care for a child who has fallen or bumped his head (in a class of infants learning to walk, this probably happens 100 times a day); plan developmentally appropriate activities for the babies to learn about the world around them; talk with anxious and stressed out first-time parents; monitor babies for constipation, allergic reactions, and illness; and of course, they make sure each child is loved.

I used to work at a childcare, so I know that the work is difficult and often underpaid. And while it is rewarding work, it is often thankless and undervalued work. The best way to show thanks? I believe that it makes a difference when teachers are paid a fair wage and have access to the same types of benefits and time-off that I have. After all, what they do from 9 to 5 is far more important than what I do--or what many of us do--during that time.