One of the big problems of early childhood is separation. Children want to be near parents. They like to play near the parent, sleep if they can near the parent, and enjoy the parent's time and energy any time they can.
Let's face it, child care separates a child from his parents, and sometimes it's a problem because children WANT to be at home.
I read a lot about early childhood, about centers, about toys, about programs and the lack of programs, and one thing I've learned, no toy, no building, no program will fill the heart of a child quite like a person. Children will go to childcare because of people - not things.
That's what the downfall of childcare is - a lack of people who remain in a child's life. The average length of a childcare worker is about three months. Turnover in childcare is the national disgrace. It's a hard job and no amount of education will make it an easy job. It's a hard job.
Throwing money at early childhood programs, at education, at facilities in hopes of making them four or five star gigs won't.
In an American childcare world, the successful development of a childcare facility has to come not from investors who can afford it, not from the public school system that picks itself up off the failure floor more times than anyone wants to admit, and not from any part of a faceless state.
A successful program comes from home. People who develop good programs begin in the home and stretch out, reach out to the community. It's their love and their consistency and their understanding that makes a place children want to go to because that's where the child finds someone who loves them.
Just a thought on Valentine's Day - Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Did you know he was a real person who was beheaded for teaching the emperor's daughter, who he loved, about Christ who he also loved? Second Century, I believe.
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