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Commentary
Childcare work prepares parents
By Carol Seavey
Published:
Monday, November 25, 2002
Carol Seavey -- Staff Essay
During my three years working at a childcare center in a casino, I have learned a lot about children.
I cared for three-month-old infants through 12-year-old-kids. I served meals, entertained with games and crafts and solved disputes.
Every child is different. Some were shy, others outgoing. Some could handle a little name-calling from other kids and some cried the instant their parents left.
I also learned about how to be a bad parent. For instance, leave your child screaming in the childcare center then go gambling in the casino. Do not check on your kids, ever. Do not respond to numerous pages when your child has a temperature of 102 degrees. Pick your child up a half an hour past closing (at 1 a.m.) while they cry because nobody loves them.
Another way to be a bad parent is to take your one-and-a-half-year-old son on a pontoon boat for two hours without sunscreen or a hat. Bring the child to daycare, as red and throbbing as Rudolph’s nose. Leave child there for five hours. As marble-sized blisters begin to form as he wimpers and cries, let the childcare workers take care of him. When workers page you and notify you of their concern, don’t let it ruin your weekend! Drop your son off again the next day, until the paramedics have to be summoned to explain the severity of your child’s burn.
The parents who were drunk when picking up their kids were even better. We sometimes asked their spouse to come if they were too drunk. But, as long as they could function, we would hand over their kids, hoping that they were staying in the connected hotel.
We had one toddler who would scream all the time. Nothing would calm him. When we paged his mother she said that he was “just talking. He’s just frustrated with the world and letting out his emotions.” She thought we should let him “vent” while the other babies tried to sleep. He was obviously trying to communicate something more specific, like “Mom, take me home.”
The older kids, if left alone for even a minute, would fight. I learned what to do in emergency situations. Kids would get bloody noses, bumps on their heads and other minor scrapes. One girl ran up to me with her hands covering her face as blood trickled down her chin. She moved her hands, revealing that two teeth had been knocked out of her mouth. Yeah, it was gross, but I still had to calm her down.
More importantly, I learned a lot about babies. I couldn’t rely on children of the same age having the same capabilities. They were all at different stages and had to be calmed in different ways. One baby would cry every moment that he wasn’t being held.
We put little stickers on the baby’s bottles and nooks to identify who they belonged to. While sucking on a nook, a baby got the sticker in his mouth. I knew it was there and tried to get it out. Afraid that I would do it wrong, I asked another employee and mother to get it out. With one quick sweep, she gently retrieved the sticker from his throat. I guess it takes a mother to do some things.
The most difficult age group was kids between two and four years old. At that age, they are old enough to play, but aren’t yet interested in playing with other children. That meant I had to entertain them.
They weren’t all tough lessons, though. Working with kids is stress relieving. If they needed someone to play with and we weren’t too busy, I would jump in the ball pit or climb through the tubes, laughing or playing with the kids. All of a sudden, homework and drama didn’t exist. The most important thing in life is who can jump higher or getting Tommy’s train tracks to fit together. It reminded me about what really matters in life; friends, fun and feeling good.
It prepared me for having my own kids, too.
Of course, caring for other people’s kids isn’t the same as having your own. Other people’s kids eventually have to go home!
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