When there are too many children, shared experience and discovery through play are inhibited. Children look lost and wander aimlessly, not quite knowing what to do.
As the number of infants in a group goes up, so do noise level, stimulation, and general confusion. We create chaos and confusion when we put too many infants or toddlers in one group, even with an appropriate number of adult caregivers. In order to create and sustain intimacy in group child care, we must address six key components of early group experience. The conviction that “I am someone who is paid attention to” becomes part of the infant or toddler’s identity. When a caregiver reads and responds to the young child’s messages with sensitivity, the child’s hunger to be understood is satisfied. In the day-to-day give and take of good infant/ toddler child care, children and their caregivers relate in a way that looks much like a dance, with the child leading, the caregiver picking up the rhythm and following. It doesn’t happen in “school” it happens in a continuing relationship with a caregiver. The process of forming a strong positive identity should occur in a setting that offers security, protection, and intimacy. Part of what the infant gets from the caregiver is a sense of who that caregiver is this sense is incorporated into the infant’s own definition of self. Simply put, a preschooler has already formed a pretty solid sense of identity, with definite likes, dislikes, inclinations and attitudes, but an infant or toddler is forming his or her sense of identity. This is not the result of evil intent but, rather, a failure to understand the profound differences between a preschooler and an infant. Caregivers are seen as “teachers.” Such programs tend to be too large and too impersonal for infants. The result is caregiving settings that look like preschool-classes, yearly movement from one “grade” to the next, and few links with families’ childrearing practices. Over the past several decades, many infant/toddler child care programs have been created by well-intentioned people who are unfamiliar with infants (often individuals who ran preschool or traditional child care programs). Unless and until we treat group care of infants and toddlers as a profession and provide funds for training, careful staff selection, and supervision-as well as for worthy wages-we cannot expect to achieve high quality care.
We still demand that caregivers get their training on Saturdays or after the work day is over. Despite overwhelming research evidence for the social benefits of high quality infant/toddler child care and family support, we are not yet willing to pay infant/toddler caregivers a living wage. We have traditionally viewed the care of children from birth to three as a job done in the home, as part of daily life, for free. Challenges to Quality CareĪmerican society remains unwilling to take the profession of infant/toddler child care seriously. How these components of group care are addressed determines, to a large extent, the opportunities for responsive caregiving and caring relationships in infant/toddler child care. In this article, we will explore six key components of early group experience: group size quality of the physical environment primary caregiving assignments continuity of care cultural and familial continuity and meeting the needs of the individual within the group context. Indeed, current practices in many infant/ toddler child care settings actually hinder caregivers, children, and parents from forming and sustaining the deep, responsive, and respectful relationships that are the hallmark of quality. Unfortunately, although more and more children in this country are moving into group care at younger ages and for longer periods of time, we are missing opportunities to provide quality care.
#Infant daily schedule for daycare professional#
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