Childcare

FHS 1500
Andrew Munoz

Question

If you were considering leaving your three year-old child in a childcare facility (family day care
or childcare center), what would be your major concerns? Why? Would your concerns be
different, if your child were an infant? Explain. Would you prefer an academic or a child-
centered preschool for your child? Why?

Answer

I believe that involving a third-party in the raising of your child does invoke potential
problems for parental units. Generally, parents have a consensual process in the manner they
want their families or children raised. Whether due to cultural backgrounds, personal experiences
as a youth, or potential advice from experts, each set of families and parents have a different set
of expectations and regulations for their child.
Concerns for involving a third party, such as a childcare facility are aplenty. Personal
concerns would be appropriate staff; can I trust the staff to properly care for my child? What type
of education does my child receive? Does my child enjoy the program? Can the program
correlate to a direct positive outcome for my child?
An overwhelming population believe that during infancy, our children do not necessarily
notice mannerisms, language, and often times cannot depict or remember correct behaviors from
incorrect behaviors. Due to the reasoning stated above, my concerns would be different;
however, also more focused toward direct childcare.
In an ideal world, a perfect mixture of child-centered and academic preschool would be
preferred. Berger states, that child-centered programs are often times children learning from
other children under adult guidance, these programs focus on a childs creativity and interests.
While child-centered programs sound magnificent, it is important to understand your cultural and
societal expectations for education.
While a majority of schools do use Pre-Kinder and Kindergarten as a method of proper
socialization as well. Specifically speaking of childcare programming, there are some programs
that offer socialization on top of extremely educational and interactive activities for their youth.
An example of this would be learning how to play on playground equipment. As the instructor,
one is responsible for teaching children about safety, respect and fairness on the playground.
Simple games such as jumping the snake a game that teaches these young children to jump
over a rattling snake, or a jump rope, that is alive on the ground. This is an example of how to
educate a young child to develop the skills of jumping rope.
Academic preschool would be my personal preference; I would rather have my child
begin adapting to schooling habits as early as possible. Simple tasks such as lining up, raising
your hand for help, familiarity with numbers and letters could prove to lead to an easier time
transitioning into schooling.
In closing, children do eventually adapt and gain skills in both creativity and academics.
Ultimately, the greatest teacher to a young child is the teaching they get at home, parents set the
expectation at an early age, knowingly or unknowingly, the importance stressed on academics
can be the greatest factor or deterrent in a young childs life.

Reference List

Berger, K. S. (2016). Invitation to the life span (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.