High Quality Child Care??

[Josiegirl]

They're hosting 5 public forums around the state during July, asking how to make child care affordable and available to everyone, and addressing the issues of not enough high quality care available. In the article, they said high quality care has 4-5 Stars in the rating system.
The state has made it very difficult to get 4-5 Stars so many providers have stopped at 3(including myself).

Personally, I think it's total BS that only 4-5 Star daycares are high quality. I'd love to know which ridiculous time-consuming 'take time away from the actual child's care' regulations set the pace for quality care.
Is it the 12 step hand washing rule? Is it the fact you have to wash an infant's hands(can't even hold their head up) under running water after a diaper change all while you might have chaos reaching a breaking point somewhere else? Maybe the daily 3 hours outside plus you still have to do all the art, fine motor, etc., etc., you're expected to do? Oh well, just haul everything outside with you.

Whatever happened to equating love, healthy food, good supervision, bonding, home away from home with quality?

Just another vent that no matter what you do, it never seems to be enough.
And of course, when parents see that, they assume 4-5 Stars is the best. So they discount all the rest of us as if we're not good enough. Gotta love those bureaucrats who sit in their offices all day, creating these stupid rules and hoops for us to jump through.

[daycarediva]

The issue is that no blanket checklist assessment form can accurately describe quality. So the big government decided it needed to spend a ton of tax dollars to stick a bureaucratic band aid on an issue which is much more complex than they truly understand. Money, which could have gone directly to struggling families or child care providers to OBTAIN better quality providers or better supplies...) Then the government has plausible deniability 'See, we did something! Look, it's better!'


I refuse to participate (it's not mandatory in my state....yet) and I am no longer a daycare lifer, I am working on my exit plan before big brother takes over.

[Cat Herder]

"Quality" is a buzz word.

Like "transparent", "hope", "equality" and "change". They do not translate literally.

The goal is universal public school, birth to college graduation. With one curriculum, standardized tests and systematic record keeping.

Like Frost said : "how thoroughly departmental".

[Annalee]

"Quality" is a buzz word.

Like "transparent", "hope", "equality" and "change". They do not translate literally.

The goal is universal public school, birth to college graduation. With one curriculum, standardized tests and systematic record keeping.

Like Frost said : "how thoroughly departmental".

and this makes me sad!

[Thriftylady]

These regs that have nothing to do with quality care kill me. You are right, it is driving providers out of business, and raising prices to where many parents really can't afford care.

[Cat Herder]

These regs that have nothing to do with quality care kill me. You are right, it is driving providers out of business, and raising prices to where many parents really can't afford care.

But the end justifies the means. It will give "them" (universal school advocates) the stats needed to push the agenda. The "problem" has to reach over the middle class income gap to get votes.

Maybe the OPTION of public school through college is a great one for some families. I just don't think it should be mandatory. After all, having kids is not mandatory.

[midaycare]

I liked having choices when my son was young enough for daycare. Did I want him in a center? A montessori type place? A home daycare? Male provider? Female provider? Curriculum or just play?

We ended up choosing a play-based home daycare with a male daycare provider who was really active (walked to parks every day).

Oddly, this is not close to the home daycare I opened. I wanted to teach a curriculum- but that's mostly for my benefit, so I can get some use out of an otherwise useless teaching degree.

But the point is...I had choices. Things shouldn't be so cookie cutter. I feel it soon will be so standardized, every daycare will be the same.

[Blackcat31]

Whatever happened to equating love, healthy food, good supervision, bonding, home away from home with quality?

That IS care. They aren't focusing or aiming for quality CARE.

They are focusing on and aiming for EDUCATION.

There isn't any money in care.
The money is found in education (#student = $+)

I said it before and I'll say it again, Family Child Care is NOT the end game.

That ^^^^ is why so many quality care givers can't realistically meet the requirements for max # of stars.

Those with teaching degrees and a thorough understanding of the teaching process (both academically and developmentally) easily earn those stars.

There is a clear divide and if those that disagreed before about FCC no longer being in existence within the next decade are slowly starting to see the big picture.

[Cat Herder]

"We can invest now in our children and families and enjoy long-term savings, with a more vibrant nation of healthy, achieving children and more stable families. Or, we can fail to make the investment and pay the price: increased delinquency, greater educational failures, lowered productivity, less economic competitiveness, and fewer adults prepared to be effective, loving parents to the next generation of children. Federal, state and local government, communities, parents, and the private sector must share in the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of children and families."

"Access to child care, particularly high quality child care, remains out of reach for many families. Programs outside of K-12 public education have the greatest difficulty in meeting the criteria of good quality, equitable compensation, and affordable access. Unlike K-12 education -- a publicly financed system with a relatively stable funding base -- most early childhood care and education services operate in a very price-sensitive market financed primarily by fees from families and supplemented by public and private contributions. Many families cannot pay the full cost of quality care, and the ongoing commitment from public and private contributions is seldom guaranteed."

"An equitable and sufficient system of financing early childhood education in the United States is still elusive. Child care is financed through a patchwork of government, parent, and private sector resources. Families contribute roughly 60 percent of the costs of child care; federal, state, and local governments combined contribute 39 percent, and business contributes one percent. Public schools are financed largely through property taxes, which has created an inequitable distribution of resources within school districts and states, despite additional resources from states and the federal government. An equitable system of financing child care and early education requires a strong partnership between government, families, and the private sector."

It is like a drinking game. Spot the buzzwords. Keep your eye on the ball. Wag the dog. Take your pick....

[Cat Herder]

Oh, and with our current 52.8% graduation rate, I am uber excited to start that earlier.

[Unregistered]

Oh, and with our current 52.8% graduation rate, I am uber excited to start that earlier.

This exactly. I say, let's NOT give preschoolers over to the school system until the system can demonstrate a more acceptable success rate.

However, those advocating for the system say that improper preschool preparation is why they are failing nearly half of all students.

[Cat Herder]

This exactly. I say, let's NOT give preschoolers over to the school system until the system can demonstrate a more acceptable success rate.

However, those advocating for the system say that improper preschool preparation is why they are failing nearly half of all students.

I still don't understand that. :confused:

The research I have read, and studied in college, said the effects are gone by 1st grade and are only limited to a VERY specific group. Other groups REGRESSED in the same study. So, as long as the result is an equal outcome, it does not matter if many kids will have their outcomes lowered?

Maybe I read it wrong. I am of very average intelligence. I accept that. I do come from extreme poverty, though. I have been hungry. I have been homeless. I had limited medical care. I was latchkey.

I am middle class, now. I had no help other than showing up for class (Thank you USA for that opportunity lovethis), studying, taking that first low paying job and EARNING my way up the ladder until I could afford college. I worked 3 jobs while in college and still came up short. I paid it off in 5 years. I learned more from the working, time management and paying off student debt than I did from the books and lectures.

I then gave that mid-level job up because I wanted a family. Home daycare was my solution to the problem of earning an income, even if lowered, while taking care of my family. I paid off debt, opened my business THEN had my kids.

My reward is that the very people that say they are helping disadvantage children are trying to take my livelihood for my efforts to improve my life.

It is disheartening. I have worked hard, in good faith. My view may be jaded by this. Kids learning personal responsibility is the only answer I see. Whether taught by parents, schools or the struggle to stay afloat may not matter.

[Thriftylady]

I still don't understand that. :confused:

The research I have read, and studied in college, said the effects are gone by 1st grade and are only limited to a VERY specific group. Other groups REGRESSED in the same study. So, as long as the result is an equal outcome, it does not matter if many kids will have their outcomes lowered?

Maybe I read it wrong. I am of very average intelligence. I accept that. I do come from extreme poverty, though. I have been hungry. I have been homeless. I had limited medical care. I was latchkey.

I am middle class, now. I had no help other than showing up for class (Thank you USA for that opportunity lovethis), studying, taking that first low paying job and EARNING my way up the ladder until I could afford college. I worked 3 jobs while in college and still came up short. I paid it off in 5 years. I learned more from the working, time management and paying off student debt than I did from the books and lectures.

I then gave that mid-level job up because I wanted a family. Home daycare was my solution to the problem of earning an income, even if lowered, while taking care of my family. I paid off debt, opened my business THEN had my kids.

My reward is that the very people that say they are helping disadvantage children are trying to take my livelihood for my efforts to improve my life.

It is disheartening. I have worked hard, in good faith. My view may be jaded by this. Kids learning personal responsibility is the only answer I see. Whether taught by parents, schools or the struggle to stay afloat may not matter.

This completely!!!!

[Blackcat31]

I still don't understand that. :confused:

The research I have read, and studied in college, said the effects are gone by 1st grade and are only limited to a VERY specific group. Other groups REGRESSED in the same study. So, as long as the result is an equal outcome, it does not matter if many kids will have their outcomes lowered?

Same research I've read too. The ONLY benefit to EARLY education is for those that were lacking other basic fundamentals in the first place. Which is a VERY small group now days in comparison to how many children and families meet that criteria now.

Kids learning personal responsibility is the only answer I see. Whether taught by parents, schools or the struggle to stay afloat may not matter.

That simply isn't going to happen until people come to realize and accept that in order for the standards to remain something worth working towards, there has to be equal and opposite results. For each winner, there has to be a loser. Someone has to be # 1 and someone has to be last. NOT everyone can be valedictorian. Participation rewards simply cannot realistically exist.

That is the mind set that seems to be butting heads with how "real life" works. I think that concept creates an ideal "life style" or what life will be like once adulthood is reached and then when reality meets that "concept".... well, that's when the infantile coping skills and the fall out due to lack of those skills come into play for society and in my opinion that is a heavy price for all to pay. :confused:

[Cat Herder]

How do you become the most hated person in America?

Become the most successful one.

How do you define success?

Getting to keep the stuff I earned.

And that's what she said....