Let’s hear it for the providers
Sitting in my yard is a beautiful tree and in the branches of that tree is a beautiful birdhouse. A casual glance will tell you it’s gray with a red roof, but a closer look reveals much more. The wood the bird house is made of looks a lot like the shingles off at old house and that’s because that’s exactly what it is. I know so much about the birdhouse, not because I built it, but because it was gifted to me by a woman several years ago. She worked at a daycare center where some very kind people took care of my son while I worked.
I was lucky enough to grow up in a house where, 50 years ago, my mom could stay home and take care of us. I don’t think any of us knew how lucky we were back then. Jump ahead to the world today and that is rarely a luxury that families can afford. Daycare is a reality for many people and often a lifesaver.
I mention this because a friend of mine who I haven’t seen in a long time sent me an email telling me that this Friday, May 12, is Provider Appreciation Day. I had no idea such a day even existed but now that I do I’m glad it does. This is one day a year set aside to honor the people who take care of our children when we can’t.
If you think about it it’s an awesome responsibility to have young parents, and let’s be honest in most cases they’re young parents, take the most important thing in their lives and hand it over to your care. The pressure to do everything just right is immense.
Having seen it with my own son, these daycare providers do get attached to the children they take care of. I’m sure somewhere in the owner’s manual it tells them not to do that but we are human and it is unavoidable.
My friend who gave me the heads up about this appreciation day works at the state. He shared with me a website that helps daycare providers of all shapes and sizes in doing their jobs. I was amazed at all the rules, regulations and information out there. If you don’t believe me take a look for yourself at http://ocfs.ny.gov/ main/childcare/infoforproviders.asp.
Working in the media it seems the only time we hear about a daycare center is when someone has done something wrong. It usually involves an employee putting their hands on a child in a way they shouldn’t have. I don’t blame the media for doing the stories because it’s important to report these crimes but we journalists are a bit guilty of what you might call a lie by omission. Meaning if we only do stories at day care centers when someone screws up we’re not giving you a true picture of what goes on there. And the truth is hundreds of thousands of children right now at this moment are sitting in daycare centers being taken care of perfectly by these providers and they seldom get recognition for what they do. Toss in the number of children with special needs and it becomes a challenging job few people would want or could last at.
Which takes me back to my birdhouse sitting in my tree out in front of my house. I forgot the reason why, it was so long ago, but the woman who worked at the daycare center where my son went wanted to do something nice for me. She told me her father, who is retired, took old scrap wood from buildings that had been torn down and built these amazing birdhouses. She gave me one as a gift; I placed it in the tree and every year since a bird has made a nice home there and had babies. A kind of daycare in the spruce you might say.
This is the first year I haven’t seen a bird build a nest in there but it’s mid-May so there is still time. I always know when a mama bird has taken up residence in the house because she sits on the branch and chirps loudly if you come anywhere near the tree, warning you to stay clear. Silly as it sounds on windy days when that birdhouse swings around on the branch I get nervous for the family inside. Luckily the branch always seems to hold and the babies find their way out of the eggs and into the world. Kind of like the kids who go to daycare.
So if you work at a daycare center, big or small, I just want to say thank you for all the parents who need you. I hope the boss buys you lunch on Friday because Lord knows you’ve earned it.
John Gray is a news anchor on WXXA-Fox TV 23 and ABC’S WTEN News Channel 10. His column is published every Wednesday. Email him at johngray@fox23news.com.