New MA child care regulations sparks debate
In a recent blog, I cited a study that concludes that quality child care may be instrumental to the future success of low-income children. Yesterday, The Boston Herald reported on some new changes that will be enacted in Massachusetts to improve the quality of child care statewide including:
- Child-care workers are now called “educators
- Written progress reports must be issued every three to six months that track the cognitive, social, emotional, language, motor and life skill developments of infants and preschooler
- Day-care providers must “assist” with tooth brushing after all meals, or for any children on site for four hours or more
- Nannies must devise a “curriculum” that provides “evidence that programs provide specific, planned learning experiences” and that supports “school-readiness.” (The Boston Herald)
Overwhelmingly, there was a negative response to the new rules set to go into effect January 2010. When I checked out the article online, 58% of respondents to The Herald’s related poll felt that child care workers should “care for children, not run classrooms.”
Other responses include the published op-ed “See state bully day-care centers” whose author disagrees with the new regulations concluding that “[Gov.] Patrick needs to give the genius who came up with this plan a serious timeout.”
Of the many reader responses to the articles, those who agreed with the new regulations were few and far between. One reader, “bostonjimmie”, wrote “clearly many of these commenters do not have children in day care. We do. We get daily reports from the day care providers, on what our child ate, what activities they participated in, and any developmental progress she made. This might take 5-10 minutes for them to write up, and it makes all the difference to us, since we are there all day. I want my child to be more than ’babysat’ all day long. If we were home with her, we would be teaching her all sorts of things, so having the providers teaching her colors, words, etc is great. Day care SHOULD be more than babysitting.”
Which side of the debate are you on? Let me know in your comments, or take the poll below!
Kirsten Athena Blocker
Coordinator of Marketing & Communications
Crittenton Women’s Union
Coordinator of Marketing & Communications
Crittenton Women’s Union
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4 comments
new childcare laws
First of all, childcare workers, whether teachers or not should be guaranteed a living wage. I have my certification as a lead teacher, but it is a very "giving" work with very small monetary compenstion. So I work in another field.
Secondly the state needs to help the people do their jobs better. Instead of making the caregivers feel restricted, they should be treated with kindness and respect for the role thay play with our children, and offered paid training, college credits and templates of simply stated forms that require less than 5 - 10 minutes because with 6 kids, that adds up to another 1/2 to 1 hour of work that they may not be paid for.
This should not be a mass of red tape that takes the fun out of the work the y do during the days they spend together with our children
Child Care Changes
I can say that after having a child that is in day care I firmly believe that there is nothing wrong with the changes that need to be made. Parents should be provided with updates. Child care providers may take it personally because they are not receiving a certain type of wage that they feel is suitable for them however I think that they should realize that not all child care providers are paid low wages and furthermore these changes apply across the state and give parents more information on what their child does throughout they day. This, in my opinion, is well worth the extra 30 minutes per day that it would take for a child care provider to write the reports for the day. Hygienically these changes would only help awareness of the importance of dental health. Having many friends that are young mothers with children I see how easily dental health can be forgotten as the overwhelmed mother rushes to get to work or school (or in some cases both). In short, I agree with the changes that are being made. Before choosing a daycare for my daughter I visited 4 places. One daycare was a home day care in which the provider was licensed but could not provide me with a curriculum, the children sat in front of a television, and the assistant teacher sat in a corner on a laptop. Without regulations requiring a curriculum these providers would continue to have the ability to operate despite the "babysitting" that was taking place. There was no "child development" taking place at all. To often child care providers take their jobs lightly when in reality their jobs help to prepare children for school and adolescence. Therefore engaging in an active curriculum that supports developing cognitive, social, emotional, and life skills is essential in order to prepare our children for the future. What we do not need is child care that can cost parents anywhere between $800-$1500 per month where the child care provider simply sits around and makes sure the children do not get hurt. <?xml:namespace prefix = o />
http://bigboyman.blogspot.com
http://bigboyman.blogspot.com/
Read my blog and tell me what you think about childcare laws in MA. stay tuned as you hear all about how the daycare I went to is thriving and by law is nto obligated to tell any parent about what happened to me.
Hi, I am Ashley Brosman,.
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