Child Care : A day in the life

Many people have said to me in the past “oh you work with children, so all you do is play?” and I can tell you now it is far from that. Wouldn’t it be a breeze if people working in childcare did just turn up to work bright and early and play then go home?

I also get the odd “you’re crazy I can’t deal with one child let alone 40 odd” and for some strange reason I actually find it easier to have a group of children as oppose to just one! 

It is far from that, I’ll take you through a day and what it’s like for me so, let’s start from the moment the doors open- the setting i’m at we have two starting times so we open the doors to the morning parents and greet them in while signing the register  and asking how they’ve been, some children have been unsettled that morning and need an extra cuddle and support coming away from their careers and some just run in and wave goodbye. They hang their coats up on pegs (A picture of them and their name) so they can identify their bag and coats, and eventually recognise their name aswell- once they’ve done that they investigate what activities we’ve set out before they arrived. 

Then comes the time to open up to the school day children, and that’s manic- greeting a big bunch of parents and children in at the same time, trying to say hello to everyone and listening to what each child is trying to tell you while walking into the room causing the biggest traffic jam leaving some outside allowing you to have time to talk to them and make sure their child is all well and good before coming in- or seeing their new coat/shoes that they are extremely exited to show everyone. Like I said, some children run in and others need a little bit more help and at this time you can have a few children around you wanting to be with you so child A is holding your hand and won’t let go, then you have another child ready to jump in your arms and give you a squeeze while their parents leave for the day... Showing them every area to decide where to sit and play, usually its arts and crafts for child A and dressing up for the other. Once all the parents go everything calms a bit, no one is distressed anymore and the children are engaged in something in a group or even in their own. We free flow for a while and this allows me to go around and speak to the children I didn’t manage to during the chaos, I like to use this time to ask each child if they’ve been ok and what they have been up to while they weren’t at pre school- Due to recent snow some children still like to talk about that, or they tell you about the time they went to Peppa pig world which opens up a conversation of a lot of children telling you about their excitement and experience of places they’ve been to! 

We then split into two rooms according to key children  so there are less children now and we can start snack.

Snack- We prepare snack with the children and a few like to help get the chairs and put them to the table while I put on my gloves and apron ready to cut up the food, we then wash our hands and do five at a time, remembering the children with allergies, intolerances and other special requirements insuring they get the correct things while talking about the food we have today some children are very good at eating what is in front of them, others need encouragement to try new foods because they’ve not had it before- like pineapple and some children like to eat a little bit of everything as we have a choose of snack to give them a wider selection in which they can have. When they have finished their drink and snack they put the rubbish in the bin and their plates in the sink ready for me to wash up when everyone has finished.. While i’m washing up the children are continuing to play with their friends and other members of staff- then it’s nappy time. Luckily we have a select few in nappies and some of them are almost ready to start their toilet training, some toilet training goes incrediably well and others we remind every 15-30 minutes to go as the children get so engaged in their play and conversations with their friends it is hard to remember to go to the toilet, accidents are minimal usually which is good as the children are learning to recognise when they need to go but you do get the odd one or two through the day which is normal, just get their clothes and change while encouraging them that they can leave what they are doing to go to the toilet as it’ll still be there when they get back- which is usually the case, they don’t want to stop what they’re doing! 

Tidy up time- you would not believe how easy it is for the room to become a mess, but it is. Every area is well and truly played in and it takes a lot of encouragement for the children to tidy but it gets there.. with stickers as rewards because it helps recognise their good behaviour as well as encouraging those who haven’t helped to realise that next time if they do tidy they’ll get a sticker- and it does work most of the time!

Garden time! We go out in all weathers so getting everyone ready and ensuring all hats and gloves are on in the winter or suncream and hats on in the summer is a process, once we are out the children run around playing things like hide and seek, tag, what’s the time mr wolf or just simply digging in the construction area.  When it is cold and rainy it is harder to stay out for a long time as they get cold, we get cold and the garden becomes slippery and muddy. Garden time is also when the morning children go home so the full time children play while we do hand overs then we settle down ready for lunch- 

Lunch time- imagine having to feed 25+ children, on top of that spilled water, food, the children that need a wee now they’ve sat down and the children that have allergies and need special meals, now everyone’s got food we encourage children to try new foods and get them to eat a suitable amount so they don’t go hungry, even if this means negotiating one tiny bite at a time and constantly saying ‘keep going’ in an excited voice so you know they are doing well by eating it- and again more spilled water but this time all over their clothes.. lets get changed.

After Lunch we sit and a member of staff tidies the floor and table, another washes up and the rest sit and go group time with the children, singing nursery rhymes, reading a story you know off by heart and asking children leading questions to get them to engage in conversations with each other and listen to what they have to say, and allowing them to express their opinions and ideas to each other while learning to listen to their friends and take turns to talk. The afternoon goes pretty smoothly- we free flow and do a set activity (at the moment it’s mother’s day cards if they want to- drawing their own versions of their family and practicing writing names) and nappy changes before going back out into the garden- like the morning garden time, towards the end where children begin to go home so from getting the children back in and ready with all their art work, juice bottles, comforters ready to go we begin the chaos handover time, for me it’s half an hour of talking about each individual child’s day, having a chat with some parents about them at home and how they’ve been today with us.

One huge aspect of childcare which I didn’t mention about was paperwork. Risk assessments, accident forms, incident forms, food charts, nappy charts and so on.  There is also the dreaded planning. Some settings have a set way to do planning and from experience no two are the same. We have a monthly planning where we have a theme so this month is Space and Planets. We also have a provision sheet where we write down an activity for each area, for each day of the week for all weeks of that month. And lastly we have the next steps. Each child has three next steps we work towards to help them develop and grow- I have 19 key children at the moment so 19 X 3 next steps... you do the math because i’m so bad at it. Once they have completed a next step we evaluate it and that helps generate a new one. Through the day we capture pictures and videos of the children along with observations of what they’ve done and said to upload for their parents to see- these link to the Early years Foundation stage criteria (EYFS) and lastly we do 2 reports on the children a year and have parents evening to see the parents of a chat about how their child is doing.

Not to mention having to deal with the highs and lows of behaviour, speech and language and any other need a child has which demands all your attention throughout the day to keep everyone safe, happy and kind to each other while developing as efficiently as possible. No two children are the same, just like no two days are the same!  

  Each child’s personalities and characters you meet are incrediable, who would have guessed how sassy and intelligent some three year olds can be? it’s unbelievable some of the funny things children come out with - if you think three year olds don’t understand what you are saying, you’re wrong! The quotes they come out with telling you what they have heard is both hilarious and also abit sad. I am so lucky to be in this career and to have met the most amazing children ever. 

Childcare is more than playing- it’s being children’s carer, doctor, toilet trainer, singer, reader, dancer, actor and artist all rolled into one... with a bunch of children.  It is rewarding and heartwarming and will always be one of the hardest industries, if you’re lucky enough to be in the industry you will know how much it is worth the stress and hassle it is, sometimes you’re just lucky to get through the day without anyone getting hurt... but being a child’s second main support and security is the most important and precious thing in the world- especially nursery/pre school  is the main source of security and stimulation for a percentage of children and to know that they are thriving with you is the best feeling in the world..

if you work with children what’s your experience like? i’d love  to know what you think! 

Love, Jacqueline x