I have worked as a preschool teacher/childcare provider for the last 6 years. I love every minute of my career although I will admit, I have shed a few tears over the high level of stress it creates! For anyone who is not familiar with the daily life of a childcare provider, this article was a good clue into our daily life caring for anothers child/children. It does not matter what age your child is, 6 weeks to 6 years, they figure out that we are limited as to how we can care for them. They know we cannot discipline them anymore than a stern look or a trip to the office. Some will do anything they can to see what they can get away with until what little you can do, as far as discipline goes, straightens them up and then there are some children just do not care. Still we trudge through, doing our best to give them the care that they deserve. Then there are the days when children come sick, doped up on tylenol to keep their fever at bay, and BAM, 4 hours later they are running a 101 temp and vomitting all over your nice outfit. Still we hold them and careess them while we wait for mom or dad to show up to take them home, having exposed ourselves to whatever it is that they have and getting sick oursleves. Then there are the moms who come 30 seconds before a late fee is issued, on a daily basis, and still have the nerve to say " I'm so sorry I am late". Trust me, we know better, however we will still be there bright and early the next morning so you can be the first to bang on the door before we are even open to drop off your child! We do all of these things, because we love the job of caring for people who need us, no matter what the salary or the long hours we put in. It is the hardest job anyone will ever have to do, just ask my husband. He used to think that I had an easy, sit on your butt and babysit all day, job. Then he needed work and came to work at the center where I work. I think he went to bed at 6 pm every night that first week!!! He now tells everyone he meets that it is the hardest job he has ever done, and he used to be a construction worker and a landscaper! Yet despite the hardship, he decided to stick with it and has now worked with me, in childcare, for 2 years. The point is that children that are not our own are worth the work and that we who care for them love them because we want to, and not because we have to.