I work in the infant room of a high-quality childcare center. Roughly half of the teachers at the center, including myself, have a master's degree. Every teacher at the center has a bachelor's degree. I am paid far better than the teachers in Emily's article - teachers with a MA at my center typically make about $15/hour, depending on years of experience. I live in Cambridge, MA, and the cost of living is high, but I am comfortable on my salary.

I love my job. I go to work every day for the children in my classroom. It is easy to grow attached to them, and while they can be a handful (they're all young toddlers right now, so we see lots of attempted biting, hitting, and pinching), a spontaneous hug from a child completely makes my day. Unfortunately, the parents are not as good at expressing their appreciation. I have received exactly two "thank you"s from parents in the last several months. Seeing as how I interact with 14 parents on a daily basis, that's a very unimpressive number. I know this is not a reflection on my work, because when parents do have a chance to say thanks, it's usually accompanied by one of those uncomfortable lingering-too-long hugs.

At pick-up, the parents are often so overwhelmed with making the transition from worker to parent and finding out the details of their child's day that it's all they can do to remember their car keys on the way out the door. At Christmas and the end of the year, the parents often chip in to get each of us a gift card. I am appreciative of the gift, but I would much rather get a thank you. However, the number one comment I seem to hear at pick-up is "Oh, her pretty skirt got all dirty." I mean, come on, if you send your child to school and expect them to spend time on the playground and make all sorts of art projects to decorate your cubicle, don't send them in an expensive outfit! But I digress. The main point of this rant is that I encourage each of you to make a point of thanking your child's teacher for their work. It doesn't take long to say "thanks for today," and it really means a lot to us to hear that you're happy to have found a good caregiver for your child while you have to be at work.