Emily,

I was really interested in your article about child care. I have been in the child care business for almost 27 years. It is sad but true that we are not paid very well but if I was wanting to get rich than I picked the wrong profession. IT is a hard job with very little monetary rewards but knowing that I am influencing a child's life and helping parents to be able to feel comfortable leaving their child to work all day is a good feeling. It is sad that most households need two paychecks to make ends meet. Child care does get alot of bad publicity and not enough credit for being a good place is upsetting at times. A childcare center that is an accredited center will of course be more costly but usually the higher cost does not filter down to the workers paychecks. I work at a church center and needless to say there is not very many benefits in this field. Alot of people think that this job is just playing all day but they need to try it at least one day. I have also found throughout the years that if a caregiver does get a college degree they most likely will leave the child care field to enter the school system as a teachers aide. The benefits from the state are much better. If caregivers were required to have degrees than the pay would have to be alot better to get workers to stay. I just wanted to share my insight since I have worked in the field so long. Thanks for sharing the article and giving insight into how a day in the child care field can really be like.