Childcare Workers are Essential to Essential Workers
Many thanks have been expressed to the essential and emergency personnel that are working hard to keep us safe and healthy during the COVID-19 Pandemic. And many thanks should be given. I have noticed though, that childcare workers have not been included in the mix, and that concerns me. Without childcare these essential workers would find it much more difficult to do their jobs. Throughout Connecticut there have been twenty-six emergency childcare facilities opened due to their proximity to hospitals. Our elected officials realize that our emergency infrastructure includes childcare workers, why doesn’t the media?
If you were to Google “essential workers childcare workers” many headlines would pop up with something saying how states are providing childcare so essential workers can work. Where is the disconnect? Once again childcare staff—the very field itself—is being negated. The childcare industry makes it possible for others to work—doesn’t that make them essential? So in my eyes, they are essential but somehow not getting the recognition they deserve. They are dealing with children who are constantly leaking liquids, parents who are stressed, their own families and children, and the fear of putting themselves in harm’s way every time they go to work. Below is a link to an article highlighting the struggles of childcare workers.
I would like to suggest that we take a moment during the Week of the Young Child to honor and say thank you to those essential workers who are putting their health and safety on the line every day to ensure that emergency personnel are able to care for the sick.
