Not surprising, then, that the Prime Time report has also drawn overdue attention onto childcare positions advertised on the JobBridge scheme, several of which do not require qualifications. And yet the sector suffers from a dichotomy of disregard and commercialisation: care is undervalued, and its being undervalued has led to capitalist exploitation of a sector that should really be beyond manipulation. With both social and economic patterns necessitating working parent families, a robust childcare sector is crucial. Last week’s Prime Time exposé, A Breach of Trust, in which a number of crèches were shown failing to uphold essential childcare standards (alongside basic human decency), plunged Irish parents into crisis. We need a strong childcare sector – but it is still massively undervalued Now add to that the required expertise in health and safety practices – nutrition, first aid, environment – and the leadership skills required to head up a team of childcare workers (or even just a little battalion of kids) and you get an occupation closer to a vocation than a 9-to-5. Everything from making myself a cup of tea to listening to Ray D’Arcy’s mid-morning jibber-jabber took on a plethora of facets unheard of: rather than presiding over the adorable play of a trio of chubby tots, I found myself slave to the caterwauling, bodily functions and rudimentary machinations of three very different little people, none of whom gave a single fig for the needs of their companions or the sagacity of intelligent routine.Īnyone who works with children will tell you that it’s a difficult job and it’s one you have to be able for, not just by having an even temperament and an affinity with kids, but also by being knowledgeable about childhood development and the constant challenges faced by caregivers. Leaving the playroom for a trip to the toilet wasn’t much easier. Leaving the house for a trip to the playground required a level of military precision that would have made Napoleon take to the fainting couch. Imagine, then, my horror when I discovered childcare as a profession to be a startlingly different kettle of fish to motherhood. And sure childcare is easy! It’s informed by instinct, so you can’t go wrong. Company for the smallie and a favour to my big brother, from whom I was still craving the regard he showed Bruce Dickinson. We were getting along famously, so I offered to look after my preschool-age niece and nephew too. I WAS LUCKY enough to be able to stay at home with my daughter until she was five years old, and so outside of a stint at Montessori, she didn’t require third-party care.
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