Observing and Interacting With Professionals, Children and Families in an Early Childhood Setting

The last two weeks I have been observing Sam. Sam is an Education Coordinator for Head Start. Sam oversees four Head Start directors and nine preschool and ECE centers. By observing Sam I have realized how much paperwork, time, devotion and education is necessary to successfully provide a quality early childhood program. You have to be able to work cooperatively with multiple agencies (public and private), families, children, staff, co-workers, and superiors in order to deliver the highest quality of educational and nutritional services to young children.

One time a licensing consultant told me, when I was complaining about a child care center, "we can't all be Cadillac's Mrs. Tefft." I know that no provider is going to be perfect, but I believe that if we all strive to be a Cadillac we will at the very least provide a loving, caring environment that nurtures children to explore and learn from their environment.

I think that this experience has opened my eyes to exactly how much work goes into providing quality care but more importantly it has showed me the importance of a quality ECE experience and what it should look like. I saw dedicated teachers who, despite low wages and long hours, worked collaboratively with other teachers and outside agencies, to give the children in their care the best possible foundation they could provide.