A note to early childhood educators.

Hello,
We do not know each other, maybe never will, or maybe we do...
I'm the parent of the child who has difficulty being away from mum.. You know the seemingly unnecessarily hard morning drop offs to their class every morning.. Sz

And I want you to know i can see your job is demanding, I notice the effort..

I can see how hard you work.
You're not only looking after my world, tending to their every want and need (like I so desperately want to, but bills need to be paid, groceries need to be bought and the car needs petrol..), trying your best to calm them, to sooth their crying even though they are probably driving you nuts you try because you understand how hard this is for my child. You clean up after them, you wash their laundry if they have a particularly bad lunch experience, you nurse their wounds, wipe their nose, discipline them, teach them, document their progress, do their dishes.. I could go on, the list is endless.

And you don't get nearly enough credit.

Every morning it's the same thing, I drop them off, they are in complete shock and disbelief that I am leaving them, yet again, for another day. I hold back my frustration and you take my wailing child with nothing but love and sympathy in your eyes and proceed to distract them with things you know they love. Trains, cars, dinosaurs, painting, blocks.. Dinosaurs wins today. I look back as I'm about to walk out the door for the day and they are making roar sounds, then they bury their face into your shoulder, holding on to you for dear life, refusing to let go.. And you're holding them too, just as tight, with all the reassurance and love they may need.
Frustration turns to relief, thankfulness.. sadness and I walk out of the room, leaving everything I have in this world in your very caring, gentle, extremely capable hands.
You keep them safe, you nurture them, you reassure them, you teach them, you love them..
At the end of the day I come back and am greeted with massive smiles, the biggest of hugs, and a tale of what exciting things they did that day..
As I looked around the room at all the children playing, making mess and noise, it hits me how amazing you all really are.. You have not only done this for my world.. You have done it for 20 other peoples little worlds as well. And you do such an amazing job. Day in, day out.

I suppose I'm really just trying to outline why I'm so thankful.

I feel you all deserve a lot more credit than you get.

You do so much more than just look after my child.. And I'm sure I have only just scraped the surface with my letter..

Thank you for your absolute commitment and devotion to children. And know that parents do appreciate your effort. And we notice it.

You are all terrific.