ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Here is a real letter left at an early childhood center along with an orchid:

Dear [Teacher Names],

There are no words to describe how hard it is to leave your first child at the age of three months, in a room full of then strangers.

For weeks, unable to concentrate at work, wondering what our daughter did all day....  Did she eat 6 ounces at 11 am?  Was she burped?  I should’ve told her teachers that rubbing her belly rocks her to sleep!!!

Then months go by and you find yourself admiring the teachers who have chosen a profession requiring extreme patience, but also lots of tenderness and love.  Then you find yourself taking parenting advice from them.  Why not?  Some of them have been “daycare moms” for more than a decade!

Then a few more months go by and it happens!  Our daughter does not want to come home anymore.  She kicks and screams because she either wants to play longer or hold on to her teachers.  A bittersweet moment indeed!  But as you close the door to the classroom with a crying baby on your hip, you think back to that first nervous day and know that it was all worth it!!!

Our daughter’s first solid foods, first steps, first words, first smiles, were shared with the kind staff at [Center Name] and we will always remember you for that.

We cannot thank you enough,

[Satisfied Parents]

• Inspiring Peak Performance: Competence, Commitment, and Collaboration

• A Great Place to Work: Creating a Healthy Organizational Climate

Staff development is an important ongoing part of managing an early childhood program. These two resources focus on ways to create and maintain a work environment that increases competence and where staff feel valued and supported by you and their peers.

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