“I have worked in the child care field for 9 years now and through those 9 years I have worked for a variety of child care centres throughout Ontario, as well as Alberta. I gained experience in all rooms from infants to school age. I then took the opportunity to become a Supervisor for a Junior Child Care Centre and two School Age programs.
Through my various experiences, I found myself. This was the best way for me to really discover what I valued most in child care, and what quality child care meant to me as an RECE. I always reflected back to the organization that really helped shape me into being the RECE I am today. The reality is though, no matter how amazing an organization is or program is, if they cannot provide RECEs with a respectable decent wage, they will forever have a high turn-over for staffing. Prior to COVID, we were already short staffed and struggling to hire qualified, professional RECEs. COVID didn’t cause these issues to develop in our field, it has just heightened them. The unfortunate part is that if the government doesn’t step up and make changes now, it may be too late. Child care is struggling. We don’t have the staffing we need to operate quality child care programs.
And I understand why. I take a lot of pride in my role and I strive to keep my staff engaged and encourage them to remember why they became Early Childhood Educators; but when you’re just working and only going further into debt, then there comes a point when you are forced to step back and say, “is it time to walk away?”. I too want to have children. I want to be able to afford food on the table. I want to be able to provide extra-curricular activities for my children. I will NEED to be able to afford child care for my own children. I cannot afford any of those things making the income I make today. I go home and wonder which bill will I pay today? Will we be able to make our mortgage payment today? What will we do if I get laid off again? We can’t save money for emergency situations when we are living paycheque to paycheque.
I know I am not the only one who is feeling this struggle. It has taken a pandemic for the government to START acknowledging our value within the economy and the importance of our role in the development of children. But when quality RECEs decide to leave the field because they can’t financially live off of the wages they make, and programs can no longer operate quality programs, it will have a ripple effect that will affect us all. If the government doesn’t make changes now they are in for a rude awakening when child care programs close and families no longer have somewhere to send their children so they can work.
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Desiree understands the change our sector needs – watering down regulations will not deliver decent work, professional pay, or quality early learning and care. Ontario’s children, families and educators deserve a national child care plan that has decent work at the core.
Share your story. Sign the petition. Rise up for child care. https://www.childcareontario.org/risingup