“I am a Mum of 2 amazing children 5 and 1, and an RECE. After the birth of my first son I decided to move from Centre based care to licensed home child care. I knew after working in centres for 13 years before I made the switch we did not get a whole lot, but in home child care we get even less for doing triple the work.
Not only am I the teacher, I am the cleaner, cook and everything else in-between. Since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, I now spend even more time cleaning and sanitizing, leaving very little time for my children/husband to have a mum who has energy for them.
There are days that I work 15 hours a day with no breaks and no lunch time. When you break down my pay, most days I make $2.50 an hour, and that covers my wages, my bills, the food for the children, etc. I currently live in Keene Ontario where subsidies, wage enhancement, and base funding is available. That funding helps to ease the burden a little. But I will soon be moving to Port Hope Ontario, and now I worry that the same funding won’t be available to me there. How is that fair? I will be doing the same work I am doing now, but with no help from the government, simply because of my location. There needs to be a system to help all child care, no matter if it’s in a centre or in a licensed home. All RECEs should be paid the same and fairly, no matter their place of work.
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We know that during the COVID-pandemic closure many licensed home child care providers remained open, and their particular needs have been roundly ignored by the Province. Emma’s concerns with increased responsibility, unjust compensation and inadequate funding are highlights of the many inequities and gaps of our existing system. It’s time to rise up and demand more from the Province – this is not good enough. All educators, children, and families deserve better.
Share your story. Sign the petition. Rise up for child care. https://www.childcareontario.org/risingup