An important responsibility of the child care worker is to teach children. A successful daycare utilizes an age appropriate curriculum to teach children basic skills. The child care worker should communicate with the director when planning lessons to teach. An accurate record needs to kept of student progress for parents to view and discuss.
When working with young children, it is important to develop patience. The children may come from different backgrounds where various behaviors that are not allowed at daycare, are permitted in the home. When disciplining a child, the worker should speak patiently and calmly with the child to make sure he acknowledges bad behaviors.
The children should never be left alone in the daycare center. Children can very quickly cause accidents if left unsupervised. Even when children are sleeping during nap time, an adult must remain in the room. Children need to know that they are in a caring and safe environment. A young child cannot communicate needs and wants yet, but is starting to build trust with those around him.
Most daycares provide meals or snacks for children. It is important that these meals meet the state nutritional guidelines. The child care worker will assist with food preparation and feeding all of the children. If infants are in the center, the worker will individually feed the babies either from bottles or baby food provided by parents.