Dear Childcare Workers..

I know.

You were the unseen essiential worker.

You were not acknowledged in all of the social media posts or commercials. Nobody honored you for being a hero. When someone asked how quaratine was going and you told them you were an essiential worker they gave you a weird look and said "I thought they would have closed the daycares just like they closed the schools."

They didn’t understand that childcare was essential not just for the other essiential workers, but for the children.

Their worlds turned upside down. They didn't go to school anymore. Mom and Dad were stressed out. Everyone was wearing something over their face. Mom and Dad kept telling them that they can't go to their favorite places anymore. It was overwhelming.

But then they got to go to your classroom and see you with your smiling face behind your mask and they got a small, but important piece of normalcy. Keeping our centers up and running gave these children a safe haven to sit out the worst of the COVID-19 storm in.

But I know that didn’t come without great sacrafice from you. Daily health screening, even more strict cleaning and sanitation procedures, new training that you had to do on your own time - off the clock, going the extra mile to communicate with parents who couldn't come in the building. You had a bunch of children gone in an instant and you didn't even get to say goodbye. Their things sat in your classroom for months. You also had a lot of new kids show up in an instant that had never been in daycare before and didn’t understand why mom and dad left them with a stranger. Your roster was in shambles. Your schedule constantly changed. You went from working with one age group to three and back to one in a matter of weeks.

And I know that in the midst of all of that, you are handled your own COVID-19 disasters. You dealt with laid off spouses and loved ones, cut hours of your own, worrying over your health and the health of family memebrs. You watched alongside the rest of the world as the uncertainty of it all unfolded and deal, even now, with the unseen effects of it all.

And I know now, on the other side of the crazy storm, you are still struggling to keep it all together. You’re underpaid as prices sky rocket. Kids are different now. Parents are different now. But all of the heavy expectations are the same. It’s hard.

The world may not be appulauding you, but I am.

Thank you for loving on and nutruing our children, not just during the pandemic, but all the time. Thank you for going the extra mile to keep them safe. Thank you for the support that you showed our doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, and every other working parent, by giving them a safe place to leave their children.

Thank you for prepping crafts on your lunch break, staying late to wipe down the tables and sanitize toys for the fifth time that day and sitting through boring training videos reminding you how to wash your hands.

Thank you for endlessly tying shoes, filling out work and gracefully dealing with all of the varying emotions that come in and out of your classroom everyday.

I see you planning curriculum during nap time with tears in your eyes. I see you putting a fake smile on as you clock in, just for the kids. I see you sitting in the parking lot after your shift cause you're too exhausted to drive.

You are our kids superheros. You are making a difference.