I Stand with ALL Childcare Providers
I Stand with ALL Childcare Providers
This weekend, I attended a local advocacy event for early childhood educators. These types of events always make me feel like I am with my people because they are safe spaces to speak up and share our thoughts. It’s nice to be in a space where like-minded people are fired up about seeing the potential of early childhood education.
But there’s a catch: deep advocacy work happens when you are in spaces with others who don’t see things the same way you do. In spaces where people feel uncomfortable with the topics being discussed. In spaces where people are forced to see a reality they wouldn’t let themselves see in the past.
As you get older, you will find that you begin to care less and less about what other people think about you. You feel freer to fight big battles without the constant worry that someone will be upset with you. I’ve been in this space for a long time now. There are plenty of times when I share my thoughts, and others find fault with what I say. I am okay with that because in the end, it is absolutely my responsibility to fight for ALL families, ALL children, and ALL early childhood professionals. And in this fight, I know that when it comes down to the bare bones of what we do, we ALL are caregivers and childcare is NOT a bad word.
Every day that you walk into your learning environment, greet the children and their families, and provide exceptional care, you are acting as an advocate. Every day that you provide affection to a child, others withhold affection from, you are acting as an advocate. Every day you speak up and challenge how others view the work you do, you are acting as an advocate.
Every single one of us in this field needs to be an advocate for those who are being attacked. We can not sit silently by with the thought that this would never happen in my town. When a 23-year-old with a camera can speak lies that hold so much power, we are not all safe. If you don’t know what I am talking about, let me share a few points about what's happened in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Around the Christmas holidays, a 23-year-old self-described journalist bombarded Somali-owned childcare centers, accusing them of fraud. He visited many programs outside of program hours.
He accused the Somali-owned programs of having no children enrolled.
These accusations, which were unfounded, caused providers to receive death threats and bomb threats. Compliance checks were conducted for nine centers, and all were found to be in compliance.
One center was broken into, and all of their records for children and employees were stolen. These records contained medical information and home addresses.
These unfounded accusations led the federal government to freeze childcare funding.
It should not matter what your political leanings are; if you believe that it is okay for hate and retribution to be our new normal, then you for sure should not be caring for young children.
I want you to imagine that your program is closed for a professional development day. On that day, someone decides to come and film your program, watching as adults enter, but no children show up all day. This person then posts a video claiming you are committing fraud. You may think that you can combat those lies with the truth, but once something is out there, it is hard to undo the harm it has caused.
The children, families, and providers in your program would no longer be safe. They would be harassed at work and at home. You would have to shut down your program for days or weeks (or maybe permanently) because of the daily death/bomb threats. Empathy is our ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. If this happened to you, would you want to go it alone or would you hope that others in the field would stand up and fight with you (not against you)
