Latest / ChildCare Conversations / 360: The Most Crucial Ingredient for Quality Childcare Staffing Revealed
Transcript
- 0:00Childcare Conversations: Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real-world strategies, honest talk, and a whole lot of support.
- 0:10Childcare Conversations: Whether you're running one center or many, we're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity.
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- 0:41Childcare Conversations: Now, let's get into today's conversation.
- 0:44Childcare Conversations: One we think you're really going to love.
- 0:47Kate Woodward Young: Welcome back to Childcare Conversations.
- 0:49Kate Woodward Young: And it is the middle of summer.
- 0:52Kate Woodward Young: And I have to tell you, I'm having a little bit of nostalgia, but it also gave me an opportunity to really kind of identify why and how some of my beliefs have come into existence when it comes to the importance of quality staffing in early childcare.
- 1:12Kate Woodward Young: So when I was 15, I used my own money to become a lifeguard.
- 1:18Kate Woodward Young: Now, this is not a Baywatch story.
- 1:22Kate Woodward Young: I was a teenager, right?
- 1:23Kate Woodward Young: I needed my own money.
- 1:25Kate Woodward Young: I wanted to be able to buy a car.
- 1:26Kate Woodward Young: And of course, who doesn't love a good tan?
- 1:29Kate Woodward Young: I was outside the entire summer and I got paid to do that.
- 1:34Kate Woodward Young: However, what surprised me was how much I loved the responsibility.
- 1:39Kate Woodward Young: I liked knowing that being alert, being prepared, showing up on time, and knowing what I did mattered to someone else.
- 1:49Kate Woodward Young: That is where I learned something that I still believe today.
- 1:53Kate Woodward Young: I absolutely believe that training has to take over before fear does.
- 1:59Kate Woodward Young: Now, let's think this through.
- 2:28Kate Woodward Young: I became a water park lifeguard.
- 2:30Kate Woodward Young: I became an ocean front lifeguard.
- 2:33Kate Woodward Young: On more than one occasion, I responded to near-drowning incidents with children and adults.
- 2:39Kate Woodward Young: What does that mean?
- 2:40Kate Woodward Young: It means I actually kept them from drowning.
- 2:43Kate Woodward Young: This wasn't a drill.
- 2:44Kate Woodward Young: It wasn't just some kid splashing.
- 2:47Kate Woodward Young: It really was a life and death situation.
- 2:50Kate Woodward Young: I had to figure out how to do my job without being frustrated with the adults because the number of distracted adults who were at a swimming pool during the summer is absolutely huge.
- 3:04Kate Woodward Young: We'd have some kids that would come to the pool as young as six and seven, who would be there all day and never have a parent.
- 3:12Kate Woodward Young: So those parents, on some level, trusted us to be able to take care of their child the entire day.
- 3:20Kate Woodward Young: Sometimes the parents would be asleep.
- 3:22Kate Woodward Young: Sometimes the parents had a little more, um, let's just go with beverages than they should.
- 3:29Kate Woodward Young: But they were definitely children without adult supervision.
- 3:32Kate Woodward Young: Families didn't need me to be cute in a swimsuit.
- 3:36Kate Woodward Young: They needed me to be ready.
- 3:38Kate Woodward Young: Now, if you've never been a lifeguard and all you've done is ever seen them sit by the pool and you think, oh, that lifeguard has a whistle or that lifeguard has a little funny red thing.
- 3:48Kate Woodward Young: Let me talk to you about how they're trained and how they're trained before they actually ever have to take responsibility.
- 3:56Kate Woodward Young: So you cannot be a lifeguard until you are 15.
- 4:00Kate Woodward Young: This is a nationally required age for the training.
- 4:05Kate Woodward Young: Okay, I get that.
- 4:07Kate Woodward Young: But you pay for the training.
- 4:09Kate Woodward Young: So you pay to get the certification.
- 4:12Kate Woodward Young: So you are making a financial investment in that education from the beginning.
- 4:17Kate Woodward Young: You are trained before you take any responsibility.
- 4:21Kate Woodward Young: You know the job expectations.
- 4:25Kate Woodward Young: You know the uniform matters.
- 4:28Kate Woodward Young: Without the appropriate uniform and equipment, people don't take you seriously.
- 4:32Kate Woodward Young: As a lifeguard, you have staff meetings every day.
- 4:37Kate Woodward Young: You have refreshers every week.
- 4:39Kate Woodward Young: You have drills every week.
- 4:42Kate Woodward Young: You are in charge with supervision, accountability, checklists.
- 4:46Kate Woodward Young: You are required not only for the health and safety of the children in the pool, out of the pool, but also the water itself.
- 4:53Kate Woodward Young: Have you ever been to a pool and you can't go swimming and you don't really know why?
- 4:58Kate Woodward Young: Well, there's a lot of health and safety issues.
- 5:01Kate Woodward Young: And if a child comes into the pool and has an accident, well, fecal matter means that the pool is closed.
- 5:08Kate Woodward Young: It means that they have to do, and it varies depending on the type of pool and that kind of stuff, but they have to do some sort of management on the spill, on the safety issue, right?
- 5:22Kate Woodward Young: So you also are very aware, your staff is very clear, your managers are very clear of what the consequences of are if you don't show up or if you're not paying attention.
- 5:35Kate Woodward Young: There, this is not an option to just sit there with your earbuds and just kind of play, or to tell the managers when you're coming in.
- 5:45Kate Woodward Young: Again, the pool is a health and safety situation.
- 5:50Kate Woodward Young: By the time you're ready to sit in the chair or to stand in your spot, you have been prepared for serious responsibility.
- 5:58Kate Woodward Young: Now I want you to think about that.
- 6:00Kate Woodward Young: In early childcare, are we already making sure that before the staff come into the classroom that they're prepared?
- 6:11Kate Woodward Young: But every day there are so many youth across the country who are prepared for serious responsibility.
- 6:23Kate Woodward Young: And we don't think anything about it.
- 6:24Kate Woodward Young: And we do it every single day.
- 6:28Kate Woodward Young: Now, I'm gonna take this one step further because what I didn't share with you is that I actually became a CPR and first aid instructor at the age of 16.
- 6:38Kate Woodward Young: Why?
- 6:38Kate Woodward Young: Because I knew that the more that I did that, the better I would be, right?
- 6:43Kate Woodward Young: So if you're only learning CPR once every couple of years and you're only using it on a mannequin, when the time comes, are you prepared?
- 6:53Kate Woodward Young: By the time I was 17, I was actually the youngest trainer of trainers that the American Red Cross had, because 17 was the age.
- 7:02Kate Woodward Young: You couldn't be any younger.
- 7:04Kate Woodward Young: By 18, I was a lifeguarding instructor.
- 7:06Kate Woodward Young: So I trained lifeguards for the next several years at local swimming pools, at YMCAs, at university level, all the way through my mid-20s.
- 7:16Kate Woodward Young: And I did it twice a year.
- 7:18Kate Woodward Young: Spring break and the first week of summer.
- 7:20Kate Woodward Young: It just was when that happened.
- 7:22Kate Woodward Young: But I taught people who came for a job, but they left with the responsibility.
- 7:30Kate Woodward Young: And they knew that when they were coming in.
- 7:32Kate Woodward Young: Now, I wasn't just training lifeguards.
- 7:35Kate Woodward Young: I was teaching people at the beginning of their work story.
- 7:39Kate Woodward Young: That is probably why I care so much today about how we train adults.
- 7:44Kate Woodward Young: You cannot hand somebody a manual assume they know how to teach, coach, or heaven forbid, perform under pressure.
- 7:52Kate Woodward Young: Now, part of the reason I'm doing this episode today is because to me, there is a huge, huge disconnect.
- 7:59Kate Woodward Young: When I started thinking really hard about childcare and why some programs just can't seem to get it.
- 8:09Kate Woodward Young: Because I hear directors and owners say things like, we just need a warm body in the classroom to make ratios.
- 8:16Kate Woodward Young: And so they hire somebody really, really quick.
- 8:20Kate Woodward Young: And that person, well, they get their forms, they get their policies, they might even get some online training modules.
- 8:27Kate Woodward Young: Maybe even they shadow a shift or two, and then they're placed into ratio.
- 8:31Kate Woodward Young: They are put in a responsible situation, and people hope that they figure it out.
- 8:36Kate Woodward Young: Now, strong teachers get promoted into director roles, and then these directors are expected to know how to manage a budget, manage staff, manage marketing, manage parents, and they're supposed to know how adults learn.
- 8:55Kate Woodward Young: They were such a great teacher.
- 8:57Kate Woodward Young: They probably know everything you ever wanted to know about the age group they worked with.
- 9:02Kate Woodward Young: They probably had hundreds of hours of training to work with that age group.
- 9:07Kate Woodward Young: But somehow they're miraculously supposed to know how to train adults, how to manage parents, how to manage staff, how to manage a budget.
- 9:17Kate Woodward Young: You know what?
- 9:17Kate Woodward Young: That's not a staffing problem.
- 9:19Kate Woodward Young: That is a preparation problem.
- 9:21Kate Woodward Young: There are other industries that have struggled with this.
- 9:24Kate Woodward Young: We are not the only industry that sits here and goes, oh, but I have staff who leave because they can make more money over here.
- 9:33Kate Woodward Young: Okay.
- 9:35Kate Woodward Young: But what are we doing to make sure that they feel supported and trained and prepped for the responsible job we're giving them?
- 9:43Kate Woodward Young: Okay.
- 9:44Kate Woodward Young: I already talked to you a little bit about lifeguarding, but I want you to think about hospitality, right?
- 9:51Kate Woodward Young: So even in fast food restaurants, you can be hired from the very first day and know that you are in the manager and training track.
- 10:01Kate Woodward Young: So from the first day, from the first time you are making that taco, if you're at Taco Bell, right?
- 10:08Kate Woodward Young: As soon as you're learning about all of the health and safety components that go into hospitality industry jobs, right?
- 10:15Kate Woodward Young: So if you're working as a manager and training at a Taco Bell, making 60 grand a year as a manager in training, you're learning all of the roles.
- 10:26Kate Woodward Young: You're learning all the health and safety components, right?
- 10:30Kate Woodward Young: So here's the thing they're going into that job, know that they're going into leadership.
- 10:34Kate Woodward Young: But in childcare, nobody knows they're going to go into leadership.
- 10:38Kate Woodward Young: They don't come to the job to be the manager.
- 10:43Kate Woodward Young: They come to the job because they have kids, love kids, want to be near kids.
- 10:47Kate Woodward Young: They have a passion for children.
- 10:49Kate Woodward Young: Why not create a manager and training track in your program?
- 10:54Kate Woodward Young: How many of you have had an assistant director who doesn't want to be promoted?
- 10:58Kate Woodward Young: Or a teacher or a lead teacher who doesn't want to be promoted?
- 11:02Kate Woodward Young: So we have this same situation in retail industries.
- 11:07Kate Woodward Young: People are hired not just to fold shirts, but they're hired in as the manager and training.
- 11:14Kate Woodward Young: They know their goal is to be in charge of a store.
- 11:17Kate Woodward Young: Again, same thing with CNAs, right?
- 11:21Kate Woodward Young: So um certified nursing assistants for photomists.
- 11:25Kate Woodward Young: Phototomists, also, right?
- 11:28Kate Woodward Young: So these are roles where we have folks who are in entry-level healthcare position.
- 11:34Kate Woodward Young: And do you know what they do?
- 11:36Kate Woodward Young: They actually pay for their training.
- 11:38Kate Woodward Young: A lot of times they take the course so that they can go be certified.
- 11:44Kate Woodward Young: Imagine if we got people excited to take the CDA course as a course to take a 120-hour course so that they can do their job in childcare.
- 11:56Kate Woodward Young: Certified nursing assistants a lot of times don't necessarily make more than those who work in childcare, but they're trained for the job from the beginning and they know that this is what they want to do.
- 12:08Kate Woodward Young: Now, I am not saying that childcare needs to become lifeguarding.
- 12:12Kate Woodward Young: Children are not widgets.
- 12:13Kate Woodward Young: Children in childcare cannot be copied and pasted from another industry.
- 12:18Kate Woodward Young: So I don't want you to think that that's what I'm saying.
- 12:21Kate Woodward Young: What I'm saying is we can learn from other industries.
- 12:26Kate Woodward Young: We can understand that clear entry points, training before responsibility, repeated practice, role clarity, supervision, and growth pathways are without a doubt the most important part of our industry.
- 12:46Kate Woodward Young: And that other industries do the same thing.
- 12:49Kate Woodward Young: Before someone carries responsibility, they need clarity.
- 12:53Kate Woodward Young: What does this role require?
- 12:55Kate Woodward Young: What does good look like?
- 12:57Kate Woodward Young: Who do I ask for help?
- 12:58Kate Woodward Young: Practice?
- 13:00Kate Woodward Young: Show it?
- 13:01Kate Woodward Young: Let them try it.
- 13:03Kate Woodward Young: Watch them do it.
- 13:05Kate Woodward Young: Give feedback.
- 13:06Kate Woodward Young: Belonging.
- 13:07Kate Woodward Young: Do they know where they fit?
- 13:09Kate Woodward Young: Who supports them?
- 13:11Kate Woodward Young: And how do they ask questions?
- 13:12Kate Woodward Young: Is there a path?
- 13:14Kate Woodward Young: What comes next?
- 13:16Kate Woodward Young: How can they grow?
- 13:18Kate Woodward Young: Can they become excellent without being pushed into a role they don't want?
- 13:23Kate Woodward Young: At a swimming pool, at a water park, at an amusement park.
- 13:27Kate Woodward Young: Training has to take place before fear does.
- 13:31Kate Woodward Young: In childcare preparation has to happen before the classroom, before the parent concern, before the staffing crisis, and before the emergency.
- 13:46Kate Woodward Young: Children are not widgets.
- 13:47Kate Woodward Young: The adults who care for them are not interchangeable.
- 13:52Kate Woodward Young: We cannot build a stronger childcare profession by hoping people will rise to the role.
- 13:58Kate Woodward Young: We have to create intentional ways for people to enter, to learn, to grow, and to stay.
- 14:05Kate Woodward Young: Now, your job as a director or owner, teacher, passionate human.
- 14:11Kate Woodward Young: I want you to sit with this episode.
- 14:13Kate Woodward Young: I want you to go back.
- 14:14Kate Woodward Young: I want you to listen to it again.
- 14:15Kate Woodward Young: And I want you to think about what you can change in your program to start to implement maybe pieces.
- 14:23Kate Woodward Young: Maybe you just sat here and went, I never really thought about that.
- 14:27Kate Woodward Young: Maybe you've been in a workshop at one point in time and you've heard me talk about my favorite place to recruit.
- 14:34Kate Woodward Young: Do you know where my favorite place is to recruit?
- 14:36Kate Woodward Young: Have you heard this story?
- 14:39Kate Woodward Young: Now you actually understand the origin behind the story.
- 14:43Kate Woodward Young: I do a ton of recruiting at swimming pools at the end of July and the first of August.
- 14:51Kate Woodward Young: Even if I only get these employees for six months, because they're college students, for six months in the fall or a few weeks during the spring or summer, it shows them that I value the training they've already had.
- 15:06Kate Woodward Young: I'm not their first boss, but I'm taking the skills they learned, their CPR, their first aid, their understanding of a uniform, their ability to kind of look at chaos and to know that they are aware of a job that they have had where they do not get to have a cell phone, they do not get to have their earbuds in, and they must be paying attention.
- 15:28Kate Woodward Young: They must be able to see and hear the swimmers at all times.
- 15:33Kate Woodward Young: You know what?
- 15:33Kate Woodward Young: I can't wait for you to join us in the next few days for our next episode.
- 15:37Kate Woodward Young: Thank you for joining.
- 15:39Childcare Conversations: Thanks for tuning in.
- 15:41Childcare Conversations: We love bringing you real talk and fresh insight from the world of early childhood education.
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- 16:10Childcare Conversations: We'll see you next time on Childcare Conversations.