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Take Your Kids to Work Every Day: Careers in Child Care

By H. Staples
Learning & Life Columnist

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in child care are expected to increase 38 percent by 2014, which represents more than twice the national average rate of job growth. With the right training, you could take advantage of this hot job market or even launch your own child care business.

If your ideal job includes helping children develop successfully, you would likely enjoy a career in child care. Child care work provides many benefits, including:

• Keeping your own children with you
• Flexible hours
• Good job prospects
• Learning more about children
• Meeting other parents
• Helping children learn, grow, and gain new skills

Getting Educated About Kids

Many states regulate child care and some require certification or licensure. Regardless of your state's requirements, a degree in early childhood education/development can allow you to better help children in their growth. Parents may feel more comfortable entrusting their child into the hands of someone who is formally trained. A master's degree will serve as a particularly strong foundation if you want to open your own child care center.

Perhaps child care's biggest perk of all comes from the joy of spending a day in the presence of children. Jana Lyn, child care provider and owner of Step by Step Child care, says on her Web site that what she loves about working in child care is "all the smiles, hugs, kisses, mud pies, painted shirts, milk-staches, eyes of wonderment, and I-did-it's."

Sources:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Child Care"
• StepByStep.com

About the Author
H.L. Staples teaches at Syracuse University. Her articles have appeared in The Boston Review, Denver Quarterly, The Georgia Review, and elsewhere.

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