Blog #6

The first type of child care use that many of the mothers’s used outside of their own care was kin care which was characterized by some type of kin such as the father, grandmother, aunt, etc of the child watching the child for little or no money. This care was used the most because it was relatively easy to secure on such short notice due to the mother’s need to get back to work in order to provide money to pay for “real” child care. This type of care was also the shortest in its duration due to the kin becoming unable to further care for the child and also the mother’s acknowledgement that they child was not being cared for in an environment that was conducive to their development. Mothers wanted their children to be cared for but also to be stimulated in their environment in hopes that it would later benefit them once they started school and would allow them to be successful in that environment. A few of the mothers promoted kin care because they were sure of the type of environment that their child was in which was very important to them because they knew they could trust their child care provider and knew that their child was receiving the type of love and care they would have provided them with. Most mothers got their children out of kin care as soon as they could but continued to use it as a quick form of secondary care that they could rely on and be secure with in the short term.

The next type of child care for many of the mothers was with an in home provider who was either licensed or unlicensed but who made child care their occupation. The rate and duration of mothers using this type of care all centered around how they felt about the provider and the type of environment they could provide for their child. Some mothers did not feel comfortable with leaving their child in the home of a stranger especially when they could still rely on the use of kin care. Other mothers preferred the use of home providers if they were able to chose one that they felt would provide added structure and care that the child would not be able to receive from kin care. This was the view of Annette who was able to find providers who she felt were properly equipped and trained to care for her son while also providing him with a learning environment. While it may take a mother a few tries to find the right provider for them that they felt comfortable with, such was the case for Yolanda who stopped care with one provider upon her son getting constant diaper rashes, she was able to find a provider that she was more than happy with due to her caring demeanor. Finally some of the mothers received such a bad taste in their mouths from disagreements with home providers to missed expectations that they preferred to send their child to formal day care centers.

Formal day care centers were used mostly for children aged three and older because by that time many mothers felt that it was important for their child to start receiving the interactions and structure that these centers provided in anticipation to get their child prepared to start school. The mothers expected that these centers would be more equipped to provide proper care to their children due to the facilities and resources that they had at their disposal. They also felt that it was important for their child to have positive interactions with other kids their age so that they would be able to better succeed in school since they were used to being around other kids and taking orders from a teacher figure. Most of the mothers had a very hard time getting their children into such centers due to age restrictions and long waiting lists which was disheartening for many of the mothers who preferred this care due to its feeling of security and safely for their child compared to the other types of care.

Between all of the different types of care that the mothers used for their children the underlying factors in their decision making had to do with availability and cost rather than the more important factors of quality of care and security. All together the mothers had varying and valid reasons for why they preferred a certain type of care yet many were unable to provide their child with that type of care as they could not afford it or it was not available to them. Many of the mothers struggled with getting the monetary aid they were entitled to from the government only to then not receive the aid in a timely manner which then defeated the purpose as they were not able to effectively use it and had to settle for less expensive care which many times was not the care they preferred. Other mothers struggled to by past or get through the long waiting lists that accompanied the top choice of care such as the Head Start program which was seen as a very safe and educational thus preferred type of care causing mothers to once again settle for lesser care. The bottom line was that instead of mother’s feelings towards a care arrangement being the deciding factor in whether their child went there or not, it was money, and actually the lack there of, that decided where and how a child was cared for. Mothers only want the best for their child and when they cannot provide the best or even the second or third best for them it is a very defeating feeling for them and a negative experience for the child.