This post is sponsored by KinderCare.
As parents we love our children more than anyone else. Not only do we care about their well-being, but we know them through and through…all their quirks, preferences and special needs. We know it all, which is why sending your child off to school and into the care of someone else who is not you – their parent – for the very first time can feel incredibly overwhelming and emotional.
I experienced these emotions for the first time in my six years of parenting this year as we sent our oldest off to Kindergarten. She hadn’t attended Pre-K since my job flexibility allows me to be home with my kids and gave me the opportunity to work with her on Kindergarten prep at home. Because of this, going to all-day Kindergarten was a pretty big jump and I had a whole lot of feelings going into it.
Was she going to be safe? Would she feel seen and valued? Would her teacher help her with zipping up her jacket for recess since she still has some trouble with that?
Big questions and small ones swirled through my head as I sent her off into the unknown and I’ll admit that it was hard during those early days and weeks. Over time though, I’ve learned that it really is such a gift to be able to send my child to a place where she is surrounded by other adults who are able to help her learn and grow in ways that I never could. It is so sweet to have a teacher’s assistant share with you how impressed they are with your child’s ability to take initiative and problem solve and it is wonderful to see your child developing autonomy and independence as they discover who they are apart from you.
Even though this was my first time personally experiencing these feelings/worries/concerns about sending a child away to school for the first time, I was certainly no stranger to them. You see, a long time ago in a far away land (i.e. before I became a parent with children of my own) I was an early childhood educator myself. I worked at a child development center where I taught a classroom of three and four-year-olds and grew accustomed to assuaging the worries of new parents on a regular basis. These parents were placing their children in my care and trusting me to not only care for them, but to truly see them and teach them as the individual masterpieces that they were.
And I did my very best to deliver that, because I knew how important my role was and how much faith these families were placing in me and also because I loved my students and seeing them learn and grow. That is the special thing about quality early childhood centers and educators – they are in it for the love of teaching and for the love of the children and KinderCare is definitely that type of center.
I’m sure most of you, like myself, have heard of KinderCare, but I hadn’t really delved deeper into just what their centers were about until recently. I have to say that from my research, I am honestly so impressed with the quality of programming they have within their centers as well as how they have grown and changed along with the times in order to provide children and families with the very best experience and education.
KinderCare has been around since 1969 and has grown over the years into a community of 1,400 centers in 38 states has a proven track record of of providing confidence in care – both to parents who can feel confident in leaving their children with quality educators and to children who are being taught confidence in themselves. This commitment to giving kids confidence for life is even written into their manifesto:
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