Childcare is not a role that we have been hired to play. We cannot be text book providers and come across as anything real in this field. We bring in our own personalities, life styles, and who we are into the profession. This is what makes each provider unique and keeps the balance going.

To be a professional in the field of childcare, you have to take what you know from trainings, other sources, basic knowledge, and put this into practice. You need to allow the children that you will teach and work with see the real you. Children need to see that they are being cared for by a human being with real live emotions.

By allowing children to explore avenues that interest them, you are lending authenticity to your program and to the environment that the child inhabits for a greater portion of their days. By showing the children your interests, you are able to tap into the very core and fiber and see the individuality of both child and provider. You can't go by a book and be authentic and real to the children.

As caregivers in early childhood, we need to balance and practice knowledge with authenticity to provide children with a balanced program in which they can not only see, but also feel within themselves the concepts that you are teaching them. Abstract learning does nothing to motivate the child to reach a little further and develop their cognitive reasoning skills. To teach strictly from a book with no hands and no room for right and wrong, the child learns to dread learning and performance skills once in the classroom will reflect this. But, if balanced with authenticity on my part, I create a learning environment and atmosphere that promotes and sparks their interest. This is professionalism in the teaching environment and sets the stage for future success.