What Are the Disadvantages of a Child Care Worker?

Psychological Stress

• Psychological stressors include burnout and emotional drain. Burnout occurs when child care workers feel too exhausted to provide the care, which involves long hours and constant activity including safety monitoring. Home providers rarely get an official 15-minute break. When a child care worker makes a mistake, the error can result in serious injury or harm to the child, unlike other jobs where mistakes can be fixed or corrected with little risk.

Expenses

• Some parents forget or are unable to bring diapers and other personal items for their children, leaving the provider with expense. Other parents might be unable to pay for care during tough economic times, which can strain the provider. In these cases, the emotional connection and general care for children can make it difficult to simply stop service. General wear and tear in the home or facility is expected but sometimes costly. If children break objects in the worker's home that need replacement, child care workers have to pay to replace them when parents are unwilling or unable to pay.

Exposure to Diseases

• Children tend to pass communicable diseases, especially during cold and flu season. Child care workers face the risk of getting sick more often when working with children. Children sometimes show up sick and the parents or provider don't realize it until it's too late. Toddlers have difficulty covering coughs and sneezes and have to be reminded or helped to wash their hands, adding to the risk of passing their illness on at the child care facility or home.

Loneliness

• Some child care providers suffer from loneliness. Caring for children has its rewards, but home providers might miss adult conversation. Communication during work hours tends to be command-directed statements for children rather than interesting or consistent interaction with adult coworkers. Some providers try to remedy this by having play dates with other providers.