You love their joy. Their very freshness seem to promise that God has not tired of us, yet.

Of course, you have friends who cringe at the sounds of children, who are annoyed by the mess children seem always to leave. Your friends avoid the happy chaos of a child’s energy, and they seem repelled by a child’s wildness and love of life. You can’t understand. You feel only the fun of it all— just being with children recharges your batteries.

And more, you realize that to shape a child is to shape a life, a future. You realize that the future of a whole human universe is being created in each and every child.

Do you want to be part of that future, to send your values and energy on into the next generation, through children?

If the answer is a resounding YES!, then Child Care is the path you should be on. And you can take the first giant step by enrolling for a degree in the area of Child Development.

Child care workers nurture and care for children who have not yet entered formal schooling. They also supervise older children before and after school. These workers play an important role in children’s development by caring for them when parents are at work or away for other reasons. In addition to attending to children’s basic needs, child care workers organize activities and implement curricula that stimulate children’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and social growth. They help children explore individual interests, develop talents and independence, build self-esteem, and learn how to get along with others.

Child care workers generally are classified into three different groups based on where they work: private household workers, who care for children at the children’s home; family child care providers, who care for children in the provider’s own home; and child care workers who work at separate child care centers, or Montessori schools.

Family child care providers often work alone with a small group of children, though some work in larger settings with multiple adults. Child care centers generally have more than one adult per group of children; in groups of older children, a child care worker may assist a more experienced preschool teacher.

Most child care workers perform a combination of basic care and teaching duties, but the majority of their time is spent on care giving activities. Workers whose primary responsibility is teaching are classified as preschool teachers. However, many basic care activities also are opportunities for children to learn.

Child care workers spend most of their day working with children. However, they do maintain contact with parents or guardians through informal meetings or scheduled conferences to discuss each child’s progress and needs. Many child care workers keep records of each child’s progress and suggest ways in which parents can stimulate their child’s learning and development at home. Some child care centers and before- and after-school programs actively recruit parent volunteers to work with the children and participate in administrative decisions and program planning.

Young children learn mainly through play. Child care workers recognize this and capitalize on children’s play to further language development (storytelling and acting games), improve social skills (working together to build a neighborhood in a sandbox), and introduce scientific and mathematical concepts (balancing and counting blocks when building a bridge or mixing colors when painting). Often a less structured approach is used to teach young children, including small-group lessons; one-on-one instruction; and creative activities such as art, dance, and music. Child care workers play a vital role in preparing children to build the skills they will need in school.

Child care workers in child care centers or family child care homes greet young children as they arrive, help them with their jackets, and select an activity of interest. When caring for infants, they feed and change them. To ensure a well-balanced program, child care workers prepare daily and long-term schedules of activities. Each day’s activities balance individual and group play, as well as quiet and active time. Children are given some freedom to participate in activities in which they are interested. As children age, child care workers may provide more guided learning opportunities, particularly in the areas of math and reading.

Concern over school-aged children being home alone before and after school has spurred many parents to seek alternative ways for their children to constructively spend their time. The purpose of before- and after-school programs is to watch over school-aged children during the gap between school hours and the end of their parents’ daily work hours.

These programs also may operate during the summer and on weekends. Workers in before- and after-school programs may help students with their homework or engage them in other extracurricular activities. These activities may include field trips, sports, or learning about computers, painting, photography, or other fun subjects. Some child care workers are responsible for taking children to school in the morning and picking them up from school in the afternoon. Before- and after-school programs may be operated by public school systems, local community centers, or other private organizations.

Helping to keep children healthy is another important part of the job. Child care workers serve nutritious meals and snacks and teach good eating habits and personal hygiene. They ensure that children have proper rest periods. They identify children who may not feel well and, in some cases, may help parents locate programs that will provide basic health services.

Child care workers also watch for children who show signs of emotional or developmental problems and discuss these matters with their supervisor and the child’s parents. Early identification of children with special needs—such as those with behavioral, emotional, physical, or learning disabilities—is important to improve their future learning ability. Special education teachers often work with preschool children to provide the individual attention they need.

Helping children grow, learn, and gain new skills can be very rewarding. The work is sometimes routine but new activities and challenges mark each day. Child care can be physically and emotionally taxing, as workers constantly stand, walk, bend, stoop, and lift to attend to each child’s interests and problems.

States regulate child care facilities, the number of children per child care worker, staff qualifications, and the health and safety of the children. State regulations in all of these areas vary. To ensure that children in child care centers receive proper supervision, State or local regulations may require a certain ratio of workers to children. The ratio varies with the age of the children.

Child development experts generally recommend that a single caregiver be responsible for no more than 3 or 4 infants (less than 1 year old) and toddler’s (1 to 2 years old) or 6 or 7 preschool-aged children (between 2 and 5 years old). In before- and after-school programs, workers may be responsible for many school-aged children at a time.

The training and qualifications required of child care workers vary widely. Each State has its own licensing requirements that regulate caregiver training. These requirements range from a high school diploma, a national Child Development Associate (CDA) credential to community college courses or a college degree in child development or early childhood education.

An increasing number of employers require an associate degree in early childhood education.

Many States require child care centers, including those in private homes, to be licensed if they care for more than a few children. In order to obtain their license, child care centers may require child care workers to pass a background check and get immunizations. Furthermore, child care workers may need to be trained in first aid and CPR and receive continuous training on topics of health and safety.

Child care workers must anticipate and prevent problems, deal with disruptive children, provide fair but firm discipline, and be enthusiastic and constantly alert. They must communicate effectively with the children and their parents, as well as with teachers and other child care workers. Workers should be mature, patient, understanding, and articulate and have energy and physical stamina.

Skills in music, art, drama, and storytelling also are important. Self-employed child care workers must have business sense and management abilities.

Some employers prefer to hire child care workers who have earned a nationally recognized Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or the Certified Childcare Professional (CCP) designation from the Council for Professional Recognition and the National Child Care Association, respectively. Requirements include child care experience and coursework, such as college courses or employer-provided seminars.

Child care workers may advance to supervisory or administrative positions in large child care centers or preschools. Often, these positions require additional training, such as a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

With a bachelor’s degree, workers may become preschool teachers or become certified to teach in public or private schools. Some workers set up their own child care businesses.

Child care workers held about 1.4 million jobs in 2006. Many worked part time. About 35 percent of child care workers were self-employed; most of these were family child care providers.

Child day care services employed about 18 percent of all child care workers and about 20 percent work for private households. The remainder worked primarily in educational services; nursing and residential care facilities; religious organizations; amusement and recreation industries; civic and social organizations; individual and family services; and local government, excluding education and hospitals. Some child care programs are for-profit centers, which may be affiliated with a local or national company. Religious institutions, community agencies, school systems, and State and local governments operate nonprofit programs. A very small percentage of private industry establishments operate onsite child care centers for the children of their employees.

Employment of child care workers is projected to increase by 18 percent between 2006 and 2016, which is faster than the average for all occupations. Child care workers will have a very large number of new jobs arise, almost 248,000 over the projections decade.

Pay depends on the educational attainment of the worker and the type of establishment. More education usually means higher earnings.

Median annual earnings of wage-and-salary child care workers were $17,630 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $14,790 and $21,930. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $12,910, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $27,050.

Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of child care workers in 2006 were as follows:

• Other residential care facilities • $20,770
• Elementary and secondary schools • $20,220
• Civic and social organizations • $16,460
• Child day care services • $16,320
• Other amusement and recreation industries • $16,300

Starting your own child care center would involve much higher profit and more responsibility, and require more education.

So, you do love children? And, you want to work with a sense of purpose, in shaping the lives of future adults?

Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to do the best job you can.

Build a strong educational base, upon which to spend your energy, your time, your sharing of skills.

You can find Child Development courses and degrees at almost every good college and university, or in online distance learning courses.

Could any work be more important than helping a child grow? To help shape the very future of our world?

For an electronic question-and-answer service on child care, information on becoming a child care provider, and other resources, contact:

• National Child Care Information Center, 243 Church St. NW., 2nd floor, Vienna, VA 22180 http://www.nccic.org

For eligibility requirements and a description of the Child Development Associate credential, contact:

• Council for Professional Recognition, 2460 16th St., NW., Washington, DC 20009-3575 http://www.cdacouncil.orgg

For eligibility requirements and a description of the Certified Childcare Professional designation, contact:

• National Child Care Association, 1325 G St., NW., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005 http://www.nccanet.org

For information about a career as a nanny, contact:

• International Nanny Association, 191 Clarksville Rd., Princeton Junction, NJ 08550-3111 Telephone (toll free): 888-878-1477 http://www.nanny.org

State departments of human services or social services can supply State regulations and training requirements for child care workers.