A Day at the Childcare

I pull my silver, compact, Ford Escort into the worn, crumbling parking lot of the childcare I have worked at since 1998. Stepping outside of my car, the brisk, frigid air cuts through me like a razor-sharp pair of scissors cut through paper.* I dash into the massive building that stands at attention welcoming in those who enter.* Arriving hurriedly inside a cozy but spacious room, I am greeted by the sounds of lively, jovial children and a few of their rushed parents. These children are eagerly starting their busy mornings by playing chase, riding in plastic toy cars and pedaling tiny, metal tricycles with feverish motion. It is another promising day full of activities at Zion Christian Childcare.

Our morning begins with the sweet scent of fresh sliced Red Delicious apples. The smell brings scampering children who are as hungry as piglets.* Watching the children eat with gigantic smiles on their sticky faces makes it almost worth the mess of strewn apple pieces on the floor. After snack, the children line up and like a train we ride into the next room.* The next room is our main classroom. This room is full of toys; shiny metal cars, baby dolls wanting to be mothered, plastic food with teeth marks and colorful smiling xylophones. There are many other different toys neatly placed in cubbies waiting for little hands to try them out. In here, it is a toy cornucopia.

The afternoon is full of activities, including lunch, art and outside time. Lunchtime begins with coaxing all the children to sit down. Once every child has taken a seat in child size blue plastic chairs and tables, I pass out their lunches. Every child’s lunchbox has a different look to it. Some lunchboxes are metal with a superhero on the front, others have Dora the Explorer, Elmo or Pooh eating honey and some have brightly colored plain vinyl that used to belong to an older brother or sister. There are smells of hotdogs, buttery popcorn, strawberry Jell-O, Chef Boyardee ravioli and Chinese rice that blend into one mouth-watering aroma filling the room. This fragrance makes you hungry even if you think you are not. When lunch has ended and the tables and children are clean, I place multicolored construction paper and a Styrofoam bowl of finger paint in front of the children. Miniature hands quickly dive into the bowls. In a short time, these tiny artists have created their masterpieces.

With art being