I can't imagine a harder job than childcare.
I have a niece and nephew whom I adore, but the minute they show even the slightest sign of disgruntlement, I'm like "OKAY HERE YOU GO HERE'S MOMMY BYE" because I cannot handle the stress. So managing that all day, without a parent on hand to calm the storm, is a job that is certainly not for the faint of heart--and that before you get to all the potential pitfalls of, like, having to keep someone else's kid alive all day. And on top of that, childcare workers are nearly always egregiously underpaid!
And as if that weren't bad enough, there's dealing with parents, who nowadays often behave as if they gave birth to the newborn Messiah, and woe betide anyone who disagrees.
It has to suck. But one childcare worker seems to have taken his/her vitriol to a new level that is... quite frankly ghastly.
PostSecret is an online community that began as a very popular early 2000s blog-turned-book where people can anonymously send in their secrets on a postcard and have them published. And recently, a childcare worker's secret, posted to PostSecret's Facebook page, has many people feeling outraged and disturbed--and understandably so.
"How you treat ME is how your child is treated," the post says. Which is, frankly, a sick thing to say, because, you know, CHILDREN ARE NOT IN CONTROL OF THEIR PARENTS' BEHAVIOR FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
Understandably, the internet blew up in horror:
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Facebook
Facebook
Many pointed out the fact that if the parents are awful to a childcare worker, they may well be awful to the child as well--and may need the worker's protection:
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Facebook
Though one person did point out that it is important to treat childcare workers with respect:
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Which, fair enough. But if you're so frustrated with your job that your response is to mirror bad behavior onto a child... perhaps you're in the wrong profession? Just a thought!