Someone else’s shoes: State Rep. Jim Davnie spends day as local child care provider—whew!

BY ANNIE NEARY

State Representative Jim Davnie experienced firsthand what it takes to deliver quality child care by stepping into the role of a family child care provider on Tuesday.

Rep. Davnie spent time with children at Loving to Learn Family Child Care, Sheryl Warner’s Minneapolis child care home.

“A lot of people don’t understand how much we do to help kids grow and get them ready for school,” Warner said. “I invited Rep. Davnie here to see what providers do 12 hours a day.”

Davnie said he wanted to learn more about home-based care

“It is clear that the kids in this day care are lucky to have Sheryl as their provider,” Davnie said. “She provides them with a complete, rich, and loving environment, which is what our youngest citizens and their families need.”
Family child care providers open their homes to provide care to children of mixed ages, and working parents are increasingly choosing the warm, home environment of family child care.

To start the day, Warner introduced the kids she cares for every day to “Mr. Davnie,” and kept a watchful eye on them as the lawmaker read them a story and taught them about shapes and colors.

“I want the kids in my care to get the best start on life I can give them,” Warner said. “We have educational materials and toys, we do numbers and letters every day, and every child has books they can take home and look at with their families.”

As with most family providers, most of the eleven children Warner cares for live in the immediate neighborhood. Many parents say they prefer the sense of community and one-on-one relationship they are able to have with their child’s caregiver.

With the demand for child care growing, finding high-quality care can be a challenge for parents. An estimated 15 to 20 percent of all licensed providers leave the profession every year—and nearly a third of former providers say they closed their doors because they couldn’t afford to keep providing child care.
“Family providers work on our own, so we don’t have a lot of support,” Warner said. “We’re joining together in our union, SEIU Kids First, for a united voice to make child care work better for parents and providers across the state.”