Holly Reynolds has a gift for capturing the fleeting attention of 2- and 3-year-old children.
As she stood in between a pair of pint-sized classroom tables, seven toddlers in little plastic chairs gazed up at her.
She flipped through a series of flashcards, practicing opposites with the toddler class at Lorine’s Little Learner’s, a child care facility in Mansfield. She read each word and the kids chanted after her:
Big! Small! Hot! Cold!
Before children head off to kindergarten, they’re hard at work learning foundational knowledge and essential skills.
Early childhood educators like Reynolds are hard at work teaching them.
Reynolds completed the flashcards, then moved on to basic biology.
“Can you point to your nose?” she asked, resting a fingertip on her nostril.
The children did the same.
“Good job!” she said. “Can you point to your eyes?”
After practicing opposites and identifying body parts, Reynolds lead the children in a round of applause.
“Good job, friends!” she said, before launching into song.
An undeniable joy coursed through Reynolds as she taught — especially when she sang. She clapped her hands and bounced up and down, her gray ringlets swinging back and forth.
“This is my future,” she said, gesturing to the children. “I love it. It’s my calling.”
‘It’s not just about loving kids’
Research shows the early years of a child’s life are a crucial period for brain development. Several studies indicate children, especially ones from low-income families, benefit socially and cognitively from high-quality care.
Despite this, child care workers said they often feel the work is undervalued and misunderstood.
“One thing I wish more people understood about child care is that it’s not just ‘babysitting,’” said Jeanetta Elia, director of M1 Kids Academy in Mansfield.
“It’s early education, brain development, social-emotional learning, and foundational life preparation — all happening in the most critical years of a child’s life.”
It’s also demanding work. Young children demand attention constantly. Nap times are spent catching up on lesson plans and paperwork, or grabbing a quick lunch.
“It’s not just about loving kids,” said Megan Wolford, child care director at the YMCA of North Central Ohio. “You have to be passionate about what you’re doing — lesson planning and prepping.”
Child care workers are among some of the lowest paid professionals in the state — but their dedication keeps them in the field.
“I am almost 40, and I’m still renting my house. I’m driving a 20-year-old car. I can guarantee you I am not rolling in it,” said Kate Monnes Goldsmith, director of Kids Korner Preschool and Child Care Center.
“I tried to leave. My heart kind of always pulled me back.”
Helping little people navigate big emotions
In most licensed child care settings, teachers create and carry out lesson plans that focus on academic skills. But they’re also teaching life skills like potty training, personal space and managing feelings.
“There’s a lot of kids that have some trouble with their emotions. They’re not able to express their feelings the way that they want to,” said Christole Page, director of Lorine’s Little Learners.
“They express it by crying or pointing.”
Page has a social work background, so teaching social emotional skills is important to her. That means teaching children to know and communicate what they are feeling.
“I tell my staff, make sure that they’re getting down on their level and talking to them,” she said.
“Even though they’re kids, they understand they want to be talked to like a person. So talk to them how you would want someone to talk to you and figure out what it is that’s going on with them.”
Susan Martin, data manager at the YWCA Northwest Ohio, said patience is the superpower of early childhood educators.
“Not only are you trying to teach children the skills they need to be ready for kindergarten, you’re almost a counselor of sorts, because children share and want to talk about everything,” Martin said.
When she senses a child is angry enough to “see red,” Monnes Goldsmith likes to pull them aside and hold up her hand. She spreads her fingers wide, urging the child to pretend each is a birthday candle and blow them out one by one.
She said a few deep breaths and a brief distraction usually helps the child calm down enough to talk.
“Once they’re out of that intense movement, we’ll revisit and talk about, ‘OK, what happened? How are you feeling? Someone did this to you. How did that make you feel?’” she said.
Lifelong impact makes the work worthwhile
Early childhood educators routinely say that the most rewarding part of the job is the light bulb moments — whether it’s seeing a child finally master their ABCs or the softer skills, like how to be a good friend.
Kaela Downey pursued a career in child care after watching her own two boys — along with the kids she babysat — head off to kindergarten.
“I have watched children grow from tiny babies into confident, kind, and emotionally strong little people, and it fills my heart to know I had a small part in that journey,” said Downey, Kids Korner’s bubbly assistant director.
Reynolds agreed. She’s been working with kids since she was 13 years old. She worked for the Youth Corps and Head Start. She ran children’s programming at the Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center.
Now 68, Reynolds said she’s bored with retirement. So she comes in to volunteer at Lorine’s.
She recalled seeing a former student from Ocie Hill, now around 19 years old, working at the McDonald’s drive thru window.
“She said, ‘Miss Holly, look what I’m doing. I’m working,’” Reynolds recalled. “She said, ‘I graduated. I didn’t give up on myself.’
“I said, ‘I’m so proud of you,’ because she was going through a lot,'” she continued. “That made my day. I cried in McDonald’s.”
Downey said that besides becoming a mom, working in child care is the most rewarding thing she’s ever done.
“I love it with my whole heart,” she said. “It is literally what I was on this earth to do.”