“I think for me personally, I treat your child as though they are my own and I will always treat your child as my own. Which means that I'm going to give them absolutely everything. I have their best interest in mind but also, I'm here to partner with you. I'm not in charge, you're in charge. I wish parents would understand like, you are the captain of this. It's not easy. We don’t always just want them dropped off without a word, and some schools are like that. We put a lot of thought into the curriculum and how we're going to deliver it, how we care for each child individually. So I guess I’d like them to remember, we're humans too. I feel like that's lost. Sometimes we're not considered people outside of your child’s teacher.”

“So I personally I am a recovering people pleaser. I think that being with kids has really opened up my eyes of like, it's okay if some someone likes something and you don't like it. I see the importance of having boundaries and keeping those boundaries, and then also having that accountability of, if I do something wrong I apologize. I really believe that yes, they’re children, but they're also human beings. So I just want to show them how to be a good person. I feel like that's what I really strive for in my teaching, is trying to build foundational skills of each child being a good person. I want to teach them about not letting anybody knock them down. But also, about being an open arm for somebody else who needs it.”

I think in all honesty, the most challenging thing is how much time we give. There's actually two or three people who said they're leaving this year. And they all kind of had the same message of like, ‘I want to get back to my life. I want to be able to like eat breakfast without rushing or spilling coffee everywhere.’ I would like to be able to live my life as well. And I am, but that's the biggest challenge. We're a 12 month program, so we have one week off in the summer, which is more than others. There's are some centers that are open on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. We really put our heart and soul into this and we don't have enough for ourselves. And I think that the pay has something to do with it. But I think that what would really help for teacher retention would just be for people to really understand what teachers put into this. And it's their whole selves. So yeah, I think just feeling valued and appreciated is tricky. Doesn't necessarily come with the job.