These centers generally care for pre-kindergarten or preschool children and may care for older children when they are not in school. The three largest occupations in the child day care field are preschool teacher, teacher's aide and assistant, and child care worker. Direct children in eating, resting, and proper toilet habits and help them develop habits of caring for their clothing and picking up and putting away toys. Help children explore their interests, develop their talents and independence, build self-esteem, and learn social skills. Managers, administrative support personnel, cleaners, cooks, speech pathologists and audiologists, and social workers also account for many jobs in this field.
Several factors contribute to the strong demand for child day care workers.
These include the increase in dual-income families, the rising labor force participation of women with children, and the fact that women are returning to work so soon after childbirth. In addition, the extended family support system is fading away as people tend to live further away from their families than they once did. There also has been an increase in single-parent households and that has given rise to the need for child day care services. Also, some parents enroll their children in pre-kindergarten programs to give them an opportunity to interact with other children and prepare for entering elementary school. Concentration on a specific industry is an effective way to pursue employment.