Your child is dropped off at after-school care or daycare at 8 a.m. looking half-asleep. And at 5 p.m., you pick up someone who proudly tells you about a construction they made, a conflict they resolved, or a new friend.
Between those two moments sits a childcare professional who made all of that possible. Often without us really stopping to think about it.
September 17th is Childcare Professionals Day. A great moment to look at what these people do every day for the development of children, and why their work is so much more than "just keeping an eye on them until the parents arrive."
More than just supervision
Childcare professionals support children during one of the most formative periods of their lives. During this time, children learn more than just reading and arithmetic. They also learn how to collaborate, deal with disappointment, take initiative, and make independent choices. Much of that learning doesn't happen in the classroom, but rather in the free moments at after-school care. In the play between two children arguing over the same building blocks. In the guidance provided to a child who wants to build something themselves for the first time and doesn't get it right immediately.
A good childcare professional spots those moments and knows exactly when to intervene and when a child should be given the chance to figure it out for themselves. That is a skill you aren't just gifted. You build it through experience, patience, and a genuine interest in how children develop.
Why this work is severely underestimated
The childcare sector in the Netherlands has been dealing with staff shortages for years. Many childcare professionals work with large groups, varying shifts, and relatively modest salaries, while the responsibility is enormous: the development and safety of other people's children. At the same time, parents are demanding more and more from childcare. Not just babysitting, but also stimulation, attention to individual needs, and a pleasant environment in which a child feels safe.
That is a fair request. But it also makes the work more complex than it looks from the outside. A childcare professional juggles twenty different needs, personalities, and energy levels every day, while also having to prepare activities that actually challenge the children.
What childcare professionals really teach children
From the conversations we at Zappie have with after-school care and childcare organizations that work with our building kits, we recognize several recurring patterns in what childcare professionals try to instill:
- Perseverance. A child who doesn't get a building kit right the first time learns to keep trying instead of giving up immediately.
- Collaboration. During activities where children have to build or play together, negotiation, task distribution, and sometimes disagreements that need to be resolved happen naturally.
- Ownership. Children who make something themselves feel responsible for it. That often translates into taking better care of their things and their environment.
- Self-confidence. A child who proudly shows what they have made experiences a form of recognition that goes beyond a compliment.
Childcare professionals create the environment every day where these kinds of learning moments can occur. That requires more than supervision. It requires pedagogical insight, patience, and the willingness to let children discover things for themselves, even if it happens more slowly or messily than if an adult did it themselves.
How you can use September 17th
You don't have to wait for an official campaign from your childcare center to mark this day. A few simple things make a difference:
- At the end of the day, actively ask your child what was fun at daycare, and specifically mention that their teacher made that possible.
- Write a short, personal note to your child's childcare professional. Concrete appreciation ("I noticed that X has become much more self-confident since joining your group") lands better than a general thank you.
- Share the message about this day in a parent app or group chat for the daycare. Appreciation that is shared visibly reinforces the feeling that the work is being seen.
A small gesture with a big effect
Research into job satisfaction in the healthcare and education sectors consistently shows that recognition for work is one of the most important factors for motivation, alongside salary and working conditions. For a sector facing high staff turnover, this is relevant. People who feel seen in their work are more likely to keep doing what they do. Childcare professionals help build who our children become. On September 17th, that deserves to be explicitly stated.
Do you want to continue building on the same skills that childcare professionals stimulate daily at home, such as perseverance, collaboration, and self-confidence? See how the Zappiebox contributes to that in a playful way.
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