This post will look at the problem of wastefulness in children. What do I mean by wastefulness? These are the children that have no respect for the property of others or their own property. They use things as if money grows on trees.
The Costliest Aspect of Our Industry
As small business owners, this has to be one of the costliest aspects of our industry. Children are notorious for being wasteful. We all have our horror stories of going into the bathroom and finding an entire roll of toilet paper or paper towels gracing the entirety of the bathroom. Children do not naturally appreciate how much money they just happily ripped up during their forbidden fun time, but we, the ones that have to replace it, sure do.
Heavy Regulation - A Complication
This problem is exponentially complicated for those providers that have the misfortune to live in heavily regulated states. Sometimes I do believe that regulators think paper products and playdough grow on trees because they seem to think that we are to always have an endless supply of both. Regulations as far as I am concerned force a culture of wastefulness. Providers are forced to use more paper towels in a week than any environmentalist would dream of using in a year. To be a high quality childcare, we have to constantly replace things the children use up or destroy. To make them go without borders on child abuse in the regulators eyes. "Best practices" put us in a position to model some of the most wasteful behavior we have seen in generations. No wonder, children believe that everything in their world just magically appears for the asking.
The Rest of the World
While I was in graduate school, I did one of my research papers on developmentally appropriate practices as viewed by those outside the United States. That was an eye-opener to be sure. Most of the world considers the Western philosophy of developmentally appropriate practice to be indulgent and wasteful. Think about it. In the US we are required to have so many different types of books and puzzles that fit certain requirements for each age group that we serve. Outside the US and other rich Western countries they are grateful to have any books and puzzles. When they do have books and puzzles, they do not dream of letting the children have complete access to them. Yet, we have to let them have access to them all day long regardless of the shape the items are in after just a few days. We are expected to just simply replace what is destroyed. Outside the Western world children are taught to treat the things they have with great care because once it is gone it will not be replaced. I ask you. Which philosophy actually promotes the better attitude? There is a reason most of the world finds American children to be spoiled beyond reason.
Eliminate the "Poof" Mentality
How can we begin to undo the culture of wastefulness that has become so engrained in the early childhood world? We must eliminate the "poof" mentality. One of the greatest life lessons we can teach children is that everything has a price. When they waste paper towels and toilet paper, it makes it hard on the provider to run the business. When they decide to waste all of the drawing paper in one session, they really need to do without for a while. When they decide to completely destroy one of the toys, it needs to just be gone and not be replaced. How can we accomplish this if we live in a heavily regulated state? The "poof' mentality is so intertwined with the scales used for most Quality Rating Systems that you will basically have to make a choice. What is more important to you? Do you want to have a high score or raise children that have respect for property? In some areas you can skirt around the regulations to some degree, but in other areas you will have to choose to take a hit in that area.
A Culture of Respect for Property
One of the most liberating aspects of being independent has been that I can switch to a culture of respect for property rather than having a wasteful culture. To be honest, I did not even realize how bad it was until I downsized. As a larger facility I bled cash every month but did not really feel it because I used credit to buy supplies. When I downsized, I had to start looking at everything from a business owner's point of view rather than an early childhood point of view. It became completely necessary to cut expenses. I told the children if they broke a toy it would not be replaced, and I have stayed true to my word. I have rationed nearly everything, and I do not provide anywhere near what I used to provide. Has this really affected the quality of my childcare? That really depends on your worldview. The children here now have a much greater respect for everything. They understand that if they waste then they will do without. They get upset with their friends for being destructive because they know that I will not buy another one. When we do special projects with them, they appreciate it much more because it is a rarer occurrence. I cut out a lot of indulgence and accessibility, and the kids here are better for it. You decide which is the better option. By the way, it will take me years to pay off the credit card debt I ran up in my quest to be a quality facility, and it shames me to say that I have a business degree. I should have known better, but I let my early childhood training override my business training.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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