Let’s play a little game.

Scene 1: You see a job posting. It’s Monday–Friday, full-time, 40 hours a week. No wage listed. But the requirements?

• Certification and yearly training
• First Aid/CPR card
• Knowledge of child development
• Trauma-informed care skills
• Quarterly developmental assessments
• Parent conferences on growth and trajectory

Sounds professional, right? You’d probably expect the pay to reflect all those expectations.

Scene 2: Another job posting. Same hours. $12 an hour. That’s it. No details.
What do you assume? Low-skill, no training, maybe fast food (and spoiler: fast food pays better).

Now here’s the kicker—these are the same job.

This is early childhood education.

Parents and policymakers want more: higher standards, stricter licensing, better-trained staff, trauma support, academic prep, all before kindergarten. And childcare providers deliver. We carry families so they can work, and we carry children so they can grow. Yet when the conversation turns to wages, suddenly we’re “just daycare” again.

We’re not sitting kids in front of cartoons all day. We’re managing curriculums, navigating licensing inspections, writing lesson plans, documenting growth, addressing developmental delays, and supporting kids with special needs—usually without extra staff or resources.

And here’s the hard truth: you can’t demand professional-level skills, responsibilities, and outcomes while paying poverty wages. The math doesn’t add up.

High-quality early education should be the standard. But the people providing it deserve pay that matches the weight of the job. Until then, society is asking educators to juggle it all—for pennies—while still calling it “just daycare.”