What does a child care attendant do?
Also called childcare workers, childcare attendants attend to children at private households, schools, businesses, and childcare institutions. Childcare attendants dress, bathe, feed, and oversee children. They manage and monitor children's safety in whatever way. It is part of their duties and responsibilities to organize learning activities and enforce a curriculum that allows children to explore their interests. They have to be equipped with necessary skills like decision making, communication, monitoring, being patient, and being enthusiastic.
Child care attendant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real child care attendant resumes:
- Aid and facilitate higher functioning patients reach their fullest potential while managing behavioral episodes as needed.
- Attend to the basic needs of patients, including physical therapy, companionship, food preparation and personal hygiene.
- Assist with ADL and transport to Dr's appointments and shopping.
- Obtain and evaluate patient medication regimens, allergies, lab values and past/current medication history utilizing electronic medical records.
- Assist nurses in placing catheters, emptying and changing bags.
- take vitals, give medications, fill oxygen tanks, empty catheters.
- Provide colostomy care and administer medication for pain management in accordance with current physician recommendations.
Child care attendant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 26% of Child Care Attendants are proficient in CPR, Customer Service, and Meal Prep. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Integrity, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Child Care Attendants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- CPR, 26%
Certified in Child and Infant CPR and First Aid.
- Customer Service, 24%
Presented excellent customer service skills while communicating with parents and coworkers.
- Meal Prep, 15%
Provide assistance with meal preparation, physical mobility, transportation and home support.
- Vital Signs, 6%
Monitor vital signs and scheduled medication intake under the direction of registered nurses and physiotherapists.
- Companionship, 5%
Remind of Medications, Run Bank, Rx, Grocery Errands, House Cleaning, Companionship
- Front Desk, 3%
Scheduled appointments, greeted guests, answered phone calls and managed administrative duties independently at the front desk.
Most child care attendants use their skills in "cpr," "customer service," and "meal prep" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential child care attendant responsibilities here:
Detail oriented. One of the key soft skills for a child care attendant to have is detail oriented. You can see how this relates to what child care attendants do because "home health aides and personal care aides must adhere to specific rules and protocols and carefully follow instructions to help take care of clients." Additionally, a child care attendant resume shows how child care attendants use detail oriented: "position details: always having great customer service skills with the members and their children. "
Integrity. Another essential skill to perform child care attendant duties is integrity. Child care attendants responsibilities require that "home health aides and personal care aides should make clients feel comfortable when they tend to personal activities, such as helping a client bathe." Child care attendants also use integrity in their role according to a real resume snippet: "monitored skin integrity, basic adl's per client's specific needs. "
Interpersonal skills. This is an important skill for child care attendants to perform their duties. For an example of how child care attendant responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "home health aides and personal care aides must work closely with clients." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a child care attendant: "assist elderly patients with daily functions provide interpersonal support and motivation accompany patients to doctor appointments and shopping trips when necessary".
Physical stamina. A big part of what child care attendants do relies on "physical stamina." You can see how essential it is to child care attendant responsibilities because "home health aides and personal care aides should be comfortable performing physical tasks." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical child care attendant tasks: "attended to the basic needs of patients, including physical therapy, companionship, food preparation and personal hygiene. "
The three companies that hire the most child care attendants are:
- At Home Healthcare33 child care attendants jobs
- CARE28 child care attendants jobs
- Chuze Fitness19 child care attendants jobs
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Compare different child care attendants
Child care attendant vs. Nanny
Nannies are family employees who are primarily responsible for taking care of children in the family's house. They are usually tapped to take care of the kids while the parents are at work or away on vacation. Their responsibilities include preparing food for the children, feeding the children, bathing them, dressing them up, ensuring that they take a nap, playing with them, and tucking them to bed at night. They also ensure that the schedule set by the parents is being followed. They may also do other household chores such as cleaning, watering the plants, washing the dishes, among others.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a child care attendant are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "vital signs," "companionship," and "front desk." On the other hand, a job as a nanny requires skills like "kids," "child care," "household chores," and "first aid aed." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Nannies really shine in the non profits industry with an average salary of $41,844. Comparatively, child care attendants tend to make the most money in the education industry with an average salary of $29,428.nannies tend to reach similar levels of education than child care attendants. In fact, nannies are 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Child care attendant vs. Companion
A companion is responsible for assisting sick and recovered patients, as well as the elderly. Companions perform housekeeping duties, ensuring that a facility is well-maintained and safe for the use of the patients. They also monitor the patients' medication, prepare their meals based on a medical professional's prescription, support them on their daily activities, respond to the patients' needs and special requests as allowed, and report any developments to their family or guardians. A companion must be compassionate enough to extend physical and emotional support, depending on the client's condition.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that child care attendant responsibilities requires skills like "front desk," "administer medications," "cardiopulmonary resuscitation cpr," and "direct patient care." But a companion might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "patients," "home health," "provide emotional support," and "patient care."
Companions earn a higher average salary than child care attendants. But companions earn the highest pay in the non profits industry, with an average salary of $30,973. Additionally, child care attendants earn the highest salaries in the education with average pay of $29,428 annually.In general, companions achieve similar levels of education than child care attendants. They're 0.0% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Child care attendant vs. Baby sitter
A Baby Sitter is responsible for the welfare and safety of children while their parents or guardian are away. The tasks will vary on the age, behavior, or needs of the children. However, most of the time, a Baby Sitter must supervise the children's activities in a friendly and fun manner, prepare meals, assist in bathing or dressing, and get them to bed. There are also instances when the Baby Sitter must do some light chores, such as cleaning up after the kids or washing the dishes.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, child care attendants are more likely to have skills like "customer service," "vital signs," "companionship," and "front desk." But a baby sitter is more likely to have skills like "child care," "kids," "homework assignments," and "family friends."
Baby sitters earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $48,994. Comparatively, child care attendants have the highest earning potential in the education industry, with an average salary of $29,428.baby sitters typically earn similar educational levels compared to child care attendants. Specifically, they're 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Child care attendant vs. Sitter
A sitter is responsible for assisting medical needs under the supervision of an attending physician, registered nurses, and other health professionals. Sitters monitor the patients' daily activities and perform medical duties such as taking the patient's temperature, administering medications, monitoring food intake, helping with bathing needs, and responding to the patients' inquiries, concerns, and requests. They also keep track of medical charts to report the patients' health condition and progress to the senior staff.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between child care attendants and sitters, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a child care attendant might have more use for skills like "customer service," "front desk," "administer medications," and "cardiopulmonary resuscitation cpr." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of sitters require skills like "patients," "kids," "patient safety," and "home health. "
In general, sitters earn the most working in the non profits industry, with an average salary of $33,017. The highest-paying industry for a child care attendant is the education industry.The average resume of sitters showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to child care attendants. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.0%.Types of child care attendant
Updated January 8, 2025
