What does a child care worker do?
A child care worker is responsible for providing care and supervision to children while the parents or guardians are away. A child care worker's duty may involve changing diapers and preparing milk for infants and toddlers, devise strategies or fun activities where children can learn, arrange schedules to fit their needs such as nap times, and prepare healthy meals and snacks. Aside from ensuring children's safety, a child care worker must also monitor any sign of emotional or developmental issues so it can be brought to the parents' attention as soon as possible.
Child care worker responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real child care worker resumes:
- Obtain certification in CPR to ensure minors would be properly resuscitate in an emergency.
- Require to maintain continuing education in courses including passive restraint, standard first aid and CPR.
- Complete accurate and timely documentation on kids' behavior as outlined by policy.
- Create math, reading, bible, and art lessons.
Child care worker skills and personality traits
We calculated that 39% of Child Care Workers are proficient in Child Care, Crisis Intervention, and Behavioral Issues. They’re also known for soft skills such as Patience, Physical stamina, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Child Care Workers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Child Care, 39%
Provided direct supervision to child care workers I and II in a residential care facility for mentally and emotionally/behaviorally challenged children.
- Crisis Intervention, 9%
Administered supportive counseling, and crisis intervention, when residents were experiencing distress and aided with overcoming emotional and social problems.
- Behavioral Issues, 8%
Submitted written incident reports of behavioral issues.
- CPR, 5%
Attained Certificate in training for Child Abuse, First Aid, CPR, Universal Precautions, and Workplace Harassment.
- Direct Supervision, 5%
Participate in the development of unit activities, recreation activities and spiritual life awareness while providing direct supervision.
- TCI, 4%
Provided group and individual behavior support and intervention as trained, including the use of TCI appropriate physical restraint as necessary.
Common skills that a child care worker uses to do their job include "child care," "crisis intervention," and "behavioral issues." You can find details on the most important child care worker responsibilities below.
Patience. The most essential soft skill for a child care worker to carry out their responsibilities is patience. This skill is important for the role because "childcare workers need to be able to respond calmly to overwhelming and difficult situations." Additionally, a child care worker resume shows how their duties depend on patience: "monitor kids, free and change them, have patience. "
Physical stamina. Many child care worker duties rely on physical stamina. "working with children can be physically demanding, so childcare workers should have a lot of energy.," so a child care worker will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways child care worker responsibilities rely on physical stamina: "assist in cleaning, meal preparations, transportation, and other physical operations of the facility. "
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of child care workers is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday child care worker duties, as "childcare workers need good speaking skills to provide direction or information effectively and good listening skills to understand parents’ instructions." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "planned and implemented daily schedules including: basic child-care, family errands, meal preparation & cleaning responsible for communication with parents"
Interpersonal skills. For certain child care worker responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a child care worker rely on this skill, as "childcare workers need to work well with people in order to develop good relationships with parents, children, and colleagues." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what child care workers do: "maintain a safe and healthy environment for children from age two to thirteen years old utilize strong interpersonal and communication skills. "
The three companies that hire the most child care workers are:
- CARE35 child care workers jobs
- DATTCO18 child care workers jobs
- Urban Resources13 child care workers jobs
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Compare different child care workers
Child care worker vs. Hair stylist
A Hair Stylist's role is to provide services such as haircuts, treatments, coloring, styling, and even maintenance. Most of the time, the clients choose which style or treatment they would prefer, which is why a Hair Stylist must have extensive knowledge and keep up the current trends in Hair Styling. Moreover, a Hair Stylist can also recommend styling and treatments that would suit the client, even sell Hair Care products. Aside from providing quality service, it is also essential for a Hair Stylist to build rapport with clients to ensure customer satisfaction and have a robust client base.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a child care worker are more likely to require skills like "child care," "crisis intervention," "behavioral issues," and "cpr." On the other hand, a job as a hair stylist requires skills like "cosmetology," "clips," "kids," and "makeup." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Hair stylists earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $39,653. On the other hand, child care workers are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $45,837.The education levels that hair stylists earn slightly differ from child care workers. In particular, hair stylists are 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a child care worker. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Child care worker 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.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that child care worker responsibilities requires skills like "crisis intervention," "behavioral issues," "direct supervision," and "tci." But a baby sitter might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "kids," "homework assignments," "meal prep," and "family friends."
Baby sitters earn a lower average salary than child care workers. But baby sitters earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $48,994. Additionally, child care workers earn the highest salaries in the finance with average pay of $45,837 annually.baby sitters earn similar levels of education than child care workers in general. They're 2.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Child care worker vs. Aide
Aides are personal employees of their clients who commonly have health issues that render them unable to do certain tasks. They help out their clients with activities they may need assistance in. They may do personal errands such as grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking. They also provide care for their clients by helping them bathe, dress, brush their teeth, and other personal hygiene activities. Aides also help their clients walk, sit, and eat if their clients' motor functions are compromised. Aides are expected to be patient, caring, and trustworthy.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a child care worker is likely to be skilled in "child care," "tci," "therapeutic crisis," and "mental health," while a typical aide is skilled in "patients," "patient care," "compassion," and "home health."
Aides earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $27,848. Child care workers earn the highest pay from the finance industry, with an average salary of $45,837.When it comes to education, aides tend to earn similar degree levels compared to child care workers. In fact, they're 0.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Child care worker vs. Direct support professional
Direct support professionals are responsible for taking care of patients with physical or mental limitations. They do a variety of tasks for their patients, such as doing household chores, running errands for them, cooking for them, feeding them, bathing and dressing them, and helping them with their medication, among others. They also provide their patients with companionship, accompanying their patients to appointments, providing emotional support, and being with their patients for the most part of the day. They should be familiar with their patients' prescribed medicines, meal plans, therapy schedules, and other items related to the betterment of the patients' condition. Direct support professionals help the patients overcome their challenges and assist them in acclimating themselves with their current environment.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between child care workers and direct support professionals, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a child care worker might have more use for skills like "child care," "crisis intervention," "behavioral issues," and "cpr." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of direct support professionals require skills like "direct support," "developmental disabilities," "autism," and "dsp. "
In general, direct support professionals earn the most working in the government industry, with an average salary of $29,464. The highest-paying industry for a child care worker is the finance industry.In general, direct support professionals hold similar degree levels compared to child care workers. Direct support professionals are 1.7% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of child care worker
Updated January 8, 2025
