252: The Greatest Challenges Facing Childcare Today with Dr Jamalynn Lewis

In this episode, hosts Kate and Carrie chat with Dr. Jamalynn Lewis, a resilient childcare provider from New Orleans. Jamalynn shares her inspiring journey into early childcare, highlighting the grit needed to navigate the industry, especially post-COVID-19. They all discuss the pandemic's impact on childcare, the struggles parents face, and the critical role of community support. 

Jamalynn emphasizes the importance of reducing screen time for kids and fostering hands-on learning. The episode wraps up with a call to action for better funding, resources, and community involvement in childcare. Learn more by listening today!

Learn more on her Instagram @sheeo_ofchildcare

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Transcript

Marie 00:00:01  Welcome to child care conversations with Kate and Carrie.

Kate 00:00:06  Welcome back to Child Care Conversations with Kate and Carrie. And we are so excited because today we are meeting a new friend who we have gotten to know even better today. We are in Rhode Island, and so even though the conference has been a little bit past, we are so excited to introduce you to Jamie Lewis and Jamie from New Orleans, and which is.

Carrie 00:00:29  Where my daughter is right now. Really? Yes, she's at Jazz Fest.

Jamalynn 00:00:34  I've never been to Jazzfest.

Carrie 00:00:35  Well, my dad's gone and now my daughter's gone. So at some point I may have to go, but.

Jamalynn 00:00:41  Well, you know what? When you come down, call me, okay? And we can experience it together.

Kate 00:00:45  Absolutely. That sounds like an awesome idea. So, Jamie, everybody has their story of how they got to early child care. I know you've mentioned that you have two programs, but tell us, how did you find yourself in early childcare? And we'll go from there.

Jamalynn 00:01:01  You know, it's it's a it's a story. but to kind of narrow everything down, I was the only child, my mom told me at the age of nine that she was pregnant. And I'm like, oh, my goodness, I don't want to share, but do I have to share? Right. So since then, you know, my little brother was born where nine years apart didn't really have a good liking to him. So I stayed punished. And I was like, this is your brother. Y'all are stuck for life. You need to pray for patience. And I prayed myself into childcare for 17 years now. So prayer works. may not work for what you want, when you want it, how you want it, but it definitely works. And I've been doing childcare for 17 years.

Kate 00:01:51  Wonderful, wonderful. So you had one program. What sparked the need for a second location?

Jamalynn 00:01:57  Oh, girl. So when I opened my center in 2019, you know, it was like I was told that I wasn't going to ever be able to do it, and I did it.

Jamalynn 00:02:05  And then the pandemic happened and it was like, so what are you going to do now? And I'm like, I'm going to show you what I'm going to do. I did not close my doors when everyone did. I stayed open until I was almost forced to close. So once I was forced to close, I had a two and a half year wait list, and when I reopened, I'm like, I can't not service these children. So I was on the hunt looking for another location. I'm like, okay, I'll build my one location that I want, my one big location. And just in New Orleans, there's no buildings. No, like like you can't really build anything. So, one lady reached out to me a few times and she's like, I'm selling my center. Are you interested? Do you want. And I'm like, no, no, no, I don't want it. and she reached out to me three times and I'm like, you know what? I got three times.

Jamalynn 00:02:57  Let's go for it. So I purchased my second location. and we've been going three years with that second location, and it's been amazing. The childcare industry has not been the same.

Carrie 00:03:10  No. It's totally there's a lot of change in the last five years.

Jamalynn 00:03:15  Yes, it's a lot of change. It's hard. It's harder now with two locations and with the changes versus when I had my first location and we were booming and we had waitlists, and it's just like, we want to be here. This is the new place. This is where we need to be. And now our state has no funding, so parents are staying home. They're not working. And it's actually cheaper to keep the kids home than to bring them to childcare. But that's when they're lacking the social emotional part. They're lacking the cognitive part because they're not around other age children. so that's where mental health comes soon. Right. Because the parents are not educated the way that the child care professionals are to give that education. Now, I mean, the children.

Jamalynn 00:04:07  The parents are the children's first teacher. Right. Right. But you have some parents that don't even know what to do to start teaching or to start educating. So, you know, I'm trying to branch out now and be an advocate, a louder advocate, not just in my state, but throughout the states, in the nation, so that we can get that funding back, to Louisiana and not just Louisiana, because I know there's other states that's struggling as well. But for my state, I'm trying very hard to be that advocate so that we can, continue advocating for children and to get that funding back.

Kate 00:04:44  Okay, so I have a question, and I'm sure the I think I would know the answer, but I'm not really. So with the struggle that you're seeing in your community with the parents not really Knowing what to do. Do you guys offer community parenting classes, or are you involved in the community at that level, or is that really not something that.

Jamalynn 00:05:05  It would be amazing if we actually came together as a community to do that, right? Or, and have those parents show up? Showing up is the most important part.

Jamalynn 00:05:19  We can have free giveaways. We can say, come get these resources and we're doing it from this time to this time. But the parents just don't show up. And it's just like when we're hiring for interviews, we have people we call, we schedule interviews, they schedule I'm coming. And then the interview date and time comes and there is no call, no show. So, you know, showing up is big.

Carrie 00:05:41  Yeah. And it is so much easier to not leave your house than it is to go and get information than to go and apply for a job or to show up for the interview for the job, because at home you got YouTube, you got streaming services. Yeah. You can be like, oh, I'll learn about. I'll learn about how to take care of my kids. I'll, I'll watch some Sesame Street or oh, this.

Jamalynn 00:06:07  Is not educational.

Carrie 00:06:09  Anymore.

Jamalynn 00:06:10  Right?

Carrie 00:06:10  Yeah. It's not.

Jamalynn 00:06:11  The it's not the.

Carrie 00:06:12  Same. It's not the Sesame Street that it was.

Carrie 00:06:14  And they're like, well, this was fine for me because.

Jamalynn 00:06:18  Something years ago.

Carrie 00:06:19  And and you have they have that thought that. Well when I was a kid, I just this is how I learned my ABCs in one, two, three. Yeah. So obviously that's going to be the same because TV hasn't changed at all in the last 15 years.

Jamalynn 00:06:33  So TV has not changed. But the thing that's on TV, the programming has changed. And there's, What? Gracie's corner. Absolutely love her, miss Rachel. Love her. but then we're doing a lot of screen time. And that is what the parents are doing here. Take this tablet. Take this phone. Go sit over there and learn. And that's not how it works. We have to get on that level. We have to start from the bare, you know, A to Z before we can just throw anything. And then, you know, that's where the behavior issues come in. Because now they're bored.

Kate 00:07:10  yeah. And, and you know, or they, they figure out how to entertain themselves.

Kate 00:07:16  Yeah.

Carrie 00:07:17  Well, and there's also the lack of frustration tolerance. and I think that's true for adults and for kids. And, you know, part of the reason that children learn to walk is because they are so frustrated by not being able to get around. And so they get frustrated and they overcome that frustration and learn the next thing. But once they master basic speech and basic walking, people are like, cool, this kid doesn't ever need to be frustrated again. And the question.

Jamalynn 00:07:48  Is, have they mastered the basic speech because we have children that's delayed in speech. Yeah, because they're being at home or being thrown a device.

Kate 00:08:01  They don't have to talk. They especially in. I was also an only child. So. Right. So I was always an only child. Right. But so then there's that component of, well, I don't really need to use complete sentences because you know exactly what I'm thinking.

Jamalynn 00:08:15  You know what? You know what I'm thinking. But someone else does. Exactly.

Kate 00:08:20  Exactly. So. Or even kids in large families. Right? The oldest ones know what the youngest ones say. So they say it for them. Right. So we see that delay in speech pattern. So, you know.

Carrie 00:08:31  But I think there is such a change again, that cultural change that has happened over the last few years of people not wanting to allow a child to be frustrated, to allow a child to be bored.

Jamalynn 00:08:48  This all parenting, I think.

Kate 00:08:49  Yeah, I don't know where it.

Carrie 00:08:51  Comes from, but, you know, it doesn't matter really what people's background is. There's just, like, not the tolerance for that kid to just be frustrated with something. They're like, they'll either do it for them.

Jamalynn 00:09:04  Yeah, because it's bigger.

Carrie 00:09:05  Yeah. Or because it's quicker, or they'll just tell you don't need to do that. Yeah. And so it's like you don't need to put on your clothes. I will get your clothes on when it's time for us to leave the house.

Carrie 00:09:15  Yeah. And so you got four year olds who don't know how to pull on their own britches.

Jamalynn 00:09:19  I know how to tie shoes.

Carrie 00:09:21  Yeah, because we can't have that frustration tolerance. You know, we have to be able to what? What do they call it? It's not. Stick to it. If it's grit. They say the number one indicator of success in life is whether you have grit. And grit is that ability to keep going, keep going when things get hard. And if you're not giving kids the time to be frustrated with how to tie their shoes or how to pull their pants over their rear end. How do you expect them to be successful in life?

Kate 00:09:53  Okay, I just have to go down this great rabbit hole because when we first were talking, resilience was a big part of Jamie's story, and I'm hear a lot of that. So why don't you share a little bit about your resilience, your grit? What makes what part of that statement might resonate? And what could a new director, or even somebody who's been a director for a while learn from your story.

Jamalynn 00:10:19  So don't give up. Keep fighting. Because we have adults that that do not have grit. So if the dog doesn't have grit, how can you expect someone else to have grit? Right. So even in my centers, I have been dealing with a lot on the back end, personal issues, a divorce and, you know, separation and business and my children. So if you don't have grit. What do you have? Right. It's many, many days where I'm like, Jesus, I just I can't do it. I don't want to get out of the bed. But then I have two little people that's like, mommy, we're ready to go to school. So then I have to show up for them. And while I'm showing up for them, I have 13 other employees that I have to show up for. Then I have 140 other children that I have to show up for, right? So yeah, resilience. You have to you have to want it.

Carrie 00:11:15  But wouldn't it just be easier to watch a streaming service for eight hours a day? Wouldn't that be easier?

Jamalynn 00:11:21  God, my eyes be blurry going all the way.

Jamalynn 00:11:25  I can't even watch my cell phone. That, that that often like emails, emails, emails, emails. I just need a break. Like, Lord, I feel that way. A child should feel that way.

Carrie 00:11:36  Absolutely.

Kate 00:11:36  But they become numb to it. I mean, think about it. I mean, even as adults, right? We're we use screen time as our own version of escape. And so we know that the kids are never coming down, right? Like they're up in their little. They're in their own little world. Right.

Jamalynn 00:11:50  And so ADHD and you know, hyper the behavior issues and all of that stuff comes into place. And then the parents looking like, well, you need to fix this. You say you're the professional. You need to fix it. How can I fix it?

Kate 00:12:04  But I mean, let's let's let's talk that through. Right? Like, the parents are part of a team. You know, we are a village, right? And we, you.

Jamalynn 00:12:12  Know, village we are. And we can't do everything that we need to do if we do not have the parents support or even have them on board. And sometimes we deal with parents that really don't understand. Right. So then it's my place to make sure that I hold your hand and come where you are so that I can bring you up. So then you can understand what we're going through. We have the National Day coming up, National day of no child Care. Parents are like, oh, what am I supposed to do? Come with us. So that your your voice can be heard because, I mean, we can only do so much. And then we have some sense of like, well, we're not closing because we're here for our parents. I understand we all all are here for our parents, but what happens when we don't have no money.

Carrie 00:12:59  When the industry fails and that has you know, we heard today somebody saying that they've been told that childcare is a sunset industry. And everybody's response was, well, but without childcare there is no other industry.

Carrie 00:13:12  So we can't be a sunset industry. But, you know, industries that have to exist have failed before. And what ends up happening is like you have to have massive community wide input because, well, it just happened in, England recently where they were going to close their last steel mill in the whole country. And the government was like, no, no, no, we can't not have a steel mill in the country. What do we do if there's a war? We have to have a steel mill. Yeah. What if we need. We need to build more ships like. You know. There's all these things that you need steel for. And so they had to have this huge intervention to rescue this one steel mill. That same thing could happen in child care. Yeah. If. What? You know, all of the surveys of people running child care centers are like, if the childcare block Grant fund goes away and a CFP goes away. I mean, the surveys are saying 40 to 60% of the child care programs will have to close.

Jamalynn 00:14:27  If the food program goes away. Do you know how many hungry children we're going to have? Yeah. We have kids that come to the center and only eat at school like they don't have meals at home. We have some families that, you know, when we have leftover food, we're packing it up and saying, hey, take this home with you. Yeah, that is horrible.

Kate 00:14:48  It and it's a hard thing to be on the other side of that and go, you know, and feel like you have your hands tied, right. Because yeah, you could provide the food, but then you're operating on a 1% margin, right? Yeah. And you can't run a business on a 1% margin because last time I checked, an air conditioning system is not a 1% margin. No. You know, and we've all got our situation. We've all got our scenario. But we've got to remember that not only are we the workforce behind the workforce, we are a workforce that makes all the other workforces.

Jamalynn 00:15:22  Of everything.

Kate 00:15:23  Not just essential workers. You know, you know, and.

Jamalynn 00:15:28  And I mean, truthfully, even if we were just for essential workers. Right. What's considered an essential worker?

Kate 00:15:34  Absolutely.

Jamalynn 00:15:35  Your doctors, your lawyers, your your hospital workers. Your hospital staff. Right.

Carrie 00:15:40  Computer engineers.

Jamalynn 00:15:41  But they still have to eat.

Kate 00:15:43  Well, so so so then you got your grocery store employee, right? And then you got. I mean, okay, we could probably do okay with about, you know, I don't know, you know, 20% of the fast food restaurants. So if the other 80% managed to to go away for a little while, I probably wouldn't be upset because it would force people. I mean, if people are home, then they can start to learn to cook. We're going to feed our children better. You know, I mean, there's a lot of things we could do. I mean, we will.

Carrie 00:16:10  But I mean, that's one of the lessons of Covid was that the states that were like, no, we're shutting everything down except for the essential workers.

Carrie 00:16:19  And childcare was part of that. Everything. And then the people were like, I'm sorry, I'm a paramedic, but I can't come to work. And then because I'm a single parent paramedic and I can't go to work if I don't have childcare because I'm a single parent.

Jamalynn 00:16:33  And then they started offering childcare owners incentive to stay open for the essential workers.

Carrie 00:16:39  Right? And then what the definition was got broader and broader and broader. And I was like and then it works with one pandemic. He's not he's not an asset. I mean, like, I love him and he's essential to my life. He is not an essential worker.

Kate 00:16:54  Except now he probably would be because he now works ones and zeros for a hospital system.

Carrie 00:17:00  Yeah, but he was considered essential back in Covid and he was doing ones and zeros for a retail company. Okay. You know.

Kate 00:17:07  I mean, mine was considered essential. But as a result, he ended up doing Q-tips up people's noses. He's a physician's assistant. And so he was, you know, activated National Guard.

Kate 00:17:18  I mean, it wasn't even like this was considered a statewide emergency. And so he was activated to go to test everybody who works in meat meatpacking plants and, you know.

Jamalynn 00:17:29  To make sure that they didn't have Covid.

Kate 00:17:31  Yeah. You 1500 people, you want to make sure that they're right.

Carrie 00:17:34  But again, it's that whole if the child care system collapses. What happens to the rest of the what ifs? You know, and there's people who force development.

Kate 00:17:44  There is no workforce.

Jamalynn 00:17:46  There is. There is no nothing without child care.

Carrie 00:17:51  I'm sure you can. We could go to a country that has no reproduction. Everybody could just stop having kids, because I seem to recall there was a country that did that and they said, you get one kid and it ruined their economy to an almost halt. And then they.

Jamalynn 00:18:08  But then with that one kid who watched that one kid, if we have a family of ten and they have one child each who's watching that child when the family adults are working?

Kate 00:18:19  Yeah.

Kate 00:18:19  Well, there's I mean, there's a lot of argument for people who go, oh, you know, if you've only got 1 or 2 kids, one adult staying home makes a lot more sense than, than the cost of. Right. Yeah. But who determines who that person is and why is that determined the way?

Jamalynn 00:18:36  It's okay. So then we are not thinking about the children, are they? We're thinking about self.

Carrie 00:18:41  Yep. Right. It's not what is in the best interest of children, because what is in the best interests of children is for them to be around other children. They do not have to be age mates within three months of each other. No. But children learn best through play. Yes. And there is an awful lot of play that you can only do with a partner. You have to have a partner play.

Jamalynn 00:19:02  Play by yourself if.

Carrie 00:19:03  You.

Jamalynn 00:19:04  Can. But it's become very boring.

Carrie 00:19:06  You only get independent play. You don't get parallel play. You don't get cooperative play.

Carrie 00:19:12  You don't do creative play.

Jamalynn 00:19:14  You get at home.

Carrie 00:19:15  You can get some, but it doesn't get you very.

Jamalynn 00:19:17  Far. I don't have anything cognitive at home. Right? I have screen time, so I can't really play like that. And then I'm going to get bored because then I have no one to play with. Yeah. My four year old tells me all the time, it's not fun here because I don't have anyone to play with. Yeah. He has a ten year old sister. Yeah. You say? Well, mommy, you don't play hide and seek with me. You know what? Normally don't all the time. But I do play. So I don't want you to think that you have to play by yourself because you really don't. But he's for. He's very smart. He's bored when he doesn't have to have anyone to play with. So when a child is home alone with the parent and the parent. Okay, so let's just say the child is home with the parent, and mom's working from home.

Jamalynn 00:19:58  How much work is mom getting done? Or dad how much work.

Carrie 00:20:02  You.

Jamalynn 00:20:02  Like? Right. But then you have to stop working to go feed the child. You have to stop working to go bathe the child you have. You know, it's a lot of interrupting your day when you can just send your child to daycare, childcare, a learning academy, and you work for a.

Kate 00:20:17  Well, and then you have to come back and you actually have to give your self back to your family. I mean, I think that's a big component that we were just talking about that we know is missing. We haven't actually said it out loud, but we know that those kids come home and, you know, if parent picks them up at six, 630, they're feeding them. They're bathing them. They're putting them to bed. And there's probably a movie in there somewhere. And mom and dad are probably also on their phone. So if you actually think about the number of quality hours that adults are spending with the children, it all comes back to those care workers because the early learning leaders, they're the ones spending the 60 hours a week with those kids.

Kate 00:20:54  Yeah, yeah, the kids might be home on the weekend. They might be home in the evening with their family. But realistically, those kids are not getting quality time because I don't know about you. I mean, you got a couple kids, you had two kids I had for my weekends with the four kids were like, I'm taking you to here, and you two here, and you two here, and you two here. There's there's no.

Jamalynn 00:21:14  Weekend. Let's try during the week.

Kate 00:21:17  But I mean, the weekend then got to figure out, well, when am I going to mow the lawn and when am I going to do the laundry? When I'm going to grocery shopping. There was no quality time with my kiddos.

Jamalynn 00:21:25  So when you're a single parent, you don't get quality time. You don't get personal like you don't get nothing.

Kate 00:21:32  Yeah. I mean, there's a reason for a back room.

Jamalynn 00:21:35  Oh, I mean, are you in there alone? Because I have two little people sitting at my door.

Kate 00:21:40  I have I have the. So I was a single mom for a while, and I'd have a son and a cat. They both be at the door. I'm like, oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Jamalynn 00:21:48  Are you taking a shower or a bath? And you're sitting right there next to you talking about whatever it is that still does.

Kate 00:21:54  I still have cats and do that. I can jump on my gun. Well. Hello, cinder? Yeah. Are you afraid I'm going to drop sometime?

Jamalynn 00:22:00  I just need 20 minutes. 20 minutes sometimes. Doesn't have a bad time. Yeah, I get it. My kids are in a bed because by 845, I'm asleep. I need at least 20 minutes to have some downtime for myself.

Kate 00:22:14  Other than brushing your teeth and getting yourself ready for bed.

Jamalynn 00:22:17  I can't even do that by myself because I'm brushing in the four year old's brushing, too. You know, it's I just think that as a whole, as a nation, we all should just stand together for this at least one day, right? Because we have like an early aid day and then we have different days, I'm sure.

Jamalynn 00:22:36  Different states have their different days. But this national No Child Care Day, I think everyone should stand their ground.

Kate 00:22:43  Well, so I do want to mention so this episode will probably air after that. So if you are hearing this, I do want you to go go look to see what your community did. So if for some reason you're hearing this for the first time, go find if you are not already part of the national associations. There are several national associations for early childcare. There are statewide associations of early childcare. Get to be part of them. Be part of the change makers. Know which groups are the ones that are advocating at your state level because again, it's not the same at every state. You know, there's a reason why we've got roughly four national associations in every state, probably has four coalitions. Yeah. The coalition.

Carrie 00:23:22  We have listeners in other countries also. Absolutely. So if you're our listener and sole, thank you. We appreciate you listening every week. But we got, you know, listeners in Canada and we've got listeners in other places.

Carrie 00:23:34  Those are the places that pop into my head right now. But there are associations in your part of the world, too, that are advocating for early care and education. Yes. And go find one that resonates with you. You may have to go through 2 or 3 of them before you find one that you're like, yes, this mission and what they are doing matches the way I think and people. Yeah. What do you.

Jamalynn 00:24:01  Prioritize? You have to find your people. You do, and I'm not I don't want anyone to think that, you know, we're just pushing you to make a change or to do something, but you have to really look at your situation because everyone's situation is different and unique. But look at your situation and see what works best for you. But I honestly, wholeheartedly believe that every child deserves to be in some type of childcare setting or school setting. it's important for growth.

Carrie 00:24:32  Yeah. And the times when we didn't have that is when you had large communities and you would have basically a central area of town, a park kind of area.

Carrie 00:24:42  And everybody just brought their kids there, and we all and the kids hung out. And mom is, you know, washing stuff or auntie or whoever is in charge of that group of kids, and then somebody else brought their pot of kids and, you know, so you would have neighborhood gathering spaces. I lived in a part of the world that didn't have much childcare because it didn't need childcare, because all the kids played right off of where the parents were cooking and doing laundry and stuff like that, and they all just kind of cooperatively kept everybody alive. Well, and the kids got to play with other kids, while the parent who was doing the homemaking kinds of chores or.

Jamalynn 00:25:27  But they.

Carrie 00:25:28  Still for gardening or whatever.

Jamalynn 00:25:30  Age. Interaction with other. Yeah, absolutely. And that's the most important part.

Carrie 00:25:35  Yeah.

Kate 00:25:36  And so what comes back to the kids? I mean, I think everybody is listening to this podcast absolutely has a heart for kids. And we know it's the administrative staff that listen to our podcast.

Kate 00:25:45  And we're so glad that they're all here. And I think we could probably have another 3 or 4 hours worth of conversations with you. So we'll definitely have you. We'll definitely bring you back. But right now, what I want to do is I'm going to flip the carry to kind of close this out because like I said, I could sit here all day. All day. Absolutely right.

Jamalynn 00:26:01  And especially when it's something that we're used to doing and we just it just comes natural.

Kate 00:26:06  You know, like having a conversation. I like the conversation all day long. and, and this is a topic that I know. so we talked.

Carrie 00:26:14  It's a couple topics. We've we've hit on several we have.

Kate 00:26:17  But right now we're on one that I know we could take another 30 minutes on. And we try really hard to keep our. But it's a little less.

Carrie 00:26:25  than 30 minutes. So I just want to say thank you so much for making the time and us figuring this out. It took us a couple of goes to try to make this conversation happen.

Carrie 00:26:36  And so thank you for your patience on this.

Jamalynn 00:26:38  I appreciate it. I really do.

Carrie 00:26:40  I think it is great to see people taking the bull by the horns and developing new programs that are fitting the needs of their community, and I'm really glad you're doing that.

Jamalynn 00:26:51  Thank you.

Carrie 00:26:52  So for the listeners, if you learned something from this show.

Kate 00:26:56  Look up there.

Carrie 00:26:57  Share it with somebody else who needs to know, and we will talk to you next week. And don't forget to go in and write a review on your podcasting app of choice. Talk to you next week.

Marie 00:27:09  Thank you for listening to Child Care Conversations with Kate and Carrie. Want to learn more? Check out our website at Texas Director. And if you've learned anything today. Leave us a comment below and share the show.