by Lesley MacNay
As every one who has children or who works with children will know it is a huge responsibility caring for children and it takes an amazing amount of time, energy and commitment. Each of the provisions have their own unique set of stresses and strains dependent on the nature of the work, hours of opening and commitment to parents and other professionals.
Childminders work very much in isolation within their own homes and unless they are part of a network and are able to meet on a regular basis to share experiences, discuss difficulties or attend regular training, it is unlikely that they will converse with another adult during the working day.
Working with parents also brings it own set of challenges, as every parent wants their child to be parented in their absence, in the way they would parent their child. This can cause child minders difficulties, for example where a parent does not want their child to have a sleep during the day because of not sleeping at night; they may request that the childminder keeps their child awake. This can be very difficult where an eighteen month, or a three year old cannot keep their eyes open because of they are so tired. This places the childminder in a difficult position and unless they can discuss these issues with the parent and come up with a compromise it can be very stressful indeed. For childminders the issue of having a day off does not happen easily and is usually planned well in advance in order for the parent to arrange alternative care. There are also the added stresses of having to meet the needs of their own children and keeping appointments at the doctors and dentist, as the minded children may have to accompany them, if there is no alternative care.
I have observed during my attendances at network meetings, childminders have formed cluster groups, so that they no longer feel isolated, but supported by their peers. This has positively impacted on their confidence and self esteem and created greater interest in expanding and enhancing their own skills through attendance at training and social events.
Within nurseries there are different conditions and difficulties. Staffing issues play a huge part in creating stressful situations. A member of staff can phone in sick in the morning, and this can create a problem in maintaining adult child ratios. This is a requirement, of the National Childcare Standards. This places an extra burden on all the staff and unless the nursery is well organised with contingency plans they may not be compliant with the National Standards, which could result in the setting being in breach of their registration. This is serious and could have implications for their registration. This compounds their individual stress even more, dependant on their role and responsibility within the setting. Yet there are those providers who disregard this. The sickness levels especially within the management teams are quite high with staff being on long term sick as a result of stress and depression.
It is vitally important that clear procedures are in place as they provide a clear structure of guidance. Because a high percentage of staff feel unsupported by their management team and that rather than receiving praise and encouragement when their work is of a high standard, they receive criticism when issues arise, with little follow up of professional guidance. “If you provide the environment, the direction, and support for the given situation, the motivation will come on its own. Providing staff with the right environment and the right amount of direction and support will increase their competence and commitment” (Management Skills for New Managers Carol W. Ellis AMACOM books)
Within nurseries there are also larger groups of people working together and group dynamics can come into play here. Nurseries are usually open from 7.30am to 6.30pm, with staff starting and finishing at different times in order to cover the entire day. There are occasions where staff can work as many as 12 hours a day five days a week. The salary within the private sector is very low with some staff working 40 + hours a week for as little as £9.000 to £12.000 a year. The majority of staff are dedicated and this is why they continue to work for the private sector, which is easier to gain employment than the Local Authority as only 50% of the staff have to hold a NQV level 2 qualification in childcare or equivalent, where as the Local Authority will normally employ staff qualified up to level 3.
Observations I have made during many of the training courses I have delivered is the low staff moral and confidence, with staff describing feelings of being trapped and not valued. “When our self esteem is low, we loose sight of our strengths” (Self esteem bible by Gael Lindenfield-Element books) A huge number of staff view themselves as “only being a child carer” instead of recognising that they play an immensely valuable role in society, for without them, parents would not be able to go to work. Society does not always value the work completed by child carers as it is seen as “only looking after children”, which is perceived by some individuals as being an easy task. In my personal experience it is anything but as it requires dedication, sensitivity, empathy, motivation and a huge amount of physical energy.
For those who offer sessional care, play groups and out of school groups the stresses can be caused by other conditions out of their control. Most play groups operate in church halls and community centres. These buildings are not owned by them and therefore there are restrictions on what they can and cannot do. Play equipment has to be set out in the morning and then stored away after the session; this is time consuming and can be physically taxing. The pay they receive is minimal and is very much a labour of love. Children are usually aged from two to four years and they are able to learn through play and enjoy a level of education appropriate for their age and stage of development. Those settings that are in receipt of grant funding for education will also receive support from an early year’s consultant. There is an expectation that children are provided with a good range of experiences to support their learning. Staff will be supported but also challenged and expected to expand their own knowledge and skills through training.
One of my roles as a trainer is to deliver training to childcare providers. In the past few months my self and a colleague who is a pastoral tutor at one of the local colleges and a stress management consultant have delivered a number of courses on stress management. The participant’s responses have been amazing, and comments have been made that this is the first time training has been offered for them personally. Carl Rogers view is “that if conditions are favourable the human organism will attempt to develop to their full potential”. (Three Psychologists 1996) Where we respect and value staff we create an atmosphere of value and unconditional positive regard.
During the training we covered a programme of activities which included:
What is stress?
The effects of stress on the body and mind
Personal stress indicators
Healthy lifestyles
Breathing techniques
Visualization
Meditation
Goal Planning
As a result of the training we were asked by nursery owners to deliver training to their chain of nurseries. Staff identified a range of issues that were impacting on their ability to complete their jobs well. These included lack of motivation, resources, time to complete work, lack of physical and emotional support and feeling de-valued. Out of 30 staff employed within the three nurseries, 16 people attended the training course and all were present throughout the three consecutive sessions, demonstrating their commitment.
One of the common themes running through out this training was the participant’s lack of confidence and value in their own abilities. They recognised that they did not always have the time to complete work that was important to them, because of restrictions, time, staffing, resources and poor management. Students commented that they did not always feel listened to or their expertise valued by their managers or the owners of the setting and invariably found it difficult to express their own needs, because they were either frightened they would loose their jobs or unsure of what their needs were, or what they needed to do their job well. “A great many managers view motivation as a polite word for describing what they perceive as their authority or power position” Whether or not you like it, I’m going to get you to do what I want you to do”. (Management skills for New Managers. Carol W Ellis 2005)
At least one third of the participants acknowledged that they relaxed at the end of the working day by drinking alcohol or eating chocolate and sweet foods as they saw this as, nurturing themselves. When asked what other ways they could look after themselves, participants made suggestions of having a massage, aromatherapy bubble bath, walking in the country, meditation, going to the gym and talking to a friend. But for most, until it was discussed, they had forgotten how they used to enjoy walking, going to the gym or dancing and recognised they were engaged on a cycle of work and sleep without any fun in between. Students were able to set action plans and explored in detail, one or two things they were initially going to introduce or re-introduce into their lives in order to make positive changes to their lifestyle.
At the end of the training each participant completed a questionnaire to feedback to the tutors, who work for the Local Authority. The most outstanding elements recorded on the questionnaires were the breathing techniques. Participants saw them as being an effective tool to use while working, as they could practice them without anyone else being aware. This gave them a feeling of control over themselves.
It was also recorded that after completing a breathing exercise they felt they were more focussed and confident. As described in the training materials in Module 5 “The close connection that exists between our breathing and our emotional state can give us an opportunity to influence the effect of stress on us”. (Stress management training-The Stress consultancy)
During further training with individual staff from a range of settings, people described themselves as being tired and continually experiencing a range of physical and emotional symptoms such as headaches, colds, backache, infections and depression. I know from completing the stress management training and going through the procedures that our thoughts play a huge part in influencing our actions. Our past experiences from childhood influence us, as do throw away remarks given to us by adults, parents, teachers and carers. These thoughts undermined our concept of ourselves and influence our actions. As clearly demonstrated in the training information, our thoughts affect our moods and our moods affect our actions. “If we were to become aware of one mental dynamic, the most important one to know about would be the relationship between your thinking and the way you feel” (Don’t sweat the small stuff by Richard Carlson-Hodder & Stoughton books 1997)
As part of my assignment I created a questionnaire and I asked four individuals who had attended the stress management training if I could interview them in order to complete my assignment. All four readily agreed. I was able to gather information from a childminder, nursery owner, nursery manager and deputy officer in charge. When asked if they had needed time off work because of stress, none of them had. However two of those interviewed recognised that this was part of their problem, because they were so tired it was affecting their ability to cope. They acknowledged that they carried on and on working during the day, never stopping, sometimes not eating from morning to evening. This behaviour was carried on at home until they had completed all their chores. They then sat down and fell asleep for the rest of the evening. They acknowledged that this was effecting their quality time with their family, but they were locked in a pattern and could not recognise it until we discussed it. During discussion we explored having regular breaks as this would provide them with more energy to complete their work. They described having a drop in energy in the afternoon. We discussed eating a lunch that consisted of foods that provided slow energy release to sustain them through the remainder of the day.
Both of these people acknowledged that they were perfectionists and expected very high standards of themselves and others and that rather than delegating tasks to others would try to undertake everything themselves. Therefore time management also became an issue, with people describing their day as never being long enough. As described in Session 5 of the stress management course, time management “People cannot work efficiently for long periods without breaks”. Time is wasted through poor routines and organisation. Interestingly those people who identified themselves as being perfectionists have very high blood pressure; in fact one of them was being monitored by the hospital at the time of our meeting.
The research information on stress and high blood pressure in Session 3 clearly highlights that our life style and the way we handle stress significantly contributes to hypertension. Therefore it is vitally important that we reduce stress levels and maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle in order to reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks.
One of the people I interviewed informed me that she had been practicing a creative visualisation and breathing technique we has delivered on the course and it was having a profound effect on her ability to manage her blood pressure, which amazingly had been normal when checked in three separate occasions at the hospital. She also informed me that she had been practicing the meditation technique and was now sleeping extremely well after attending the training. The result of this was that she was more alert during the day. The quest for what we perceive as perfection is in part a need to control our lives and those around us. This rigidity in thinking applies far too much pressure to our mind and body and ultimately results in lack of control as we struggle to meet our needs and those of others. “The pursuit of external perfection reflects the human desire for efficiency, predictability and control” (Mind traps by Tom Rusk and Natalie Rusk-Price Stern Sloan Inc 1988)
All four people agreed that they considered that their self esteem, confidence and self worth were low and they worried a lot about the future. They identified themselves as having moods swings, being irritable; finding it difficult to make decisions and they continually used negative self talk about themselves. As discussed in session six, challenging negative thinking habits and setting impossibly high standards of perfectionism. Negative thoughts cause stress and negative thinking is a habit. Further discussion identified that each person struggled with setting boundaries and putting them selves first in anything.
Two people identified that they found managing staff within their team very challenging, as issues were always raised regarding the standards of care offered and they knew that they should challenge this practice but sometimes felt that because of the dynamics of the group and their interpersonal skills, they did not always say things in the right way. Therefore instead of being assertive they would come across as being either passive or aggressive. I am involved in developing new training courses for 2007 on management skills for early year’s practitioners. So hopefully this will help in providing these individuals with further experiences and skills.
The childminder was particularly distressed during the meeting because three of the children she had cared for, for four years were leaving to go to school and this was very upsetting to her. We spoke about the wonderful relationship she had developed, not just with the children but also with the parents and how valuable this had been to all concerned. That she had, had the opportunity to bring richness to their relationship, which would help to prepare them for school. The relationships they had developed were very strong and childminders can almost take on a surrogate role as a parent “John Bowlby, attachment and loss, attachment theories”.
Interestingly after this event the childminder applied to attend an NVQ level 3 course in Childcare and is two months into it and really enjoying it.
Completing this process with the four people I interviewed also started to provide a clear process for me and a greater link with the stress management training. What is also interesting is that participants on courses are always surprised that other people also feel like they do. They perceived that everyone is always so self assured and confident and they are the only ones feeling unsure, devalued or upset. It can be quite enlightening to see this process evolve. I think that students learn as much if not more from each other than they do the tutors.
Conclusion
Stress management is an excellent tool for working with individuals and groups of people. Our thoughts have a huge effect on the way we behave and the lifestyles we lead. This ultimately impacts on our self confidence and health and our abilities to do our job well. Techniques can be learned to positively enhance our lives and take our power back. It is vitally important to stay in the now, the past has gone and the future is not get here and in honouring ourselves we honour every one else around us.