Many parents who have children find that they still need to work to raise their families. Supporting your family by continuing to work while you have young children can be hard, but luckily there are many places in society that can help. Daycare, for example, is a place where many working parents opt to send their kids during the day when they are still too young to be enrolled in school.
Unsplash | Gabe Pierce
Mom Asks Reddit If It Is Normal For Daycare Worker To Say 'I Love You' To Her Child
Many kids spend as much time at day care as they would in regular school.
Unsplash | Christopher Ryan
While parents work, day care is there to help ensure that their children are safe, nurtured, fed, and cared for. When young children spend that much time somewhere, it can leave lasting impressions on them.
Especially at a young age, children bond with those who care for them.
Unsplash | Tanaphong Toochinda
Adults who nurture and care for the kids all week usually build strong bonds with them. Many kids become close to the daycare teachers and workers who take care of them.
Sometimes, this type of relationship is special for children.
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When your parents are gone all day, they feel safe and protected by the daycare workers and teachers who are the stand-in "parents" for them. Many times, children share affectionate words of appreciation with these workers.
Daycare workers also, in return, share these kind words.
Unsplash | BBC Creative
One mother recently wrote on Reddit about her own experience picking up her daughter from daycare. She asked Reddit users if it was normal that daycare workers tell children, "I love you."
"So I picked up my child today from daycare and as we were leaving my child wanted their dummy (trying to ween off them). The daycare worker (50ish Female) spoke to my child then cuddled them and said 'I love you'.
I get that they spend a lot of time with these children but is this normal?" she asked.
Many people were in agreement that it is totally normal.
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One mom wrote that her daughter's day care worker is like her second mom.
"I call my daughter's daycare teacher her daycare mom and we've become outside of daycare friends. She's with her half of her day. She comforts her, plays with her, wipes her tears when I'm not able. I know she loves her, and that makes me happy, personally," she said.
Another said that as long as it's not "weird," it's totally fine.
Unsplash | Segun Osunyomi
"Totally normal. As long as we're not talking about crossing inappropriate boundaries (and nothing in your post indicates that), the more loving adults in a little one's life, the better," they wrote.
Someone who actually works in a daycare said they, too, tell their kids "I love you."
Unsplash | Gabe Pierce
They wrote:
"As someone who has worked in childcare for years, this is normal. I love all of my kids and tell them frequently."
Somebody added that it's beneficial to the children.
Unsplash | Erika Fletcher
"It has been proven that the affection that children receive in [their] early childhood is the most important factor that determines the child later development. It is a really great thing that your child is been loved in the daycare," they said.
It also sticks with children in the long run.
Unsplash | Nicole Leeper
"When my daughter started school she would start the day telling the teacher that she loved her. The teacher would tell her that she loved her and then my daughter could carry on the day. It was really important for my daughter that this happened," they said.
Do you think it's normal for daycare workers to say, "I love you" to children?
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