Part 1: Important things a casual relief childcare worker should know.

Maybe I was a bit too quick to judge when I wrote this initially. In retrospect, somehow I had a more different impression of Agent E after attending their staff childcare refresher workshop last week. The interactions during the workshop gave me the impression that Agent E has a really good quality support system for its employees, both casual & permanent candidates, as compared to Agent C.

Its really important that as employees, whether casual or permanent, and especially casuals, that they find an agent that has a quality support system that takes into account performance review & feedback. It is essential for an employee who is starting out on a new job to know how they have performed throughout the assignments as without knowing their weaknesses and strengths as a casual, one may lose future work opportunities due to bad feedbacks. This in return will affect the number of assignments the casual candidate could get. In other words, you get less income.

Below is listed some of the questions that one as a candidate would be asked during an interview with a casual relief childcare agency.. it may seem unfair for an unqualified staff, but if you read up on it, you might be able to answer them, even if you didn't have any experience. I applied for work with another agent recently, and was able to answer the questions posed due to my past experience and also because I had revised them recently.

The NSW Community Services states that all staff in childcare have to attend at least two refresher workshops per year. During the workshop some of these issues were covered..
* Quality Care
* Interactions
* Roles and Responsibilities (for the 0-2's, 2-3's and 3-5's age groups)
* Behaviour Management
* Child Protection
* NSW Childcare Regulations

QUALITY CARE
Based on Centre feedback, among some of the Unsatisfactory Practices include that the casual candidate:
- did not attend to the children's needs (nappy change, crying, alone, wanted something).
- did not interact with the children
- returning late from breaks (breaks start the moment you leave the room. Staff are on a TIGHT schedule to meet things, so do your part to help relieve the burden).

- LACK of initiative, i.e if you see children alone, go to the children and observe what they are doing. Think about what you want to say & see how you could lead or encourage the direction of the play the child is involved with (not just simply muttering the first thing that comes into your mind though!)

- answering mobile phones whilst working. (a big NO-NO).
- not helping with tasks & routines. (you are being paid to go there to help out to relieve the staff's, NOT to add to their work).

MILESTONES
Infants:
Bottle Feeding: Children under 12 months should not have cow's milk. Infants 12 months and younger are not ready for it. When heating milk bottles, do not put in together with the bottle plastic teat as it will expand when heated. Some younger children may choke on it, and the staff may not realise it.

Burping: Babies 6 months and younger need to be after/during a bottle feed, as their bodies are not able to do that independently yet.

Read to an infant. Even if they may not answer you back (they are just not capable of!), they are still picking up language. When you read/talk to the infant, you may have to give an answer to it. It doesn't matter, as it is a time of bonding between the adult & infant, and the infant responds.

Toddlers:
Learning to get their balance.
Lots of falls & bruises
Use 2-step instructions.
Use "dramatic tones" chance your voice and tone to convey your message across, or whisper.
Toddlers still understand what the adults say even though they may not yet have the language to speak yet. So the adult can still talk to the toddler, and the child will respond accordingly, especially when the adult wants the child TO NOT do something which might disturb the peace of the room.

TANTRUMS- Why? Children to no have the language to communicate.
Set up equipment according to number of the children as children of this age group are still "egocentric" & do not know how to share yet.

'Stranger fear' should develop around the time an infant is about 7-9 months. This is common for children of this age, so it is common that infants are afraid of new casuals that they meet for the first time. So it should be that when there is a new casual in the room, there should be a permanent caretaker too that the infant is familiar with.

Preschoolers:
Begining of fantasy play.
Shows a preference for 'handedness", or maybe ambidextrous.
Use 'dramatic tones" too.
Learning to share & turntaking.
Learning letters & numbers.
Starting of "separation anxiety" (14-18 months).
Toilet training- accidents & emotional period of time. It is important for the adult to not get frustrated with them.
Transitions- setting boundaries and preparing primary school readiness.
Children are responsive to a new song, even in a different language.

Sydney: Life of a childcare relief worker.

Living in Sydney is both costly & expensive. Rent is especially high. Today I met an American girl, Megan, from Florida at an Indonesian Festival near Darling Harbour. She told me she is paying AUD160.00 to flat in a room with two other people! Her flat has nine people! I don't even pay that much, and I am only sharing the room with one other person! I think it was Providence that I had such a deal to even not pay that much to be able to stay in the CBD.

The pay rates for staff in the "casual" category in Australia is higher than the normal long-term employed staff. This is due to the fact that they are not entitled to other benefits such as paid leave, medical leave, long-term ten years leave & etc.

Casuals like any other workers are entitled to have superannuation, and taxes to pay off as well. However in the case of the international/ foreign staff who intends to leave the country after their stint, they are legally able to withdraw both their taxes and Super before leaving the country.

So let's get to the point of this entry. As most know, females get 'monthlies', and if you are a male, I'm sure you'd have known when your mom or your sister had theirs. Do you know what "MONTHLIES" ARE? It is unfortunate that my 'monthlies' were due this week, and DID I have it BAD!

This week, I had taken leave on Monday to handle some personal visa appointments & dental works. On Tuesday I went for work in Macquarie Park, and on Wednesday to Moore Park (where I had got lost for almost two hours!). It was only on Wednesday that I realised that I had it quite bad for the past two days (as much as I wanted to deny it wasn't) that I knew I had no other options but to take the next two days off.

Unfortunately for me being a casual, it is important that I leave a good impression at every centre that I go to, because that might be our first & last chance of ever returning there again. Having the 'monthlies' really take the edge off a woman's performance. I become less focused, am tired, sluggish & am not the usual chatty humourous person that I normally am.

I realised I got rather cranky as well! I had turned off the mobile for one entire day because I didn't want to have to handle anyone verbally! A mate of mine went IM online & tried to coax me to talk to him, but I just totally bit his head off!

To end, so YES, life as a female casual is EXCITING! Just a word to other men out there, do be careful & steer clear of aggravating women during those times. She'd just gnarl back at you for no apparent reason at all!