Childcare Workers

• Dress children and change diapers.
• Observe and monitor children's play activities.
• Communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues.
• Sanitize toys and play equipment.
• Keep records on individual children, including daily observations and information about activities, meals served, and medications administered.
• Support children's emotional and social development, encouraging understanding of others and positive self-concepts.
• Instruct children in health and personal habits, such as eating, resting, and toilet habits.
• Assist in preparing food and serving meals and refreshments to children.
• Identify signs of emotional or developmental problems in children and bring them to parents' or guardians' attention.
• Create developmentally appropriate lesson plans.
• Read to children and teach them simple painting, drawing, handicrafts, and songs.
• Discipline children and recommend or initiate other measures to control behavior, such as caring for own clothing and picking up toys and books.
• Regulate children's rest periods.
• Perform general administrative tasks, such as taking attendance, editing internal paperwork, and making phone calls.
• Perform housekeeping duties, such as laundry, cleaning, dish washing, and changing of linens.
• Organize and store toys and materials to ensure order in activity areas.
• Organize and participate in recreational activities and outings, such as games and field trips.

Source: O*NET OnLine information for Childcare Workers.

• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Source: O*NET OnLine information for Childcare Workers.