Waking up at 4:45 a.m. may sound like a form of torture for most, but for Debbie, this is a moment to take care of herself before spending the next twelve hours caring for others.
It is rare for a moment of peace and quiet at the daycare, so Deborah Kemp Cox, known to all as “Debbie,” makes that quiet time for herself. Waking up at 4:45 a.m. may sound like a form of torture for most, but for Debbie, this is a moment to take care of herself before spending the next twelve hours caring for others. The kitchen around her is bright blue, with long, dark wood counters that her husband, Jason Cox, installed in their kitchen in early July. Jason and their son Jarrod Cox are still asleep, so all is quiet around Debbie. She stands for a moment to take in the scene and says, “I wake up early, so I am not rushing because it is go, go, go all day at work.”
Debbie’s Early Morning Routine
The majority of people could not keep up with the go-go-go lifestyle of a childcare worker. Waking up at 4:45 a.m. to work out or have a few moments before work is uncommon for nine-to-five workers. Despite the busy lifestyle, childcare workers are underappreciated. According to Indeed.com, the average childcare provider salary in Bossier City, LA, is $10.66 per hour, which is 36% lower than the national average. After comparing the Indeed.com reported salary range for Bossier City, LA childcare providers, The ZipRecuriter.com salary range for Amazon Warehouse workers in Bossier City, LA, with the Living Wage Calculator for Shreveport and Bossier City, LA, I calculated them together for this comparison. Daycare workers are also subject to pay reported as low as $8.57 per hour, which is $10.87 under living wage for one adult with no children. Even worse, the highest pay on the Bossier City, LA, pay scale for childcare workers is $13.25 an hour, which is still $6.19 under living wage. This means that in Bossier City, LA, childcare workers paid the average hourly rate, $10.66 will make $8.78 shy of living wage without governmental help. In contrast, Amazon Warehouse workers in Bossier City, LA, have an average hourly pay of seventeen dollars per hour, which is consistent with the national average for Amazon workers. Although this is $2.44 shy of the living wage in Bossier City, LA, Amazon workers have the ability to be paid on the high end $21.92 an hour, which is 2.48 over living wage. More notably, Amazon Warehouse workers’ highest pay is $8.67 more than childcare workers’ highest pay. Despite childcare workers’ underpayment, they are still expected to not only care for children, but also to take classes each year. The stress of taking care of children, paired with added classes is a whole lot to ask of a person under living wage. Debbie says, “ I am required to take classes each year in medication, health, behavior, and CPR.”
Although the morning is supposed to be Debbie’s moment alone, her cats demand her care. The silence is gone as Debbie’s ten cats join the scene. Some wander in the kitchen, rubbing up against her legs, some start toward the food bowl, as Debbie’s light orange cat, Mu Mu, jumps on the light brown wooden table in the center of the kitchen and starts meowing for food. Debbie lets out a light chuckle and says, “This happens every morning!”
Debbie loves her cats and sends her attention their way, immediately filling their food and water bowls. They need her care, and she gladly gives it to them. The house is silent once more. Debbie starts her coffee pot and moves to the kitchen table to relax. The smell of coffee now covers the house like a warm blanket, taking any trace of cat food out of the air. Debbie grabs her favorite Florida Gators travel mug and a silver mug. She fills her cup with coffee, a little creamer, and a lot of sugar, and starts prepping the silver mug for her husband Jason. She says, “For more than the 15 years I have been working in childcare, I have gotten a pot of coffee ready for him and the mug prepped for him to start the day.”
Coffee in hand, Debbie spends a moment alone in her dark living room. The walls are a winter green, and the floors are a tan tile color that matches her tan colored couch. The room is especially dark as she does not turn on the lights, knowing that it could wake up Jason and Jarrod. Sipping on her coffee, she sinks into the tan couch and checks for any important updates on her phone, but what Debbie is most excited to check is her phone games. She says, “I like to play Monopoly Go with my Facebook friends before I start my work.”
Opening at Mon Petite Miracles Child Care
The clock is now at 5:45 a.m., Debbie fills her coffee cup one more time, grabs her black and brown over-the-shoulder purse, and starts to walk toward the door. Just like a mother waking up early to take care of her child, Debbie is awake but surely needs more time to herself. Mon Petite Miracles Child Care opens at 6 a.m. every morning. She says, “Although I would like to wake up a little later, I need to leave every morning by 5:45 a.m. to arrive before the kids start to show up.”
Debbie takes one more sip of coffee before setting up for the children and their parents to arrive. She starts by opening everything up, turning on the lights, laying out diapers, and preparing the formula for the infants. Debbie is a lead teacher at Mon Petite Miracles Child Care and works primarily with the infants, which ranges from six weeks to one-year-olds. Each age group has its own room. It is easy to tell which room is which because each teacher decorates their door. Debbie’s door is covered in bright red paper with the words “The Infants are going to have a colorful year” with paper crayons hanging around the words. Debbie’s room has light tan walls with gray carpet. The room by itself is bland, but because of the decorations on the wall and the colorful toys scattered across the room, it feels like a home nursery. The staple decoration in Debbie’s room is her wall of pictures. All of the kids she has taken care of over the 9 years of working at Mon Petite Miracles Child Care are hanging up next to her family photos. Just as Debbie does for her family, she makes all of her daycare kids a Christmas present each year. She says, “I always get a picture of the kids and turn them into elves for Christmas! I also make one for all of the kids in our family.”
Debbie’s Daily Work Routine
At 8 a.m., snack time starts, and Debbie feeds all six of the infants assigned to her room their formula or baby food. It is not unusual for daycare teachers to take care of large amounts of kids on their own, but especially in Louisiana it is the normal. The Child Care in State Economies fact sheet (2019) says that around 61.4% from infant to age five-which is the common age group for childcare-are in need of non-parental care for at least ten hours a week. This statistic, although it was taken for Louisiana in 2019, coincides with the United States’ need for childcare. According to the First Five Years Fund Fact Sheet (2024) more than two thirds of children from under 5 years of age need childcare because both of their parents are in the workforce. She says, “I usually have around five to six kids each day, but it depends on the day.”
Before lunch, around 11 a.m., the kids enjoy a craft session, which is Debbie’s favorite part of the day. She says, “We get to do themed crafts for the season, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and I enjoy getting to create stuff with them!” Right now, she is making their feet into pie slices for pumpkin pie season. After lunch, Debbie puts the babies down for naptime. She says, “This is my least favorite part of the day because they never want to sleep!”
The last part of the day is another snack time around 2:30 p.m. and free time thereafter. With the infants, it is different every day since there is such a wide range. If there are more one-year-olds, they may play outside at the playground, or if Debbie has only six to eight-month-olds, they will usually stay inside to read books. Debbie says, “After the day ends around 6 p.m., we wait for pickup and then head home.”
Debbie’s Family Night Routine
After the day is over, Debbie’s focus shifts to her family. Although she has worked over twelve hours, she still prioritizes caring for them. Although she is not taking care of infants to one-year-olds at home, some of the duties are still reminiscent of her job. She starts by tidying up the house, feeding the cats again, and preparing food for dinner. Debbie, in this setting, the same as her work setting, does not complain about the workload or compensation for her time. In both her household and her job, Debbie knows she is creating a great impact on her family and the daycare children’s lives. Even when asked about the most significant problem facing childcare professionals in Bossier City, LA, she focuses her answer on the kids ' communication between daycare teachers and parents—a truly selfless and child-focused answer. She explains that often, when parents hear their child behaved poorly in a given circumstance, they brush it off without fully observing the child at home to give feedback to the teachers. She further explains that, “With the parents' help, we could understand how to better help the children next time.”
As Debbie prepares to sleep, shuts off the lights in the house, and preps the coffee pot for the morning, there is something that is unsettling to me. The nice, caring, and selfless nature of Debbie’s actions throughout the day fills my mind. Just like the lights turning off in the dark room, these actions go unnoticed by the world. Childcare workers, despite having one of the greatest impacts on the future generations, are arguably the most overlooked skilled workers in our community, Bossier City, LA. Debbie says her passion for working in childcare is, “having the opportunities to watch the children grow.” What would you say is our passion for helping them in return?
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