Childcare Worker Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides exhaustive information on the job description of a childcare worker, to help you learn what they do.

It highlights the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities that typically make up the childcare worker work description.

It also presents the major requirements you might be expected to fulfill if you are applying for the childcare worker job.

What Does a Childcare Worker Do?

A childcare worker is a person who looks after kids, showing them care and attention, and attending to their needs in the absence of their parents or guardians.

The childcare worker job description entails catering to the needs of children by making them comfortable without any worries, and this makes them a parental figure to the child in the absence of their parents.

While children are left in the care of the childcare worker, he/she ensures that they are in safe hands by creating a safe atmosphere and keeping a close watch on them.

He/she prepares meals and feeds the child as instructed to ensure that they are not left hungry.

It is the responsibility of the childcare worker to inculcate personal hygiene in the child by keeping them clean and neat at all times. This involves changing the diapers of infants, bathing and dressing them.

The childcare worker creates a playful atmosphere for children to express their playful nature by creating child friendly games and activities that are fun and enjoyable to them.

In order to ensure that kids aren’t lazy, the person working with them needs to create physical activities to help them keep fit, agile and smart so as to enable them lead a healthy and interesting lifestyle.

A good observer, the childcare worker pays close attention to children to observe any emotional, psychological or developmental problems that they may be facing and brings them to the notice of their parents who in turn, take measures to help them get through it.

He/she also plays an educational role in the life of children by reading and singing to them and helping them with their homework and other school activities.

As one who is friendly to the child, he/she will speak to the child in a friendly manner during conflict with their family members or the community, persuading the child to do the right thing.

Childcare workers may also perform other house chore duties that directly or indirectly affects the child such as cleaning the house, doing dishes and laundry.

Childcare Worker Job Description Sample/Example/Template

The list of tasks, duties, and responsibilities carried out by the childcare worker is shown in the sample job description below:

• Ensure that the environment where children are kept is clean and safe
• Keep records of children’s daily activities
• Ensure that children of school age are in school in due time and back home after school
• Ensure that children observe activities in their daily routines
• Take children to educational and social functions as instructed by their parents or guardians
• Attend trainings organized for childcare workers to acquire new skills
• Ensure that children are well fed and do not skip meals
• Constantly interact with children to always know what they are up to in order to avoid surprising actions.

Childcare Worker Requirements: Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

Here are important skills, abilities, and qualities which childcare workers are expected to have:

• Being child friendly
• Being patient
• Being multitasking
• Ability to show concern for others
• Have self control
• Have stress tolerance
• Have good communication skills
• Ability to pay attention to detail.