Not Babysitting: Work Stress and Well-Being for Family Child Care Providers

Role Conflict among Family Childcare Providers in the Bronx

“…The current study suggests that in low‐income settings such role conflict is exacerbated. The roles found mirrored those reported in Gerstenblatt and others (), and within these roles providers extended themselves for their clients by accommodating irregular work schedules, financial strains and other personal concerns. But accommodating parents often produced its own stressors, which in turn were associated with significant distress.…”

“…That there was tension evident in FCC providers’ discussion of their roles supports literature suggesting that much of the stress in FCC is due to conflict between the formal and informal roles that providers adopt in their interactions with parents and children (Bromer and Henly, ; Gerstenblatt and others, ). The current study suggests that in low‐income settings such role conflict is exacerbated.…”

“…Home‐based family childcare (FCC), in which licensed childcare professionals run early childhood daycare programmes from their homes, is often the most convenient form of childcare for many low‐ and middle‐income families in the United States (U.S. Administration for Children and Families, ). Many families prefer FCC over more formal centre‐based childcare due to FCC providers’ perceived informality and lower cost (Fiene and Isler, ; Gerstenblatt and others, ; Lanigan, ). Nevertheless, many of the qualities that attract parents to home‐based childcare end up being considerable stressors for the FCC providers themselves.…”

“…Additionally, FCC providers often provide a range of informal supports, like emotional guidance and advice on employment. In focus groups, Gerstenblatt and others () identified six provider roles: respected practitioners, advisors, second parents, child development experts, administrators and CEOs . Stressors related to these roles included maintaining parent satisfaction, maintaining full enrolment and parents’ misconception that FCC providers are simply babysitters.…”

“…Role overload can result in extreme stress, burnout and high turnover. Given the broad scope of roles suggested by Gerstenblatt and others (), role overload may result in role conflict. Role conflict ‘occurs when people are confronted with incompatible role expectations in the various social statuses they occupy’ (Yongkang and others, , p. 8).…”