The Child Care Worker Video Series

Aimed at those interested in joining the child care profession, either as workers in a licensed day care or as at-home daycare providers, this series includes six programs addressing various areas and issues in child care. We watched two episodes: The Child Care Worker: A Recipe for Success and Safe and Sound. The first of these titles serves as a basic introduction to the subject, discussing the different types of child care programs, pointing out desirable characteristics in child care workers (love for children, high energy level, people-oriented, etc.), and examining the maternal, therapeutic and instructional approaches to day care. The program concludes with a segment on interviews which is a bit confusing, since it seems to be directed more at child care employers than workers. The other title, Safe and Sound is a fairly straightforward introduction to the issues of health, safety, and child abuse in relation to child care. There is nothing remarkable about the productions themselves, which look a little washed out, and the information was not necessarily more detailed than that found in the far superior Selecting Day Care For Your Child (reviewed in our July-August 1990 issue), which is, admittedly aimed at a different audience, but also covers much of the same ground. On top of that, the $450 price tag for all six tapes seems a bit stiff. And if that isn't enough, you can purchase reproducible study guides for each of the titles at $20 per, as well as the manual on which the series is based for $10. Not a necessary purchase (though libraries may want to consider the pretty informative manual). (Available from: AAVIM, 745 Gaines School Rd, Athens, GA 30605; (800) 228-4689.)