Ms. Kanchan

When I was growing up, I was always taking care of the younger kids in the family. Later, I went to boarding school, where I also helped care for the kids in younger grades—so I was really drawn to children right away! After I graduated from school, I taught second grade and worked as a social worker with low-income, at risk youth in India. Then, I had two children of my own, and I wanted to make sure they received a high-quality education. I also wanted to keep working in child care, so I decided I could achieve both goals by opening my own program in my home. It was a great decision—I love teaching the children in my program and supporting local families. I feel very lucky that I was able to discover my passion at such a young age and dedicate my entire life to working with young children! Being around kids motivates me to work harder every day. No other job can give you that.

We have daily schedules and goals. We do circle time, arts and crafts, writing, songs—and we love playing outside. As a teacher, integrating education into our days is very important to me, so I’m always working in different learning opportunities. For example, we do science experiments (like getting caterpillars and watching them transform into butterflies!), and I like to incorporate different languages into our lessons and songs to celebrate other cultures. My favorite activity is actually doing puzzles with the children. It’s fun, educational, practices hand-eye coordination, and is a great opportunity to be on their level and connect with them. Of course, circle time is also special, when I get to know each one of them personally. I think parents often have the idea that a high-quality child care program has to have a lot of fancy equipment. But the value of the program is really in the educators themselves. I am a professional teacher, and I draw on decades of experience when running my program. There’s a lot that goes into teaching and child care that isn’t always obvious at first glance, and it definitely isn’t as simple as having the latest toys or technology.

Our program is located in the spacious and cheery first floor of my home. We have designated areas for our various centers—arts and crafts, circle time, reading, puzzles—a sun room, and a big back yard for playing games. Healthy eating is also a priority, so we always eat whole, nutritious foods around our little snack and meal table.