Handout 3.16: Caregiver Clock and Community Supports (student copy), Life Skills Arcade

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________ Partner: ______________

Directions: Part 1 is the eight jobs of a parent or caregiver. Part 2 is the 24-hour caregiver clock for a two year old. Fill every hour with a job letter. Shade the hours the caregiver is working for the child. Part 3 is readiness: what a person needs in place before they care for a child. It stays general. Part 4 is the community supports match. The exit card is at the bottom. The child and the family are made up.

My do now guess: a two year old needs an adult paying attention ______ hours a day.

Part 1: The eight jobs of a caregiver

Letter	Job	A toddler example
S	Safety	Gates, outlet covers, never alone near water
F	Food	Three meals and snacks, cut small, no choking foods
H	Health	Doctor visits, shots, medicine, sleep
L	Love	Holding, talking, being there when they cry
T	Teaching	Words, colors, how to share, what "hot" means
M	Limits	A bedtime, a rule about hitting, a "no" that means no
$	Money	Diapers, food, clothes, child care, the doctor
C	Time	All of it

Parenting is unpaid work, and it is the biggest job most adults ever do.

Words in Spanish:

English	Spanish
caregiver	cuidador
safety	seguridad
food	comida
health	salud
love	amor
limits	límites
money	dinero

Part 2: The caregiver clock

A normal weekday for a two year old. Three fixed times: wakes at 6:30, naps from 1:00 to 2:30, goes to bed at 7:30. Your surprise card (the teacher gives it): ______________________

For every hour, write three things: what the child is doing, what the caregiver is doing, and the job letter. Shade every hour the caregiver is doing a job for the child. "Listening while they sleep" counts as a job.

Hour	The child is	The caregiver is	Job letter	Shaded?
12 a.m.
1 a.m.
2 a.m.
3 a.m.
4 a.m.
5 a.m.
6 a.m.
7 a.m.
8 a.m.
9 a.m.
10 a.m.
11 a.m.
12 p.m.
1 p.m.
2 p.m.
3 p.m.
4 p.m.
5 p.m.
6 p.m.
7 p.m.
8 p.m.
9 p.m.
10 p.m.
11 p.m.

Hours shaded: ______ out of 24. Compared to my guess: ______________________

Stretch: a second surprise we invented: ______________________ Hour: ______ Job letter: ______

Stretch: estimate the monthly cost of three jobs (use the numbers on the slide).

Food: $______ Diapers: $______ Child care: $______

One thing a family with one income might have to give up: ______________________

Part 3: Readiness, at a general level

This is not about whether or when anyone should have a child. It is about what a person needs to have ready to do the eight jobs well.

What a person needs	One reason, from the clock
Age (a body and a brain that are done growing; their own school years finished)
Money (the clock has a cost)
Support (a partner, a parent, a friend, a neighbor; nobody does 24 hours alone for long)
Patience (the 2 a.m. fever and the spilled cup are the job, not the exception)

Which of the four does the clock show most clearly? ______________________

Part 4: Community supports

Support	What it does	One hour on my clock where it would help
The pediatrician	Checkups, shots, medicine, the "is this normal" phone call
The school (and later, pre-K)	Teaching, meals, the nurse, the counselor
The public library	Free books, story time, a warm place, computers
WIC	Food help for pregnant people, babies, and children under 5 in families that meet the income rules
211	One phone number for finding any local help: food, housing, child care, utilities. Available in many languages.
The family liaison at school	Knows every local resource; helps with forms
The after-hours nurse line	A nurse on the phone at 2 a.m.

Local numbers from the slide:

211: ______________________ One other: ______________________

Exit card: 3-2-1

3 of the eight jobs: ______________ ______________ ______________

2 community supports and what each does: ______________________ ______________________

1 sentence: The caregiver clock surprised me because ________________________________________________