The essence of care work

Henry Maier

At a recent round-table discussion in regard to the present and future of care work the question occurred, “What is actually the major objective of all care work with children and youth?"

As I see it, and hopefully we are together on this: central to care work with children, in and outside of their homes, is helping them to be children in their own right. We forget so easily that they have to experience childhood in ways akin to that encountered by their untroubled age and gender mates. For instance, a ten-year-old running down the hallway is not an issue, even though he or she violates a caregiver’s admonishment that there should be “No Running" in the house. Actually, for a youngster, moving to a new or different activity means to run – and likely to jump the last two or three steps of a lengthy staircase. For a ten-year-old, running or fast movements are very much a way of life.

With the many facets we struggle with in our interactions with the youngsters, we need to see that they experience them as moments of normal life rather than as a violation of communal living.

Approaching the summer season, it might be helpful to remind ourselves that summertime spells vacation time for children. It is questionable to maintain the same daily schedule for the summer as for the rest of the year. Maybe there’s a time when children can treat themselves with freedom in their getting-up time. Do all children actually have to start breakfast within a predetermined schedule? Vacation time means relaxation and freedom from a commandeered life schedule.

The essence of care work with persons in young or middle adulthood, particularly in the older span of life, requires a similar call for individuals to be free and encouraged for life experiences akin to those of their peers in the open community. It means that care work needs to endeavor to help individuals to discover their sense of self, in freedom to pursue life according to their own inclinations. This suggests that caregivers discover what a person wants to be, do, and achieve, rather than attending to a regimen that was thought be for the person's own good. How many times do we see it as our own goal to fulfill that care receiver’s secret wish or dream for fulfillment?

All the previous lines point to opportunities to help children or adults, young or old, male or female, to enjoy life for the momentary encounters of daily living.