LIVING LIFE FROM ROSE COLORED GLASSES

Back in 1990s when I first became a Program Director to oversee multiple off-site child care programs our funding streams were in their infancy.  The YMCA was in recipient of large grant awards funding programs almost in its entirety and the explosion of before and after school child care programs on elementary school campuses began.  Programs were balanced with recreational, social and homework time activities each day.  A typical schedule would be:

2:00pm – 2:30pm	Arrival – Attendance – Restrooms – Snack
2:30pm – 3:15pm	Homework Time (for those who want to complete) or Playground Time
3:15pm – 4:00pm	Arts and Crafts
4:00pm – 4:45pm	Outdoor Sports or Organized Group Activities
4:45pm – 5:30pm	Indoor Games
5:30pm – 6:00pm	Dismissal and Free Choice of Indoor Activities

Schedules were generalized and most of our staff where high school juniors and seniors over the age of 16 who were supervised by college students who have worked there for at least two to three years to be senior group leaders.  The term group leader was used as opposed to counselors to provide a distinction of the staff supervising the children are not in fact counselors as in the social work arena.  The activities the children participated in were often only as strong as the staff member’s knowledge and experience leading games, songs and arts and craft activities coupled with excitement to play that they brought with them each and every day.  The majority of staff, generally were nothing greater than older children themselves and often found having fun partaking in the activities with their assigned age group.

As a junior group leader, I first was paired with a senior group leader to learn the rules, routines and techniques in keeping the children in the group engaged, entertained and excited.  The rules relatively were to keep both children and the staff safe.  Such rules is never be alone with a child, don’t allow children in your group to be outside of your view, make sure you help with their homework – don’t do it for them, allow children to resolve their own problems with minimal direction from staff, etc,.  Routines included when we do restroom breaks, what you do to prepare for snacks, how to have smooth transitions from one activity to another and how to keep activities seamless to maintain behavior issues to a minimum.  Techniques to setup, organize and deploy a day’s worth of activities with alternate plans for rainy days and full day programs were all taught hands-on as well as maintaining group behavior control and supervision.  Once you met the age requirement of 18 and have proven you could maintain group control and plan appropriate developmentally appropriate activities you were promoted to senior group leader.  With this came the immense responsibility of supervising and passing your gained knowledge and experience down to the junior group leader you were assigned. 

Once you’ve mastered being a senior group leader and had managed to outlast the others, additional responsibilities were bestowed upon to you from the Program Director.  From helping write up bus and site rosters, staff and group schedules, plan field trips and transportation and mentor new senior group leaders coming up the ranks.  Additional work hours became available to those willing to become certified swim instructors and lifeguards or membership desk attendants.  By the time I was 18, I was working regularly the maximum 30 hours a week allowed for part-time employees.

Today’s group leaders are now titled counselors, not they are certified in the social work arena but part of the new requirements in grants.  Within a new counselor’s first year employment, all staff under go 50 clock hours of state mandated training within their first year of employment, CPR and First Aid and further training throughout the year to meet various additional mandates from funders and the local school board as well as additional organization specific training.   Counselors are now responsible to incorporate a myriad of components into an already shortened day and fill it with academic enrichment (not just homework time).  Intentional social skill development, literacy and math skill development, intentional physical activity with healthy eating and lifestyle lessons and other components funders and partners are requiring to be incorporated into a quick-paced, four hour afternoon.  Certified Teachers are now hired to lead much of the academic portion of the programs and various enrichments.  I am not against the need to provide an organized, intentional curriculum which helps feed program logic models and successful outcome attainment but children more than ever need the ability to play freely.  I’ve always been a proponent of play being an integral part of children learning social skills, problem solving skills and developing a positive self and developing into a person who’s grounded and has the skills to become a successful adult. 

These same programs have evolved into a schedule which may look more like this:

2:00pm – 2:25pm	Arrival – Attendance – Restrooms
2:25pm – 2:50pm	Healthy Snack Choices
2:50pm – 3:15pm	Homework
3:15pm – 3:40pm	Social Skills / Computer Time / Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
3:40pm – 4:05pm	Academic Skills (different subject daily)
4:05pm – 4:30pm	Organized Outdoor Activities
4:30pm – 4:55pm	Outdoor Sports or Organized Outdoor Group Activities
4:55pm – 5:20pm	Organized Indoor Group Activities
5:20pm – 5:45pm	Playground
5:45pm – 6:00pm	Dismissal and Free Choice of Indoor Activities

A Program Director’s responsibility for the entire program from the administrative perspective was the ultimate difference between that of a senior group leader and that of a Program Director.  Budgeting, staffing, scheduling, purchasing, organizing, implementing harmonizing and collaborating all around this tamed beast called Y-Prime Time.  With a great mentor, the Program Director’s responsibility was like that of a ringmaster of a multiple ring circus and ownership of decisions rested solely with you, as the Program Director.  Once the tamed monster was fed, it often only needed to be revamped with staff and seasonal changes.  As a Program Director, I took great pride in my programs which were self-sustaining and my staff were empowered to make quality choices and decisions.  As it is a Program Director’s job never seems to ever come to a rest, but I cannot imagine how I managed to do as much as I did without much of the modern conveniences which today’s Program Director’s have available.  I managed to do my budgets on column pads with pencil erased holes in areas where my supervisor asked me to revise my figures one time too many.  Finally, transferred it neatly to a clean sheet to be able to present it to the branch’s finance committee for review and approval. 

Program Directors are now charged with fiscal responsibility to manage by numbers and colorful dashboards reminding them of outstanding obligations and upcoming deadlines.   Many Program Director’s are often thrown into the position without much of the guidance and mentoring many prior have received from a caring, mentor and leader.  The challenges of continually preparing for the monitoring requirements of not just child care licensing but school board and funder monitorings have continually challenge Program Directors to keep upon deadlines and expiration dates in personnel files and client files.  The introduction of technology such as cell phones, notebook computers, 4G air cards and tablets have in many ways increased productivity at the expense of staff’s availability to be continually accessible by anyone and everyone.  The “TNT” (Today Not Tomorrow) deadline echos the offices as Program Directors race to what appears to be a never ending day.

As for me, I fondly look back at the tangible impacts I made when in either my role as a Group Leader/Counselor or Program Director where made by simply getting to know the families we served and the ability to understand the individual needs of the children we served.  Sometimes often less was more when each child served was treated as the individual they were and not molded to fit standards of what is now called developmental milestones and common core achievements.  Times definitely changed from my humble beginnings, but children, now more than ever need a whole lot of slow to grow into the productive citizens of the future.  Allowing childhood to be experienced with intentional self-directed choices is the first step in the right direction. 

In a world filled with the many day modern conveniences, the art of being in the people business and having face-to-face time is often is overshadowed by the immediate need to answer that one last e-mail, cell phone call, text message or to do that one last thing before the never ending day sets and tomorrow begins.  A concerted effort in developing staff to their full maximum potential needs to be revitalized and realized to become the next generation of leaders.  Those of us who have been fortunate to have worked ourselves up through the ranks should find a promising leader, offer them our toolbox of knowledge and skills by mentoring, training and support them as they find their place in the YMCA and may continue this century plus tradition of youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.