Because care givers from nursing home assistants to babysitters are in such high demand, I have often wondered why they are paid so little and under-appreciated in this country. Here is a provocative letter from a professional care giver posted on Berkeley Parents Network:

People's attitudes toward certain professions.
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I work in child care and find that people are often politely condescending to me until they realize that I am 'like them' - meaning that I am well educated, have a reasonably high family income, etc. Can I ask why? I know that there are a lot of people on BPN who use childcare and I am just curious why childcare workers are looked down upon.

I've chosen the profession because a) I love kids, b) I can take my kids to work with me, and c) I can make a (very) little money. My income isn't pertinent to our bottom line which allowed me to choose something I LOVE. Kids are awesome and I love to spend time with them. The whole experience also makes me a better mom. But, the parents...ooh, my. All are politely friendly (and usually ask within a few weeks of meeting me to be their personal nanny...even tell me that I can bring my kids with me and they will pay me a dollar more an hour than I am already making). Sometimes they make some vaguely condescending remarks. But, those that engage in a longer conversation with me usually ask 'why do you work here?' Even my own sister says that she pays her cleaning lady better than she pays her babysitters.

I realize that part of it is ego, but part of it is curiosity. I have always been appreciative of my caregivers contribution to my sanity and lifestyle. I am still on friendly with my old nannys (sic) (I like them as much as my friends and appreciate them as much). Can someone enlighten me as to why childcare has such a bad rap?
-anon

I do think it is an elitist attitude certain “white collar” workers have towards manual laborers, which is what caring for children feels like with the diaper-changing, dressing, clean-up, etc.. Also, we (unfairly) don’t view children as smart, thus feel that occupying them is a waste of a good mind. This is my guess.

Do you think we will ever compensate our care givers what they deserve? Why do you think we take care givers for granted?