Raggedy Ann and Andy’s
Raggedy Ann and Andy’s is a day care center that is located in Williamson, New York. This day care center has been running for 22 years and currently has 12 children on a daily basis. Donna Giardina, a well educated woman who runs the day care center, was originally planning to take care of the elderly but, somewhere along the way Donna had a change of heart. She realized that the elderly wasn’t what she really desired to do, but that taking care of kids was.
While speaking with Donna she told me that when she was younger she used to gather all the younger children in the neighborhood and play nursery with them. “I used to charge them all a quarter,” says Donna as she reminisces on her childhood memories.
As I sat in a child-sized chair interview not only Donna but the two workforce workers who work at Raggedy Ann and Andy. Their names are Chelsie Morrison and Chasity Tugerson. Chasity is currently going into eleventh grade and Chelsie is a high school graduate and plans on going to college after the summer ends.
As I sat in the room of sleeping children during their nap time, I asked both girls a series of similar questions. Both of the girls perform daily tasks such as playing games with the children, helping prepare food for the kids to eat, and creating and doing projects with the children. Both girls told me that they were enthused to begin working at the day care center before they started working and both seem to have the same enthusiasm.
As I spoke with Chelsie she said that she has learned many things from this job that she could definitely use elsewhere- patience being the main one. “When handling kids you have to be able to go down to their level. You have to be able to be patient and work with them,” says Chelsie as she discusses her many learning experiences with this job.
Chelsie also creates and chooses projects for the kids. She says that creativity is another thing she feels she has gotten better with. “Choosing the projects for the children and keeping a variety while making sure the kids are interested and learning at the same time.” Chelsie also spoke with me about her favorite memory from the job. She described a project that she created for the kids. They took old empty butter containers poked two holes in them. Put some dish soap in the containers and stuck a straw in one hole. They blew into the containers through the straws and out of the other hole came the bubbles. “The kids loved it,” says Chelsie, “They played outside with them for half an hour to forty five minutes.” Chelsie claims this to be her favorite memory from working at Raggedy Ann and Andy’s.
Doing this job has helped Chelsie choose her career choice. Chelsie is currently attending FLCC for early Childhood development. Chelsie says that she enjoys her job very much and always looks forward to coming to work in the morning. She also says she hopes to work at Raggedy Ann and Andy’s during college breaks and during the up and coming summer.