About Toolbox Training

Since its formation in January 1998, Toolbox Training has strongly advocated that proper training of child care providers must incorporate a wide spectrum of methods including workshops, resources, and consulting. This is reflected in the history of Toolbox Training right down to the creation of the logo.

About the Founder

Toolbox Training’s founder, David Whitaker, entered the child care profession in 1987. He has since worked as a trainer, consultant, author, program coordinator, and lead teacher. He has worked with preschoolers, kindergartners, school-agers, and middle school-age kids in half-day, full-day, before-and-after school, and summer programs. He has worked in a variety of settings including school, church, center, and recreation-based facilities.

David has served on various boards including the MOSAC2 (Missouri School-Age Care Coalition) and Missouri Accreditation (MoA) state boards as well as the Parents As Teachers Family Network board. He also teaches for the School-Age Care degree program at Concordia University in St. Paul, MN.

David has a Masters in Education with a focus on Creative Arts in Learning and a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication.

He lives in the Kansas City area with his wife Becky and their two sons.

Dave takes the business of child care seriously, as you can see here in these photos taken from his Masters in Education program (really, they are). The program focused on how to effectively reach learners in a variety of ways.

About the Logo

The Toolbox Training triangle logo represents the four players crucial to a successful child care program.

The two triangles on the bottom stand for the combined efforts of the trainer and trainees to create an environment that anchors the children, represented by the triangle on top.

The trainer is the one who must equip trainees with the skills necessary to provide quality child care. Typically this person has responsibilities that go beyond just the care of the children.

Trainees are the front-line workers who interact with the children daily. Their abilities, talents, and skills will most directly effect the quality of the care the children receive.

The children are at the peak of the triangle to remind us to always put their needs first. We must strive to support and uphold the children so that they can reach for the top.

The “invisible” triangle (that is, the inverted white triangle in the center) symbolizes the products, workshops, and consulting, such as provided by Toolbox Training, that hold the other triangles together.