Child care teachers' experiences and their gendered understandings of their work were explored in this study. Two female child care teachers were interviewed individually and asked to describe their work as women's work. Analysis showed that teachers essentialized child care teaching, recognized the paradoxes of being a child care teacher, constructed images of a good teacher, and held contradictory beliefs about their work. The findings are discussed in terms of the ways teachers construct their gendered images as good teachers and the factors related to teachers' paradoxical thoughts about their work. Implications for further research and teacher education practices are discussed.