Because I Love My Job

I absolutely love working with children.

The downside to this lovely career is the list of delightful maladies that can happen while working with these lovely little beings:

Colds and/or Flu: This one is the "Fun" one. Because not only can you contract a cold or flu from a child but you can also be puked on (or near) at warp speed. Most of the time there is no warning, no flashing red lights or some type of verbal alert even uttered from the child before Niagara Falls starts streaming.   You're in the middle of reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear and as you look up from the book you find little Jenny hovering over your shoes showing you what she had for breakfast. Not pretty at all to say the least. Or little Joey's nose is running like a faucet and as he manages to run to hug you and  he pulls away... it looks like a scene from Spider Man.

Just a messy, sticky string of goo from his nose to your pants.

Pink Eye(fancy name Conjunctivitis):  No matter how much you wash desks, tables, chairs, little hands and walls, somehow, some way this little virus manages to creep into your eyeball and force you to throw away all the makeup you just purchased on sale at Walgreen's.  Not to mention the "not-so-fun" feeling of having your eyelids glued together and the annoying watery itching that comes with it.

Strep Throat: An evil little bacteria that sneaks up on you out of nowhere. I can count on one hand, how many times children cover their mouth when they cough. Or they cover their mouth and then grab your face with that same hand.

Head Lice:  *shivers* Ugh...I really don't want to go there. Let's not shall we.

Getting Hit, Bit, Kicked and Slapped:  Nothing more fun than a 3-yr old throwing a tantrum. It's even worse when they are bigger and old enough to take a school bus. At that point you REALLY need quick reflexes or your shin will pay a very dear price. I got kicked in my shin one time at work, and it wasn't at a child care center either. It was at a store I worked at. Go figure.

Classroom Chaos:  It happens. Even the most well-educated, most disciplined teacher has moments where the classroom just goes crazy. I know someone who was pulling two toddlers off the table, and one was on a chair ready to climb onto said table. I also had a day like that yesterday. My children just would not sit on the reading carpet at all. As I sat the last child down on the carpet, two others popped up and began to run to the middle of the room. I'd finally get those two sat down and another THREE would jump up. This is the aerobics part of my afternoon. Who needs a gym membership when you are a teacher of overly-energetic toddlers?  I should have lost at LEAST five pounds yesterday. I was literally sweating from all that running around. Where do these kids find the energy? Is it in the fruit snacks or those new-fangled squeezie veggie/fruits? Maybe it's the yogurt puffs. Whatever it is...I want some of that.

Just think of this movie the next time you send your kid to preschool or grade school:




I hope you have a new-found appreciation of what your child's teacher does after seeing this video.  True, every day isn't like this, because most of us find the "Ferret"(see movie clip) that works to keep the classroom under control.

For the most part I do have a pretty good classroom, but on occasion...it does happen...the kids win the battle...at least for about five minutes or so. 

Then normalcy finally resumes.

I taught them to meditate. Well, sort of. I was being silly and I closed my eyes and started humming. They all just looked at me. Then they joined in. It was fun. I was told by my boss I am not allowed to use the term "Meditate"(???) so we hum. Or I will say "Buzz like bees", and they hum. It's cute. That's the "Ferret" in my room.

Despite all the things that can happen on a negative aspect, I find working with children to be quite rewarding. In the last six months since I've had my classroom,  I've watched little toddlers learn their colors, say their first word/simple sentence ("want juice"), learn empathy, and color/paint a picture.  True, it does bother me some days that I spend more time with other people's children and wish so much to spend that time with my own kids.

For now though,  this is how it is. Because I do love my job, and all the children who are a part of it.

And for now I try to enjoy it the best that I can.