This summer, I took a job with the Fine Arts Day Camp (FADC) at my school. The job sounded simple enough- teach creative writing to groups of children with ages ranging from three to twelve. However, what I thought was going to happen during those ten weeks was completely different from anything I could have possibly ever imagined. I had never worked with children before, so it was a complete shock on first day. I slowly got the hang of it, and I learned a lot of things about children while working at camp including:

1. Children are weird

I know that seems kind of silly to say, but children are some of the weirdest creatures on this planet. For example, one of my kids came up to me one day with terrified eyes and a really pale face. I thought something was wrong so I sat down beside her and asked her what was going on. She looked me dead in the eyes, and with a very serious face she said, “Miss Tiffani, I think I’m turning into a ghost. I read a book about a girl who turned into a ghost, and now I’m showing symptoms.” Her friend, always the concerned instigator, had told her she needed to let a counselor know ASAP so she didn't "get worse." Another child insisted on always drawing ninja turtles on every single piece of paper I gave him. That may not seem all that weird for a five year old little boy, but when I handed his folder to his mother one day, she looked up at me with a big grin and said, "I don't really understand why he likes Ninja Turtles so much, he's never even seen the show or the movie."

2. It’s Okay To Sing Loud And Proud, Even If It’s Loud And Off-Key

One of my favorite campers was this very awkward little four year old girl with chubby cheeks and a bowl cut. She ran around singing almost all the time, but the only two songs she ever sang were "A Spoon-full of Sugar" from Mary Poppins and "I See the Light" from Tangled. It was really cute, but it was a little irritating after hearing, "And last I Seed the Light!" for the one millionth time.

3. Children's Shows Can Be Fun, Even for Adults

One of my favorite things I did with my Kindergarten class late in the afternoon was read them a story then turn on a relevant episode of the show Super Why! If you have not watched this show please give it a chance (it's on Netflix). It is one of the silliest, funniest shows I've ever seen. The best part, however, was definitely the reactions of the children. They screamed and laughed and answered every question, and I even got some of the more difficult children to write by giving them a piece of paper at the beginning of the episode and asking them to write down the letters they saw on the screen. However, the worst part of the show is definitely the theme song. I will probably never be able to unlearn it, and it will forever be a song that is stuck in my head at the most random times.

4. Writing Is Not Always On Pen and Paper

One of the best parts of teaching children is seeing their creative minds at work. Being a Creative Writing teacher for a summer camp meant that I was forced to make children write during the summer (which they hated). However, when I gave them the freedom to express themselves out loud, their creativity and amazing imaginations truly began to show. One day I asked them to write play scripts, edit them, and then perform them as a group. The amount of unique, crazy ideas was astounding! One group created a Candy World, where each character was named after a different candy. Another group of sixth graders created a superhero scene that ended in a funeral scene made out of a bunch of folding chairs and a piece of cardboard. When you give children the time and assistance they need, they can truly create some really amazing things.

5. Always Be Yourself

The best thing I learned about working with children is that they absolutely do not care about anything.I could show up with no makeup, hair a mess, with big circles under my eyes, and the children would treat me just the same as any other day. Looks do not matter, and neither does anything else. It didn't matter the age, size, or background- each child made friends and they made them fast with anyone they possibly could. They did not let anything stand in their way, theytreated everyone just the same,and that is something I believe we easily lose as adults. Children do not care, and neither should we.