I haven’t always had a passion for working with kids. As a matter of fact, when my mom first told me she was going to open a preschool, I wanted nothing to do with it. But as I grew older, I realized how much I truly loved teaching children, and how unbelievably rewarding it is to know that you are such a huge building block to their futures. As long as I have worked with kids though, I have only thought of the lessons I should be teaching them. I’m supposed to be their teacher. But truly, these children often become my teachers as well. Interacting with them for the time that I have has shown me so much about life, innocence, and pure happiness. The lessons that I have learned just by spending 5 days a week with kids are incredible and irreplaceable. I would not trade my job for the world.

I've learned that its okay to be silly sometimes. Go out with friends one Friday night and forget about all of your stresses. Dance like an idiot in front of people you barely know just because you can. Put yourself in a child's mind, they don't care how they look. They have a blast doing whatever they want to do, and that's exactly how things how should be. Who cares whose watching? Because they sure don’t.

Sometimes it's worth it to go against the rules. As I said, I work in a preschool. I am constantly telling kids not to do things that break the rules, but you can just see the satisfaction in their eyes when they accomplish something, even though they know they're not supposed to. Sometimes it's worth it. Even if you get in a little bit of trouble... Take a risk, stop holding back and just do it.

It feels really good to laugh all the time. This one doesn't even need an explanation. I grew up hearing the saying “laughing is the best medicine,” and I didn’t understand it until I became an adult and stopped finding the humor in absolutely nothing, yet absolutely everything, like a child does. How great it must be to be a child and having the ability to laugh at the tiniest things. Things that aren't even funny, but somehow find a way to be amusing.

Cry for your mom if you need to. I'm 19 years old and when I have a bad day, the first person I call on the phone is my mom. Some things never change, and never will.

A lot of valuable lessons can be learned from children. Things that are often overlooked and seen as silly or, well, childish... But when it comes down to it, these childish lessons can make your quality of life a little bit better. So the next time someone tells you to grow up, tell them no. Why would you wanna do that?