For the past almost two years, I have been completely blessed to work with children almost every day, and they have taught me some of the most valuable lessons in my life.
What’s beautiful about working with children, is that their innocence triumphs all. Most of the time, their intentions are always golden. They are consistently being reminded of making good decisionsm and being good to other people. While some people are giving up on the hope that the future generations will make it, I don’t think it will be a problem. As the times change, so do the children, but I think these kids will be just fine.
I currently teach swim lessons at Njswim Sparta (check us out, we offer some AWESOME programs), and have been doing so for close to two years. Sitting in the water, listening to my students interactive with me and amongst themselves, has taught me some lessons that I will never forget.
Always be a cheerleader.
I take particular care to make sure that all of my students know that I am on their side, and cheering them on throughout their lessons. However, the other kids in their classes do it even better than me. Without me ever asking them to congratulate their classmates, they always do so. They cheer them on, and congratulate them on new feats. Sometimes, they go as far as hugging them when they have accomplished something that they have been working on for quite some time. The jealousy that we accrue as adults hasn’t hit them yet, and they are never worried about their classmates being better than them. They are only happy that their friends are accomplishing something.
Hugs can pretty much solve anything.
Your mouth gets filled with water? Hug it out. Water goes in your nose? A hug helps. Accomplished something new? You definitely need a hug. You’re nervous? Let’s hug. In my classes, hugs are an everyday occurrence. Whether the students are having a good day or a bad day, or something in between, I frequently find little arms reaching for my neck, and let me tell you, a good hug always does the trick.
Honesty is the best policy.
We have a running joke at our facility that there are fish who live in the filter around our pool. This intrigues some of our younger students, and I always let them say hi to the “fishies” when we pass the filter area. But, I will never forget one day when a boy around the age of 5 goes, “Listen Miss Lily, I know there is not any fish in there. And don’t tell me there are. You always tell me when I’m nervous to trust you, and I cannot trust you if you lie to me.” (I’m not going to lie to you guys either, I definitely didn’t stop telling the kids that fish live in the filter, but I don’t lie to my students about anything else, and they definitely don’t lie to me either. I’m pretty sure it’s their goal to point out my every flaw and mistake, actually.) Nevertheless, honesty is always the best policy.
Laughter is contagious.
In the past two years, I’ve had some bad days. There were some days where things didn’t go right, and the last place I wanted to be was at work. But it never fails, whether my mood is great or not so great, the kids always make me laugh. And they’re always trying to make each other laugh. Their problems are so miniscule- who gets what toy, and who gets to go first- that a simple joke or a silly action will always make the kids laugh. And when you let your guard down, I think as an adult you can learn to laugh too. You can learn to put the troubles aside and get a good laugh in. They aren’t lying when they say it’s free therapy, because I can honestly say that I have never walked out of the pool and felt anything but happiness.
Love, and the little things in life.
Children love so many things: the games we play, the new skills that we are learning, the toys that the facility has (and even sometimes me.) They love all the little things in life. Sometimes we get so caught up in all the negative, that we forget to celebrate the little things. When a student accomplishes a new skill, we celebrate together. It’s the little things that create the big things, and it’s all the big things that we love.
I love teaching swim lessons and I love working one on one, or one to three sometimes with children. I could never imagine myself doing something that didn’t involve working with children. In the past two years, I have taught the kids tons of things- but the things that they have taught me without even trying are things that I will never let go of.
A big shout out for my incredible job at Njswim, my bosses, and all of the families that have made all these experiences possible!
