There are a lot of people that say a job was the best thing that has ever happened to their life. These people don't know the half of it. Working with children changed me as a person, and I couldn't be more happy about it!
My very first job in high school was working in a daycare. I didn't realize at that point that this job would impact my life the way it did. I had always loved kids, I was the person that would seek out the little kids at weddings, church, anywhere and play with them. I have been babysitting almost as long as I have been staying home alone. I started just watching my little brother and it grew from there.
To be honest, I got my first job because my best friend worked there and let me know they were hiring for a sub position. I was told I would maybe get a couple hours a month just covering shifts for people. Little did I know I was about to start my part time job, to line me up for my full or over full-time summer job. Those kids quickly became my family, I knew them all so well I could tell you anything you wanted to know about them. Not to mention the other people I worked with were always so motivated and so loving. I truly got the most amazing first job I ever could have asked for. I wish I would have known then just how much that one single job I had in high school would change me.
The people that I worked with quickly became my best friends, it was easy when we all had such similar values and loved helping kids so much. We all had similar life plans and just loved our job and loved getting to do all the fun things with the kids. Over the summers we would go on field trips everywhere you could imagine, and get to have great life experiences with the kids that soon became family.
Once I graduated high school I became a nanny. Being a nanny, by the way, is not just a glorified babysitter. I quickly became like their older sister. You learn the inner workings of a family that has accepted you into it. I didn't just grow close to the kids, I grew close to the family, and extended family and friends. I knew these kids like the back of my hand, what lunch meats they wouldn't eat, when they were on the edge of a meltdown, how early they woke up and when they went to sleep. Being a nanny is kind of like having your own kids that you get to take a break from. I absolutely loved being a nanny. I carried on being a nanny a couple of years into college, coming home for the summers to be with my second family.
Once I stopped being a nanny I got another job in my college town. This job was a little different for me, it wasn't working with kids 100% of the time. I still get to watch kids but just for an hour at a time. This was hard for me at first, I missed the kids I nanny-ed for and I missed the kids I had become accustomed to in my daycare. Many people have told me it was just time to grow up and move on to another skill set but I will always miss the days of working with kids. I like to think I learned a lot about myself and a lot about life from those little kids.
If any of you has ever hung out with little kids long enough to really get to know them, you'll start questioning if it's you that has your life together or if it's them. Little kids are happy, they love deeply, and they roll with the punches pretty damn well if you ask me. I value the life lessons they taught me just as much as the ones I taught them.
So thank you, to all the kids that changed my life!
