Helping Shape The Minds of Little People

My favorite part about my job is seeing progress in the kids I teach, no matter how small the achievement may be. I love the look on their faces when they master something they have been working hard on. Whether it's an 11-month-old taking her first wobbly steps by herself, or a 5-year-old using scissors on her own, it is a beautiful thing to see. The way their eyes light up and they look at you to see if you were watching.

I am the newest employee at my workplace and I do not yet have my own classroom, but I consider that a privilege. For right now I get to work and help out in all the classrooms we have. The center I work in has six classrooms with children aged 6 weeks to 12 years old. Most of my days I spend with infants and toddlers but I am also familiar with the Pre-School and Pre-K children.

Being a first-time expecting mother this job has been dually fulfilling. It's given me much-needed insight into my baby-to-be and how child development happens. One thing I've learned is that every child will develop at their own pace and that is perfectly okay. All the children I teach are so unique and individual.

The children teach me a lot too. There is a little girl in my center who sometimes tells me about the things going on at home such as problems between her mother and father. She has so much wisdom for a 5-year-old, she knows so much pain. But she is smart and resilient and I admire her strength in dealing with situations she shouldn't yet know of. There are two brothers that are both sometimes labeled as "Trouble Students." The older of the two has behavioral issues and the younger one seems to follow his lead. I once sat with him and asked him why he was so angry and had hit another student. He just repeated what he had been told, "We use our words not our hands, It's not nice to hurt people." I told him I knew he understood it wasn't an appropriate reaction and asked him again if he knew why he had done it. He looked blankly at me like he had never considered why he acted out in this way before. He still has his bad days of course, and we are still working with him on using words, but sometimes I see him stop and think before he reacts and I am so proud of him.

Working with the other teachers and seeing all of their different teaching styles is an interesting part of my journey as well. At our center, we try to avoid saying "No." to the children and instead say "No, thank you." One of the teachers has a very young student who swears, and she has an admirable redirection technique she uses with him. When he yells out a curse word she dramatically yells out a silly word or the name of a food, in hopes that he will use those words instead. I haven't been in that classroom enough to know if it has worked yet, but I have seen it happen once or twice and the smile on his face when she uses this tactic gives me hope that it will be effective in the long run.

Sometimes the hours are long and you come home completely exhausted, but I wouldn't rather do any other job. These children are a second family to me and I love each one of them. I can't wait to see the wonderful people they all turn into.