Working with kids is fun!

Photo courtesy of Grace Terhune

Though it can be intimidating at first, working with kids is also very rewarding! Take an opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone and get ready to have fun.

I never thought in a million years that I would say I love working with kids. Working with kids can be extremely exhausting and I never saw myself in that role at any point of my life. That all changed after I started my new summer job. 

For context, my mom is a preschool teacher at a childcare center. It is like a rite of passage for any child of a parent who works there to follow in their stead once they turn 18, so everyone joked that I would be next. I always told myself I would not fall into that nepotism trap, until last summer came around and I was getting bored of the summer job I had had since junior year of high school. I was in desperate need of a change in scenery. And guess who was hiring? And so I ended up falling into the nepotism trap.

I went into the job not knowing what to expect. My job title was “Floater,” which means I am scheduled to be in whatever room they need me in. For the first couple of weeks, I had to figure out which room I was most comfortable in. The infant room is relaxing, until you have three dirty diapers to change and a baby who bites. The toddler room is chaotically fun, but they are not very independent. The three-year-old room is cool, but not my favorite. The school-age room, on the other hand, is definitely not for me; that is the age range where they start saying things like “six seven.” The process of elimination left me with the four-year-olds, which, luckily, turned out to be the room where I found myself to be most comfortable.

I feel that it is only right that I ended up in the four-year-old room because that is my mom’s classroom; I was once a four-year-old in that room. Later, I even helped repaint and rearrange that room, and every year I help my mom set up her classroom for the new school year. I feel at home in that room.

With the kids preschool program finished, elementary school letting out for the summer, and the summer daycare program going into full swing, my mom decided to spend the summer in the school-aged room so I could be with the four-year-olds. Because of ratios, I was the lead adult in the four-year-old room for the entire summer. I typically had about six kids per day, with a maximum of eight kids, as 8:1 is the ratio for kids to adults in a four-year-old classroom in New York State.

Being in the classroom totally changed my perspective on working with kids. For the first time in years, I saw the world through the eyes of a kid. My kids would get so excited every time they saw a garbage truck going down the street. They thought walking to a new playground was an uncharted adventure. When they listened to stories, they didn’t care about the words on the page, they just saw the illustrations come to life right before their eyes. For the whole summer I was surrounded by their imagination, creativity, and excitement.

My classroom's theme for the summer was music. We learned about different genres, artists, and instruments. My kids loved listening to Dolly Parton. We found joy listening to the song “Boogie Shoes” by KC and the Sunshine Band and for one of our art projects they water-colored their very own boogie shoe. Our “on repeat” songs for the summer were "Fire Burning" by Sean Kingston, “We Will Rock You” by Queen, and “Fast Car” by Luke Combs. 

My absolute favorite memory with my kids was when we had an unexpected fire drill. We followed our route outside, and once I knew that everything was okay, I wanted to have some fun with the kids while we waited for the alarm to stop. We played fun games like Simon Says and I Spy. I had them go around in a circle and say some of their favorite things like colors, shapes, and food. As a joke I asked them what their favorite thing about me was, forgetting that four-year-olds cannot quite grasp what sarcasm is. I was shocked when they actually did it. On the verge of tears because of how sweet they are, I then went around the circle and said my favorite thing about each kid.

I would be lying if I said that working with kids is easy. Not everyday is sunshine and rainbows, especially when working with younger children. You are their role models. You are teaching them how to be a person, which is something some kids do not get at home. Being able to see first-hand how kids learn how to process emotions, share, and communicate their feelings is so rewarding. There were a lot of highs and lows, but through it all I can confidently say that working with kids is fun!