Monday, January 14, 2008

My Experience Working With Children

My passion for working with children started when my nephew was born and he is now eleven years old. My sister was 15 when she had him and wasn't ready to be a mother and had a wild side to her. She did work first shift though and our mom worked third so I would help them out whenever he wasn't in daycare. We have been so close and I love him to death. Once I got old enough, I started to babysit for my friend's younger siblings for their parents and for other people I knew. When I turned 17, I was able to get my first job as floater at Randleman Church of God daycare through the Building Futures Youth Program. I was able to work five hundred hours and it was such a wonderful experience. I worked in all of the classrooms and did some things for my supervisor. I spent most of my time in the three and four year old room. They were such great children and I had a lot of fun working with them. I had spent a lot of time also with the school age children. I went on a lot of field trips with them and helped out in the classroom. I'm not really sure which age group I enjoy the most but I do know I prefer the younger children the most. I have gone back and I have visited the daycare several times since my time ended and its amazing at how much they have grown and changed since I worked there. Some of them still remember me and when they see me, they are so happy and ask me to stay. I miss all of them so much.When my time ended, I was able to get another floater position at Head Start through the same program. It was great. Just like at the other daycare, I was only able to work 500 hours. I spent most of my time in the same classroom because the assistant teacher was having some health issues and they needed me the most in there. It was the older fours and five year old class. There was so many wonderful children there. Some of the children had disabilities and they were a pleasure to work with. One little boy had spinal bifidia and had to use a walker to get around and plus he couldn't speak English very well. One day outside he was trying to play with a soccer ball. So I went over there and kicked the ball back and forth with him and he enjoyed it. He just smiled and laughed and had so much fun. It warmed my heart to see him so happy. There was also a few children there who were Autistic. I worked with one little girl a lot. She could be a hand full at times but she was so smart and so sweet. I enjoyed working with her a lot.
After my time ended, I still went back and helped out. I volunteered several times on field trips and also just because they had called and needed some help because someone was sick and couldn't get a sub.

I really enjoyed working with children and I miss it so much.