- Learn to be resilient. Don't expect to have a perfect day, expect
things to go wrong, and learn how to deal with it when it happens.
- Little kids are some of the most confusing people on the planet.
They can be sobbing and then realize what a beautiful day it is and
want to run outside within 0.001 seconds.
- Schedules are important to avoid meltdowns on normal days.
Kids are tough. No, really. I've seen some surprisingly quick
comebacks from some brutal take downs. They're also brutally
honest.
This is probably the only job I will have had that it was completely
acceptable to be barefoot.
Sometimes, the people you work with will drive you completely
insane, but other times they become your strongest support system
and the people you enjoy seeing every day .
As I walk out of work on Friday afternoon, I honestly don't now how
it's going to work out. I'm sure it will either hit me all at once
before I even leave, or it will take me the better part of the next
week to realize it.
Over the past two years that I've been a staff member here, I've
learned more than I had ever cared to know about wrangling 50 kids
between first and third grade, remembered how terrifying and
rewarding it is to graduate from preschool and think about starting
at the 'big kid school', and at only 21 years old, how bittersweet it
is to be on the other end of the spectrum and put my whole preschool
class onto the bus for their first day of kindergarten.
It's been an emotional ride for me, hopping from class to class and
getting to know the array of teachers, each one of the kids, and most
of the parents. I'm surprised to find myself going through the list
of things that I'm genuinely going to miss about this job that I
never thought I would, like “Bear Hunt” and never seeming to have
enough of one thing or another (which was usually when I thought of
it at the last second).
Then again I'm less surprised by the things everyone misses when they
leave or when the children simply get older and move on, such as the
post-nap cuddling, playing Capture the Flag between School Age and
TASC, and all the times we found kids and teachers alike laying on
the tile floors during the summer because it was just simply too hot
to move. Not to mention the little girl that started calling me
'Merica... That's almost too cute to handle.
I can honestly say that this has been the most unique and possibly
the most demanding job I've held. Between making baked apples in the
microwave with Preschool 1, helping my Preschool 2 class prepare for
kindergarten, help the Toddlers figure out how to put on their coats
all by themselves and teaching the School Age Kids a few new games,
(all while working alongside my older sister, my younger brother, and
my mother), I couldn't have asked for a harder, more frustrating, yet
rewarding and fun task along with the endless blown kisses and body
slams from the kids themselves.
So as I leave, I want to thank everyone for their patience, love, and
support over the years (as well as constructive criticism) and for
helping me learn as much from you and the children as I hope I taught
them in the time I've had with them.
I know it's only been a little more than two years, but you kind of get attached to jobs like this. I'll definitely be making visits back to see everyone.
