I was the oldest child in our family so I was always helping my mom watching the kids, playing with the kids and doing activities with them. It's something from little on that I've always liked to do. |
It's basically providing a safe, nurturing environment for the children. |
The classes and seminars are on anything from curriculum to licensing requirements or creative activities, first aid, just a wide range of topics. |
They have the classes that day-care teachers are required to have. It's helpful to try to get a part-time job also to see how it's run and how things can be run. You learn every time you go into a new situations but it's good to get that basic idea of what is all involved. |
This can be a very challenging job but seeing the smiles on the children's faces and knowing that we're providing them a safe and nurturing environment makes it very rewarding. Some days when the kids come up to you as they are leaving the center and give you a hug or they come up to you and show you something they've just learned, you know this is why I do it. |
You need to be good at multi-tasking and being flexible. You never know what's going to come up that day, where you might be needed. Patience is also very important. You need to be nurturing; you need to have the love of working with the children as well. |