The role of inspiring young people and broadening their minds is the gratification that parents experience every day whether they’re aware of it or not. They’re a driving force in how their children perceive and make sense of the world around them. That satisfaction is a big part of what makes working with children something that a lot of people gravitate toward.
Working with kids
They help to establish the moral and ideological infrastructure of the person that they will grow up to be, building their value system as they grow physically and intellectually and form their own discreet personalities. But why stop there?
Whether you have children or not, you – yes, you – are an inspiring woman whose experiences and insights are like no others. If you’re feeling underappreciated or under-stimulated in your current job or career you could do much worse than turn your talent to informing and inspiring the younger generation. Here are some great reasons why.
It’s a broad church
As they develop, children and young people have different needs, and meeting those needs requires different skills. A 17-year-old, for example, has a very different set of educational needs to an 18-month-old.
Therefore, whatever your skillset and temperament, there’s a place for you in working with kids. Aside from the obvious choice of pursuing a teaching degree, you could be a play facilitator, therapist, or counselor.
Check out this school counseling online masters, which can be achieved in your free time from the comfort of your own home. There are jobs with kids to suit virtually anyone that will allow you to inspire young people every day.
Working with children keeps you young
You might think that working with kids would make you feel older by proxy. But, nothing could be further from the truth.
Working with kids creates vivid links back to your own childhood and the unadulterated awe of getting to know the world around you. Kids’ enthusiasm is infectious and you’ll find yourself rediscovering much of your joie de vivre.
It makes you a great communicator
Working with kids, much like working with our elders, teaches you a lot about yourself. It quickly becomes clear that talking to them as you would an adult is a no-go as they don’t have the infrastructure of shared experience and conversational shorthand that we take for granted.
This requires us to think long and hard about what we say, and how we say it. Since kids have a much more limited attention span, you’ll find yourself varying your intonation, volume, and cadence of speech much more to keep them engaged, as well as using more hand gestures. You’ll find that you become a much more engaging and confident communicator in all walks of life.
They make you better at working with adults
Working with kids requires an extraordinary amount of patience and self-awareness. You become acutely aware of how you compose yourself, how you communicate, and how you react to inappropriate behavior.
This is actually a great primer for working with just about anyone, meaning that not only will your communication skills be on point, but your ability to deal with people calmly, rationally, and yet persuasively will position you well for all areas of your life.
Very interesting to read this. I happen to have a colleague who wants to become a volunteer for these reasons! I personally think it’s wonderful. Though I also believe to be able to work with children you need a particular set of skills not everyone has :)
You make some excellent points here, Christy. I worked for our local Sunday School as the convener for 7 years and it was wonderful. I stopped this years as my own children are no longer interested in Sunday School and have moved on to other structures.
How wonderful to hear about your work with the Sunday school, Robbie! Your endorsement makes this post all the more valuable :)
Yes, I do like to be surrounded with children rather than grown-ups !
To help children the most even the ones that really fight against you first you have to be silent in their times of anger this is when you capture them if you just simply understand it is a form of communicating they are struggling this when you can be at your best as an adult and really make a difference to that child
I love to see the world through the eyes of a child. Great ideas, Christy!
It’s such a more colorful world when we do! Thanks Jill :) Enjoy your weekend!
You do the same! :)
Awww okay :)
Children absolutely have a way of helping you see the world differently. Love this 💕
Big hugs coming your way!
Great post and ideas! They keep us young, don’t they?
Yes, being young at heart is a wonderful thing at any age :)