My Current Jobs

Job 1: I nanny for a two year old girl. (8-12 hours a week)
Job 2: I nanny for a eight year old girl. (15-30 hours a week)
Job 3: I work at a daycare. (15-20 hours a week)

Why I work with kids: (besides money)

I nanny because I love children. I always have loved children. When I get to make a positive impact on a child's day and maybe even their life I think that is the greatest way I can spend my time. 

Children keep my soul young. When we play I try not to stay in the reality I know but to jump into their world where a couch is a ship that we sail the seas on. I have forgotten how to imagine impossible things but when I get to spend my days with children I learn again even if it is only for a moment what can be. 

Kids are unburdened by bills and jobs so they are essentially happy. I am a very content person. I would say I am more happy than not BUT I wouldn't say I am always happy. My thoughts are not that of the children I watch but of bills and schedules. I enjoy the escape of the pretend where I am a horse to her cowgirl, the monster that chases her around the room, the teacher who shows her how to draw.... anything is a possibility in her world. I can be anything in the mind of a child. That is a comforting thought. 

I get tired from nannying both mentally and physically. The toll of being a horse is an exhausting one. Picking up toys or picking up a child over and over again isn't easy. Especially when that child is asleep. Mentally it is hard when you see them not want mommy to go to work but even harder when they break down and cry for eighteen minutes once she's gone. Or when mommy has been working for four days straight and she breaks down because she only gets to see her before school which isn't enough. It's also hard to be stern with them when they do anything because they don't understand danger or pain fully. 

I want a nap too! Sometimes I do end up falling asleep right next to my two year old but mostly I clean up the mess we have made. Then I prepare fun new activities or cook dinner so it's ready when she wakes up.

When I started I was worried about how I would entertain someone else for so long and just nervous in general but now that I have done it for months I don't have those thoughts. I know now that the days will be filled with anything and everything she wants to do I just have to make sure she eats her food.

While daycare is a completely different feeling. I was of course nervous but it was also because I was working with other people watching so many kids. I am still figuring out circle time which is where we teach and sing songs with our kids before we spend the day playing. I love the variety of children we get at daycare and how each day is a different combination of all of our kids. Of course I have favorites but I don't have least favorites just moments where I am not to keen on a kids behavior. It has been a learning experience for me since twelve kids can be a handful but I love seeing how similar and different kids the same age are or how advanced a younger kid can be over an older kid. 

I am enjoying every moment of working with kids even when times are more difficult it beats the idea of sitting behind a desk all day.