Kids, the good and the bad

I spent my Saturday morning preparing for a daycare interview that didn’t happen. She bailed at the last-minute, sad to say, but I can say my house is very clean!:)

I’m not too worried about the daycare, it’s a business with a high turnover, both kids and, if you’re working in a commercial daycare, workers. Somehow, the people who work in the nitty gritty…the ones who you hire to supervise and chase…don’t last very long. Pansies.

The people who stay in child care are the ones who commit to an education. They are the few who somehow got the idea that caring for and about children was a career path, not just a bill payer.

You don’t stay unless you can take it. I mean all of it. There’s a lot of reward to be had, but only if you’re the kind of person who cares about smiles, hugs, and eyes lit up when a new concept is learned. If you think the things kids say really are funny, and you don’t mind being asked about a thousand questions a day including, “Are you going to have a baby?” “What this that big owie on your face?” and “Did you just poop?”

Children are a pain. They are also a delight. I love the way their tiny hands look, as they try to learn to use a pencil, or eat with a fork. I love how they are constantly actually learning about the world. Not just refining, but truly hearing new information. The other day, the kids and I were talking about where we live, I mean the name of the city where I live. Some of the kids live in surrounding towns, which they knew. Then came the shocker…at least to most of them…we all live in the same state! And it has a name! And this is what it looks like on a map! Their little mouths were open. This was unbelieveable! One child remembered the name of the state where cousins had been visited, and asked if it was also on this map. It was! So rewarding.

On the other hand, just last week, as I was changing a seriously icky diaper, the kids were staring and making the usual array of gross noises. I said, “Guys. It’s just poop. Everybody does it. Go play!” But they were astounded! Everybody poops? Then there was a (in my mind wwwwwaaaay too long) lesson about people and animals that poop. They just couldn’t believe it. Wow! They already knew they did, and dogs did but…. Mom? Dad? yes. Birds? yes. Snakes? *shudder* yes. Grandparents? yes. Ev en bugs, I told them. Mouths were open. Eyebrows were up. We headed outside to search for poop. Great.

um…speaking of poop…I gotta go.