The perks of the job

Emotional exhaustion is pretty common for me. I am a perfectionist, an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person, an INFP, in Meyers-Briggs terminology, and Adult Child of an Alcoholic, so easily co-dependent, and I am pretty emotional in general. I channeled my emotions into singing opera, concerts, working with other artists, and more recently, teaching young children. I get to use my predilection for silly faces, funny voices, puppetry, miming, dancing, singing, etc. to amuse and instruct children who delight in doing the same. I also love to move, to run, to climb. I do yoga with kids. They are so friendly and interested in my own interests. This is the funny thing I learned by switching from teaching in a preschool to teaching in a Child Care setting. The children become intimately interested in you, and knowledgeable about you. They know what you like, and can read you like a book.

Witness the boy who constantly interrupts me, jokes while I'm trying to tell the children something, and notices that beneath my annoyance with certain behavior, I am secretly amused. "Gail thinks we're funny!" he tells a parent. You can't hide from child care kids.

I am a teacher first. But in my center we are all "friends". The children seem to understand that they are a part of their own learning and planning. They also believe that they have a say. It's a little like trying to teach your own family. They won't just listen and be "good". 

But the job has perks. This week we took out the hammocks to hang in the arbor. Children came from all over the playground to take turns swinging in them (no swings on our playground. Litigation has taken care of the fate of swings on playgrounds everywhere). I passed out numbers (integrated learning is our thing) so they didn't have to stand in line. They had to recognize a number when they were called (they had help if they needed it). Suddenly an older girl said, "Gail and Sue need a turn!" and they insisted we each climb into our own hammock so they could swing us (enthusiastically). It was a nurturing experience for me, being swung by the children. We care for them all day every day, and here they were doing the same for us. Perhaps we can take credit that they learn selfless behavior and sharing when they are with us. I hope so!

Occasions like this help me, a child of a mother raised in abuse, and a father raised in neglect, to connect with healthy reciprocal activities. I can never get enough of it. It is truly a situation where the teachers are taught by the students.