Thursday's Thought

Just got back from Walmart...and as I was checking out, the two very very nice people working behind the counter actually asked me a question...now you know how I feel about questions...too few ask and fewer still listen...and I answered, "I work with children."

It started right then" "Oh, I couldn't work with children."

"I don't know how you do it."

"You need a vacation because you work with children."

"You must work very hard."

Now if you know me at all, you will say, "She never does anything hard," so I just smiled and thought, you work at Walmart and you're saying those things to ME?

It never ceases to amaze me that people think working with children is so very hard. If you really think about it, working with forty people who have not yet reached the age of reason, who sometimes lose control of bodily functions...and sometimes can't tell you when they need or want something isn't frustrating, it's hilarious...most of the time. I mean where else can you ask a client if he's wiped or flushed or washed his hands when he comes out of the bathroom...lol.

Children don't hate. They rarely seek revenge. They are usually lovers rather than brutes...and they learn...which is the best part of what I do.

Children have bountiful energy...I mean where else will your clients bounce off the walls ALL day every day and still have enough pizzazz and vigor to hug you, MMMMM?

Caring for other people's children is actually easier than caring for your own. Since I started the Garden School, I've had my own grandchildren nearly every year. Because you know just what they are thinking and you're really tied to them emotionally, you tend to over-ride the knowledge that spoiling them rotten is really a poor idea, and you do it anyway, and then you have to live with the results. Mostly, that means re-writing the gma role and letting everyone eat cake!

Other people's children are more of a puzzle, a constant series of questions and possibilities, and there is where the delight comes in. Years ago, I was hired at the local newspaper as a columnist because I could get into a kid's head and figure them out and I could put a decent sentence together that most of Evansville loved reading. It went National...it was fun and you can see those columns by Googling Judy Lyden. But that ability to understand children as whole developing human beings stays with me. And that is probably what keeps me loving the job. I understand...

Understanding a child means figuring out what he's thinking and why. Then, to befriend the child and get him to trust you, you meet the child on a level HE will understand, and do it honestly without guile and without a traitorous agenda. Children need to know that you are on their side and that you ALWAYS keep your promises not only to them but to the people they love.

"Don't you get upset a lot?"

"Rarely with a child."

So...if you want to work with kids and do it well you need the following:

A big heart

A smile

An understanding that kids are mostly good

A sense of humor

What do you need to leave at the door?

Any dishonesty

Any grist

Any desire to oppress

And your frown

See? I never do anything hard...lol