Herding Cats

My husband just finished his first season as t-ball coach for children entering and completing kindergarten. Although he had a lot of fun and admits her learned a lot, he turned to me last night on the way home from the final game and questioned my chosen profession. Of course he is not the first person to question my interest and desire to choose to spend my time with large groups of children, but it has been a while since this has happened.

I thought about my husband's comments a lot last night and today as I was working. Luckily, I do truly love children and it is easy for me to defend my profession. First of all, children have such an amazing excitement for life. I admire this and often times it is simply contagious. I love hearing their stories as I feel like it's a window into their minds and how they see the world. I learn something from every child I work with, even if it is only for a short time.

My husband agreed with me to some extent, but was struggling to see past the struggles he would encounter when leading a group of children. He asked how I cope on a regular basis with the children that are easily distracted or don't seem like they are fully engaged in what is happening. I smiled and told him that those are often my favorite children to work with. For one, I like a challenge every now and then. Secondly, it is so rewarding when you see them grow. When they move from being disengaged to fully engaged. Those are the children that remind us that it's all about learning...life is all about learning. None of us come into the world knowing right from wrong, or knowing how to engage or be a part of a group. We learn this as time goes on, when someone takes the time to teach us that, whether it's a teacher, a parent, or coach.

The bottom line is that no job is easy. We all gravitate towards careers that we are successful at and that we find rewarding. I think it's so important, however, to remember that any person that spends time with children: as a coach, sitter, teacher, neighbor, aunt, etc. has the ability to impact a child's life. So, even though spending time with large groups of children may not be an official job for you (and you may be very relieved about this), it still may be a role you encounter at times in your life. Try not to underestimate your possible impact.

I will continue to defend this wonderful job: teaching young children...at least I hope I will for many years to come.