How I Work with Children in my Career

I am very pro-child and enjoy the company and teaching of children. I have worked with children since I was a teenager and have found a few trade secrets of my own. I find it helpful to keep children in a happy state of mind, encourage them to do well, see things from other people's points of view and discipline only when needed.

The first secret I would like to share is what I have done to keep a child happy. I try to never talk down to any child. When possible I get down to their height and speak face to face with them. I have found that this allows us to communicate on an even playing field. As we all know children are not happy all of the time and sometimes we need to cheer them up a bit. While working at a local Girl Scout camp I would see a home sick little girl and visit with her one on one at a picnic table to cheer her up.

I would listened to her concerns about why she was feeling sad and talk to her like a friend using excitement to tell her all about all the fun there was to come for the week. Getting them excited helped to change the sadness they were feeling. I would let their camp counselors know about the girl's worries or concerns so they could keep an eye on them and help them stay excited. Some times I would get a Peppermint Pattie out of the freezer for them. For some reason it always made them feel better. I would keep in touch all week with them and make sure they were still excited and they always were.

The positive effects of encouragement are important with everyone, but I feel this is especially important when working with children. Some children are not given enough encouragement and feel as if they can't do very well at many things. I have seen many times where a small amount of encouragement can help a child learn new things like crafting, singing or even working as a team with others.

Children sometimes have trouble dealing with conflict or emotions. Having the children learn to look at situations from other peoples points of view helps them to better understand how the other person feels. It is not easy to immediately see the other person's point of view at first but with encouraging reminders children do start to think of others and not just themselves in situations. I have watched this work for the children I have worked with over even a small period of one week. Girls who started out not liking each other either can tolerate each other or in the best instance become friends by the weeks end.

My final piece of advice is to only discipline when needed. I try to fist give children a choice in disciplining them if available. I have always used the system of counting to three. If the behavior or situation is not corrected by the time I make it to three, I offer them time out or a punishment chore of my choice. This helps me get small chores done as well as makes them account for their actions.

I have always tried to pass these few secrets on to the young adults I have worked with. If a child is good at something tell them that. Remember that you are building a relationship with a person not just a child. I prefer to look at children as small people not just children.