ltlbird, you are my hero
Sep. 3rd, 2004 09:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sigersonI never thought temping would be like this.
Bouncing from receptionist job to receptionist job, yes. And that's the majority of it. Thankfully, on the week before Labor Day, calls are few and far between. Funny, everyone seems to be "out of the office" or "at an off-site meeting".
But yesterday, I got a very different temp job.
I worked at a daycare.
Just for an afternoon, in order to provide the state-appointed number of adults in a room at any one time. And most of it was naptime. I was in the infant and toddler room.
What have I learned from this?
1. I don't know what to do with a kid. I don't know how to get them to do something, or to stop doing something. I don't know how to stop crying, or get them to go to sleep, or bring a shy child into a group. I have zero knowledge of this. None. Absolute bupkis. I don't even know how to hold one properly.
2. I like kids. I can't deal with them, but I like them. I loved babbling with one of them, then realizing I could understand what he was saying. I like making them grin or smile or look fascinated. I like watching them try things out, and I like seeing what they do know (we hold on to the rope when we walk) and what they don't (if I move fast with the rope, the other person holding it will fall).
Okay, don't freak out. I have no plans of immanent spawnage. Nor even plans in the next five years. But I think this was the first time I didn't run screaming from the idea of having a kid.
Which may be the scariest lesson of the day.
Worldcon update once I'm through with my games...
Bouncing from receptionist job to receptionist job, yes. And that's the majority of it. Thankfully, on the week before Labor Day, calls are few and far between. Funny, everyone seems to be "out of the office" or "at an off-site meeting".
But yesterday, I got a very different temp job.
I worked at a daycare.
Just for an afternoon, in order to provide the state-appointed number of adults in a room at any one time. And most of it was naptime. I was in the infant and toddler room.
What have I learned from this?
1. I don't know what to do with a kid. I don't know how to get them to do something, or to stop doing something. I don't know how to stop crying, or get them to go to sleep, or bring a shy child into a group. I have zero knowledge of this. None. Absolute bupkis. I don't even know how to hold one properly.
2. I like kids. I can't deal with them, but I like them. I loved babbling with one of them, then realizing I could understand what he was saying. I like making them grin or smile or look fascinated. I like watching them try things out, and I like seeing what they do know (we hold on to the rope when we walk) and what they don't (if I move fast with the rope, the other person holding it will fall).
Okay, don't freak out. I have no plans of immanent spawnage. Nor even plans in the next five years. But I think this was the first time I didn't run screaming from the idea of having a kid.
Which may be the scariest lesson of the day.
Worldcon update once I'm through with my games...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 06:46 pm (UTC)It was also exhausting, since they're both in better shape than I am and the simplest way to make they hapy is to play basketball/tennis/soccer, jump into shoulder-high waves, or dance whatever dance they've just choreographed. They spent several hours one morning giving my brother and me "lessons" in percussion on jenga blocks and then adding moves to the rhythms. They're amazing people. And they kept 5 adults (my brother and sister and two cousins and me) running all week. It gave me an even greater respect for people kids trust. And for my parents:-j