Idea--Art or No?

A day in the life...

I work at a daycare. It becomes aparent to me that this is a cultural event within itself, everyday. Working with children under the age of one up to third and fourth graders on a daily basis grants a variety of opportunity and interesting observation. On a 'normal' day, I get to work at about noon--right in the hustle and bustle of things, as I walk in the door, I hear about ten little voices shout my name in unison! It is by far the best part of my day. After finishing up lunch, it is time to put the little ones to bed. A few infants go in various playpens and cribs scattered throughout the house, while other makeshift beds are scattered throughout the dining room. It becomes amazingly quiet and I end up either getting amazing amounts of homework done or baking an outstanding amount of sweets for 'snack time'. Either way, I love this job...I can multitask or work on my 'Julia Child' qualities (and I have people who like them, no matter how terrible they might be!) Those two hours of quiet often slip by too fast and everybody's awake and moving, and about six more school age children are added to the mix. This becomes true chaos. From putting the winter clothes away to refereeing wrestling and running matches (all while not stepping on a crawling baby) is awesome. All of the craziness subsides quite easily when mentioning the word 'snack' and instantly there is a great deal of order as a line is formed and hands are washed. For another twenty minutes, it is relatively quiet as everyone is munching on those 'Julia Child' qualities of mine. By the time we finish, it's wind down time and I usually find myself ready to go home. As fun as it all is, I am ready to find my bed, or at least my couch, in the quiet protection of my ever so empty house. Even as I type this, I see how this is a cultural event...not every society relies on someone outside of the family to care for children. This seems to be prominant in the US, however, and I must say that as crazy as it is, I wouldn't trade it in for anything else.

Posted at 12:51PM Dec 04, 2007 by Jacey L Mohr in General  |  Comments[0]