A New Job?

I have a job now! Well sort of. I got a contract with a temp agency for childcare, which may or may not end up in enough work but hey, I got nothing else going on right now.

The interview was intense in the fact that there were a million questions that required me to draw on lots of knowledge of the industry as well as revealing a lot about myself as an educator. But the question that stumped me was ‘In terms of your career what do you hope to achieve in the next 6 months? How about 2 years?’

My downfall in life is that I have close to zero ambition. I’m happy to let someone else run things. Sure I like to have my say and will give my opinion on things but do I want to rule the world? I can’t even get my house in order so maybe let’s get on top of that one first.

I think one of the biggest obstacles to me really reaching for my dreams is that they aren’t very realistic. Would I love to be a stay at home mum, constantly not measuring up the ideal and blog about it for a profit? Absolutely! Is it likely? Not very. Would I like someone to pay me for my art? Also yes.

That’s not to say that I don’t have a passion for teaching young children. It’s one of the most important jobs in the world. Not just because more development occurs in this stage of life than any other but because parents entrust their most valuable possessions in our hands in the hopes that they will be cared for, nurtured and educated.

The most important thing to me, as a mother is that my child has a good day at childcare. That he is able to explore and interact with others with some gentle guidance when needed. I was very fortunate to find such a centre for my children and the biggest benefit of this is knowing that while I’m out ‘making a living ‘ my children are safe and feel safe and connected to their educators.

My children aren’t easy children. I have a soft spot for the children who face additional challenges including those with diagnoses such as ADHD or Autism or Cerebral Palsy. Their parents want to know their child had a ‘good day’ too. I like to make that happen for them so that I can honestly tell their parent that they enjoyed something or achieved something, no matter how small.

As a parent I also know that parents of children with ‘difficult ‘ behaviours are usually all too aware of it and can come to dread pick up time where they get a rerun of it from an educator. I love to help these kids too and I really love the look on their parents’ faces when I share with them the good qualities or skills I have seen in that child.

In the end I told the interviewer ‘better work life balance’. Which sounds overly simplistic but to anyone that’s truly tried to achieve this, it might be as crazy as me being a famous blogger or artist.

Honestly I feel like the minute I told the universe ‘F this shit. I can’t work full time and be the Mum I need to be’. The universe replied ‘ Oh really? How badly do you want it?’

It’s hard for me to imagine where I’ll be in 6 months time, let alone 2 years. Thanks for the anxiety interviewer. I hope that all my ‘fails’ will be worth it and I’ll find a really great place to work that doesn’t require me to devote my entire life to it.

I hope that I find people who see my willingness to admit my faults and take responsibility and despite this work my butt off everyday as a strength rather than a weakness. After all we’re all a bit shit in one way or another, some of us just admit it.