“Why did you choose to become an early childhood professional?”

I have always been good with kids even when I was in daycare myself. I was good with kids that were younger than I was. When I was in daycare, it took children from ages infants to 10 years olds and when I was the oldest one, I helped with picking up toys and when outdoor time was over, I helped each of the little ones inside. When I started working at the indoor playground, Ready Set Play in 2022, I really enjoyed working in an environment where kids can play and have fun. When I ask them to not do certain things like climbing on certain play structures or throwing play toys around, they listen (most of the time). Now that I have this job at the daycare at the ‘Y’, it has helped me understand more about children as toddlers. My work at the ‘Y’ has shown me what it’s like taking care of young kids and why they behave in a certain way. The more that I work with young kids the more it’s going to help me with my second cousin Harper when I babysit and she too is going to need guidance as she grows up.

“What are the most important characteristics of professionalism you possess?”

You have to have patience especially when you work with young kids. I’ve never lost my patience with kids, sometimes I’ll raise my voice a little just to get their attention but never scream in their faces and make them scared of me and that’s something that you don’t want to happen is to have the kids be scared of you. Another characteristic that I have is that I’m a person you can trust. Trust goes both ways for both the teachers and the kids and if you show a child that they can trust you, they can start to open up more. I know for a fact that some kids that I work with are a little shy and have “stranger danger” but they’re little kids of course some of them are going to be shy, I should know because I too was a shy kid. Another characteristic that I carry with me is encouragement. When I see the kids play with puzzle piece toys or do certain tasks that they haven’t done before like push in their chairs after eating or putting toys away without a teacher having to ask him/her, I would say encouraging words to boost up their confidence.