25/08/19 21:07
When I was about 12 years old, I was asked to substitute coach a little league team at the local park district. I remember thinking that I enjoyed the experience so much, that when the next baseball season started, I was going to volunteer to coach. And I did! That was the real beginning of my life working with children. It started out coaching baseball, being a day camp counselor, and leading a group of Cub Scouts. As I got older, I taught religious education, became very involved in Scouting, and even worked during the summer as a counselor. During this time I used the gifts God had given me to influence the lives of those who were younger than I was. I knew that was something that I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
When I became an adult, I continued to work with children on a professional basis as a computer teacher but I also had children of my own- a boy and a girl each brought up during different decades with different needs. After my daughter got married and gave birth to her children I have had the opportunity to be with them often.
As anyone who works with or has been around children knows, they can be as innocent as a flower and as exasperating as all get out. But they have brought a joy and love to my life that I know, deep within my soul that I could not have gotten anywhere else. That is why they continue to be a vital part of who I am as a human being.
Perhaps you can reflect on the children who have been influential in your life- your own and maybe others you have encountered. I’d be interested in hearing about some of those stories. I would suspect that all of the experiences we have had would be pretty common.