On my first day of college, in my first class, we did one of those ice-breakers. You know the ones I’m talking about, the ones where your professor acts all excited about learning about your life outside of school. The ones where you stand up in a room full of strangers and say the whole “My name is ____, I’m from ____, and I’m a ______ major.” I remember it like it was yesterday. “Hey, ya’ll. My name is Courtney, I’m from Taylor County, GA, and I’m a Child and Family Development major.” Then my professor laughed, and the guy in the front row raised his hand and said the five words that have followed me ever since… “There’s a major for that?” The class laughed and I sat down. I didn’t get what was so funny. Since that day, I’ve heard so many snarky comments, stereotypes, and just plain ignorant thoughts about Child and Family Development majors… and I think it’s time to clear those up.

“Wait, there’s a major for that?”

Yes, yes there is. There’s a major for art. There’s a major for writing. There’s a major for history. Of course there’s a major for studying the development of children and of families.

“So basically, you’re gonna be a glorified babysitter.”

Nice one, as a matter of fact that one’s so funny that I can’t even laugh. Babysitting is for high schoolers, which later turns into being a nanny for some young adults in college. Babysitting is helping a child with homework, making them snacks, and playing games with them. In CHFD, childcare is so much more. Child care in our case is learning how to challenge the minds of children while providing them with developmentally appropriate activities. It’s observing their behavior and catching the little things that others might not see. It’s being a person that the children and their parents can come to in times of concern, in times of confusion, and even just to check up on how things are going. I’ve been a babysitter before, but the day I started college and began learning more about CHFD is the day I became a child care provider.

“You have an easy major, way to take the easy way out.”

Easy? Okay, yeah. Why don’t you take the time to learn all of the cognitive, emotional, and physical milestones of children – throughout their lives? Oh, have you ever heard of Piaget and Erikson? Try memorizing all of their theories to the point that you can apply them to any scenario given. Don’t know what a practicum is? HA, must be nice. You might have numerous math problems, chemistry labs, and pages of papers to write… and those can all be difficult, I know. However, that doesn’t make it okay to belittle the things we do, the things we learn. Everyone has to learn math, science, and writing at some point in their lives… but not everyone has to learn the things that we do.

“I guess that’s what you do when you can’t get into nursing school.”

Nursing school? I never wanted to be a nurse. I never even considered it. Nurses and CHFD majors are extremely different. Do your research before you talk to me, please.

“You’re basically majoring in wanting to be a mom, right?”

Do I want to be a mom? Yeah, maybe someday. Is that my major? No. It’s not. CHFD is about learning how a person’s mind works. It’s about knowing how they develop – physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively. It’s about taking the time to understand what is going on in their minds throughout their life. It’s not about being a parent, it’s about being a resource for parents, families, and children to help them understand themselves and each other in a more effective way.

“Why wouldn’t you just be a teacher?”

Okay, this one gets cut a little slack… but not much. CHFD is a wide range of development, with emphasis areas that can be applied. Yeah, sure a CHFD major with a Child Development emphasis could be a child care teacher, but that’s not what everyone of us wants to do with our lives. There are three emphasis areas. Child Development, for the ones of us who want to work in more of a classroom/childcare setting. Family Services, for the crew who wants to work in settings like DEFACS, counseling, domestic violence clinics, senior programs, ect. Then there’s child life, for those of us who have a passion for kids in hospitals, who work to ensure that no child is left afraid or unsure of what’s going on. So, no. I wouldn’t just be a teacher.

“Good luck being broke for the rest of your life.”

Thanks for the well wishes, my friend. I wish you good luck as well. Just remember, one day… you’ll have kids. You’ll put them in childcare – in the hands of one of us. They’ll need guidance one day at school, and they’ll walk down the hallway to the counselor’s office – to meet with one of us. They’ll have their tonsils out and they’ll be comforted – by one of us. So you say that we’ll be broke for the rest of our lives, but the things we do for children and families… well, you can’t put a price on that.

It’s been almost two years, and I’ve come to understand that I chose a major that is desperately underappreciated. We are a small group, I will admit that, but that doesn’t make us inferior to any other major. If anything, it makes us stronger. Through being in such a small major, I have formed friendships that I wouldn’t ever have otherwise. I walk into a new classroom every semester, and it never fails that I have at least one person to count on to help me study, compare notes with, and to relate with on former professors. Our small class sizes allow me to have a relationship with my professors, they know me by name, and semesters later they still call me by name in the hallway.

So, next time someone tells you their major, whether it be CHFD, art, writing, nursing, engineering, etc… respect it. To them, their major is more than just a set of classes they’re taking, it’s the one thing that they have chosen to spend the rest of their life doing. Ask questions if you want, try and understand what exactly it means, but never laugh in someone’s face. Everyone is different, and as for us over in the CHFD building… we’re just like the rest of you. We’re studying our butts off for exams, we’re heading into two-hour labs, we’re writing papers, and we’re having mental breakdowns.

We’re following our dreams, just like you.