When I tell people that I babysit, they picture me making up stories of how Barbie and Ken met in their Barbie playhouse. They picture me sitting at a table blissfully coloring stick-figures and indulging on bowls of mac and cheese and Pop Tarts, sticking to the all-carb diet of childhood like a professional.

And yes, I do all of those things—but babysitting also means that I rock the child back to sleep who woke up from a bad dream. Babysitting means that I stay with the child in their room when it is dark, and they are scared. Babysitting means that I wipe away tears and replace them with smiles.

Being a babysitter isn't the easiest job, but being a babysitter has taught me so much about the world, and myself.

Some of the most innocent concepts of this world, such as peace, equality and happiness are best understood, demonstrated and taught by children.

In a time of my life where I was hitting the 6 a.m. grind to get to school, learning who to trust in my friend group and struggling to survive in a world that will eat you alive regardless of your college degree or who you are as a person, I had started to lose hope in the world.

Sure, there are those cute stories on Tumblr and other social media of the do-gooders and the Mother Theresas out there who generously give time, money and love on a daily basis, but one look at the headlines had me convinced that goodness was few and far between.

Once I started babysitting, I saw the hope I needed to see. I saw the child who wanted to give her toys away to the children who didn't have any. I saw the child who wanted to make a doll for those with open-heart surgery scars so they wouldn't feel alone. I saw the siblings who wanted to tell the world about Jesus.

I saw kids who didn't know what racism was, didn't understand what hearing on the news that someone was sexually assaulted meant and didn't understand how gender could be perceived as something negative in our world full of gender differences.

Being a babysitter has made me want to be a change in the world in order to give the kids I babysit a better future. Babysitting has shown me the innocent beginning of a life and has given me the incentive to protect that sweet life at all costs.

To all the parents I babysit for: thank you for letting me impact your child's life, and for letting them impact mine.

To the kids I babysit for: keep dreaming, because the world needs more people in the world who believe they can change it.