I decided last summer to take a job working with kids at a camp because I needed money and it was the only place that would hire me. It's funny how that simple decision is a huge reason as to why I decided that I want to be a teacher and work with kids for the rest of my life.
Playing games with, talking to and just being around children for eight hours a day, five days a week has really taught me a lot about myself and my own life. People are right when they say that kids are awesome judges of character and have this weird insight and outlook on life, its kind of an amazing thing to witness.
Being around these kids has taught me that when we grow up we honestly don't change that much. We all laugh when two little girls decide not to be friends when one of them makes a rude remark to the other, but when you sit back and think about it, I have lost friends over similar situations. It seems ridiculous but when you can watch a six-year-old re-friend someone who has hurt them and then you realize you weren't even able to do that as an adult, it makes you rethink what you're doing with your life if a child is more mature than you.
It's not just being able to forgive people easily, though. I had a girl just last week legitimately tell me that she decided to forgive her friend because "Summer is short and I just want to have fun at camp with her, and she is more important than silly fighting." My jaw just about hit the floor at that point, because she was so right. This life is so short, far too short to allow yourself or the people you care about to be unhappy, and it doesn't take a lot to make sure everyone is happy.
The last thing that I've learned from my job is how much of our resilience we lose as we get older. I don't just mean that a kid can take a kickball to the face and be fine two seconds later -- although that is impressive too -- I mean how I have met kids whose home life is absolutely awful, kids who have no friends at camp and kids who have severe ADHD or ADD, but most of them are these amazing little balls of joy. Maybe it's because they don't understand a lot of what's going on, but I don't think that's it; I think kids are just programmed to be happy no matter what, which is something we could all appreciate in our lives.
