A to Z Blog Challenge ~ K

The word for today is KIDS. This was the first word that I thought of since I work with kids and have on and off for over 30 years. YIKES! That is a crazy thought!

My very first job, back in 1980, was working in a day care center. I was 16 and I was in the "work / study" program in high school. This program allowed you to get out of school early (1:30pm, I think) so that you could work.

I worked in the afternoons from 2:00 - 6:30pm as a "relief" teacher for one of the 2 year old teachers that got to go home when I came in. I LOVED this job! I had a small class of 8 little 2 year olds. Here's a couple of photos from "back in the day" ---- (Not all of the kids are pictured)

This one was taken on Halloween. I'm in my "Black Cat" costume.

I worked at this day care for about 3 years. My favorite part was when I worked in the Summer with the "big kids". We took the kids on all kinds of field trips and did some fun activities with them!

I took a break from the "day care world" for a few years to try my hand at the "corporate world". I didn't like that so much and ended up going back into day care until I became pregnant with Dtr. #1 in 1986.

I was very grateful to be able to stay at home and be a stay-at-home-mommy until about 1996, when Dtr. #2 turned 4 years old and started preschool. I didn't go back to day care, tho. This time I worked in the "retail world". It was fun, but I missed being at home.

In 1999, I returned to work with kids, but worked as an Teaching Assistant at Dtr. #2's Elementary School. I did this for 4 years and loved it.

Since 2002, I have worked in and out of the "preschool world", where I currently work.

As you can see..... KIDS are (and have been!) a big part of my life.