Nurse Days

Wednesday, February 23, 2000

Today I spent my clinical time at Head Start (from 8:30-11:30 a.m.) and the college's childcare center (12:45-3:30 p.m.). Another student (Nina) was there with me. She was uncomfortable at first because she's not used to being around kids, but she loosened up quickly and we both had a good time.

We were supposed to pick one child from each place to write our assignments about, and at Head Start I chose Amy,  a 4-year-old African-American girl. This kid is sharp as a tack. She already knows all her numbers, colors, shapes and letters. She was able to put together a 100-piece puzzle with minimal assistance, and she had me wrapped around her finger within minutes--and she knew it! She called me "Shanner" all day..."Shanner, come here and help me put this puzzle together." "Shanner, come sit by me." "Shanner, I want you to play with me." About halfway through the day I heard her tell another child, "Shanner does everything I says." I got a good giggle out of that one.

One thing I noticed about Head Start is how much the kids love their teachers. They hang on their legs and jostle for position at every opportunity. This made me think of how lucky the parents are to have such loving, attentive people watching their children.

At the childcare center I picked Christian, a 3-year-old Native-American boy. This child has some serious problems paying attention and listening to his teachers. It took his teacher 1½  hours just to get him to lay his head down on his pillow. He squirmed and wiggled and talked and stood up...just watching him exhausted me. Finally, after much patience and determination on the teacher's part, Christian fell asleep. However, the peace and quiet was short-lived. Christian was up and about within an hour.

I have the utmost respect for those who choose to be teachers or daycare workers. The persons with the required patience in such a stressful environment are few and far between. I noticed that the children here didn't respect or cling to their teachers the way they did at Head Start. I didn't see any attempt at closeness by any of the children here, but I did notice a higher level of frustration in the trachers. Perhaps there's a little bit of "burn out" going on. I'm not sure.

All in all I had a very good day. I love the honesty that children possess (they say whatever's on their mind) and their innocence, but I can see how it would start to take its toll after a while. I don't have the patience to spend every day here like these people do. One day was just right.