Teaching Kids

When I was a little girl my father died and my mother had to get a job. Fortunately my grandfather had retired and was able to move in with us to care for us kids while our mother was at work. There were no daycare centers or after school care back then.

Throughout my childhood my mother kept telling me I should become a teacher when I grew up so I could be home with my kids whenever they weren't in school. (She had no idea how much work teachers must do when the students aren't there.)

I thought it would be stupid to choose a career in case some husband I might never have might die and I'd have to care for kids I might never have, so I completely ruled out the possibility of becoming a teacher.

I never got a degree in teaching (though I do have Early Childhood Education units) but ended up teaching kids even though it wasn't in the kind of classroom situations I expected.

After working in the dorms at California School for the Deaf for many years as a counselor and Instructional Counselor, I had a preschool family daycare home for about seven years, worked as a substitute teacher for all ages for about another six years, and taught preschool for about four more years.

If I had followed my mother's suggestion and gotten a credential to teach elementary school I probably would have made more money, but I enjoyed working with preschoolers and in Special Education classes.

I wasn't a widow, but just loved the kids.