The Funny Thing About Kids

I just think kids are the neatest. I'm obsessed with kids, and though I know of several who do NOT share my sentiments in the slightest, and if I could spend all day with them I would.

Babysitting has always been one of my favorite things to do, as far as making money. It was my first "real job" at the age of 13, and I never really stopped doing it. There are so many interesting things that go into it, and no kid or family or house is ever the same.

But you knew that.

They're so cool, though. One of my favorite kids is named Emma. She's 7 going on about 25. She's brilliant and I love it. But she's still a kid, ya know? Obviously, she's in elementary school, but she's at an age where she has a VERY defined personality, and it never ceases to blow me away. I've spent so much time with her that I hardly feel like the babysitter any more. I feel more like her sister or something. I even adore her parents.

What has recently struck me, though, is that kids at the age of like 4 or 5 to about 8 or 9 can be pretty skeptical about new people. When they first meet you, they're super shy and awkward because they don't know you and they're trying to do 2 things: they want to see how interactive you get with them, and they want to test you to see how much they can get away with. It's a simple fact of life.

So sometimes they won't talk. And even though they have to get used to you, you have to get used to them. But man once you do, they have some of the funniest things to say, and some of the most interesting insights you'll ever hear. Because they have a very limited filter and have only just begun to develop social skills.

This girl can talk my ear off about "highly intellectual" things (which in all honesty I have no clue about sometimes), and then go straight from that to being incredibly silly and laughing her head off, and then to being sweet as she can be, all the way back to running around being crazy again!

Tonight I got the chance to babysit two kids whose parents I'd never met before, but they were in my Campus Minister's small group, so I figured they'd be nice, and of course they were. Their kids were 3 years old and I think 11 months or so. THEY WERE PRECIOUS. I was with them for a short amount of time, but I got play with trains with the 3-year-old boy who could talk forever if I'd let him. He seemed pretty emotionally stable for a child, although that was probably just the day. And then the little girl - good grief she was all over the place! In the cutest way possible, all she wanted to do was CRAWL and never stop! She was so smiley and kept clapping which was adorable. She did have a tendency to get into everything, though, and when she got in it she would put whatever it was in her mouth. Including my hair. And necklace. And glasses. BUT SHE WAS SO CUTE (and I didn't have to change her diaper, which is always a plus). No tears, no injuries, no tantrums, no dirty diapers - I am a happy babysitter!

One of my favorite things about watching kids is that everything they do is unexpected. You have to be on your toes, and HIGHLY caffeinated (which I was, luckily). It's the one area in my life where I'm not lazy (because I CAN'T be!). Every age of kid is something different, and it's so much fun for me to figure out those different stages of life, meet them there, and roll with it. In the last week I've interacted with crawling babies, semi-talking toddlers, significantly more worded toddlers, elementary school kids, and middle schoolers (not to mention those crazy college kids). It's a blast. I almost feel as though I should rethink my career path... Alas, I do still want to teach middle school math.

I just think kids are hilarious. They require a lot of attention and energy, but we have SO much to learn from them.

&