At the Heart of It All Work is Child's Play

I love my job because it allows me to work with so many awesome children. Kids are incredible. They’re always so genuine, and they say the darndest things. It’s always entertaining; they come up with hilarious stories and expressions. Children have a great sense of humor, embracing play and silliness that adults often end up losing in turn for seriousness. There’s a time and place for seriousness—it’s not inherently bad—but adults often seem to forget there’s a time and place for play, creativity, imagination, and silliness. Life isn’t meant to be lived so seriously. It turns rather dull when you suck the play out of it. Children recognize this and are experts at making the most of life. While my job has changed over the years, providing childcare has always been the core.

My journey started with babysitting my cousins, who always made me laugh. One of my cousins had a monkey robe he’d wear to bed, and he often decided to embody the role of an “evil monkey.” I remember the time we went to another cousin’s birthday party, and he began spinning around in the pool, singling me out with his “evil monkey” smirk and laughing manically. He laughed quietly so others wouldn’t hear him, and it was so difficult not to laugh out loud at his antics (no one else knew about him being an “evil monkey” or what he was attempting to do in the pool). A different afternoon my friend and I took another cousin to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 in theaters, and upon seeing a picture of the person my friend was dating at the time, he stared into her eyes, declaring, “He needs a haircut. Dump him unless he gets a haircut like mine.” He then dubbed the guy “Gunther” and proceeded to create his own renditions of popular songs at the time, “I knew you were trouble when you walked in. Dump Gun—ther-er-er,” and “I’m having a bad, bad day because I met Gunther.” My friend and I still burst into laughing fits to this day when thinking about this incident. Most of my cousins are pretty grown now; my cousin Caleb, who I used to babysit regularly, graduated from high school this past May. While they no longer need me like before, it’s still fun to hang out with my cousins, and babysitting my cousins led to me babysitting for other families, too.

I babysit for quite a few families in the area, the bulk of the families having met me through working before/after care in the schools. The first week I started working before/after care had a single mother requesting I watch her daughter a few nights after aftercare concluded while she took her night classes. They’re such a sweet family! I spent nights with her daughter for years, watching her grow up; they’d invite me to all sorts of events: her 2nd grade Wax Museum project, school concerts, art exhibits. I was even invited to her mother’s wedding years later. They became a second family for me, and I helped them make it through tough times as they had moved out here an hour and half away from all of their family; they knew no one out here, and I helped keep them afloat. We had so much fun with arts and crafts, creating slime, going to the local children’s museum, playing with my cat, sharing dinner with my family, and just being silly. They ended up moving away when she was in 4th grade. It was a bummer, but they finally were able to move a house of their own rather than a small apartment. Last October I was in the middle of watching anime with my cat when the doorbell unexpectedly rang. I was a bit perplexed and opened the door to find them happily waiting to see me; the now 5th grader had begged her mom to bring me a cupcake since they were in the area. Her mom explained to me that she hadn’t remembered exactly where I lived but that as they were driving by, unsure of how to find me, they noticed my sticker car—they had become excited, guided back to me by my infamous car. We were so excited to see each other again, and they invited me over for dinner. Even if our paths end up diverging, my job has allowed me to create lasting, lifelong bonds with families.

I love the relationships I’m able to build through childcare. So many children adore me. They’re always excited to see me and pleading for me to babysit. They often beg their parents for me to babysit. I swear, their excitement is contagious. One night when I went to babysit a family of two boys, an 8-year-old and 3-year-old, as soon as the boys saw me, they broke out into huge smiles, shouting my name. They started trying to do flips, do handstands, and roll across the whole house. The boys were so excited to see me, with the 3-year-old declaring, "You need to come over to my house every day." When their parents returned, their dad remarked how obvious their attempts to show off for me were. The boys talked to me nonstop with the 3-year-old constantly trying to jump on me in excitement; there were tickle attacks and silliness. They’re always so thrilled to see me, even if I happen to be walking about with other children I’m babysitting—I still remember the day I had been walking back from a local shop with another girl I babysit, and the boys saw me, breaking out into the largest smiles possible. They wanted to hear all about what I had been up to, and the girl, humorously enough, puffed her chest out in pride, stating how I was babysitting her, that I was the best babysitter. Their families are friends as the oldest is in the same grade as the girl—there’s been a bit of competition between them to see who would get me as a sitter first, funnily enough. As such, the other family will try to ask months in advance to secure me as a sitter. Turns out I’m a highly sought-after sitter.

Another family that I babysit regularly for has an older brother and younger sister. They moved out to the area when the daughter was in kindergarten and the son in 2nd grade; they took to me instantly when the met me in before/after care. They decided that I’m their forever sitter. Their parents told me that the kids no longer want to see the sitter that they grew up with. The pair declared that I’m “the best babysitter EVER in the whole world” and insist that it’s an irrefutable fact. I still remember when I recently brought them birthday presents; their faces lit up with delight merely by seeing me, but they demanded to know who the gifts were for when they spotted the presents. I jokingly retorted, "Oh, these? These are for me, obviously. I'm going to take them home and open them. It'll be lots of fun." They were unconvinced, insisting that they weren’t for me, so I relented and handed them the gifts. They broke out into the largest grins, tearing into the gifts with glee; their dad walked into the room, spotting the carnage the kids left in their wake, and with a shake of the head remarked that I was setting the bar extremely high.

The girl declared, "You're the betterest!! Better than the best—you are my favorite babysitter!!"

Their dad noted, "She's our only babysitter. Well, aside from Miss Molly, but that's only if Miss Jessica is busy; we always book her in advance, though."

"Miss Molly can be the SIDEKICK. We don't need to talk about her. How did you know that this is what I've ALWAYS wanted????" the girl proclaimed.

Her brother chimed in, "I got so many cool cards! Zacian and Zamazenta! And a textured Mewtwo EX! Thank you!!"

Later that evening the two were immersed in watching some video; I snatched the kitty snow cone plush I gave her, launched it in the air, and announced, "Kitty attack!!" It smacked her square in the face, startling her. She then erupted in laughter. I remarked, "It's a good thing I didn't throw an actual kitty. There would be claws and anger... It would be a very hairy situation." She laughingly shook her head at me.

They love to hang out with me, and the daughter loves to create art and create in the kitchen; we often spend nights on crafts and trying something new in terms of food, mainly desserts. She can’t wait to have her own YouTube channel. One night the girl wanted to make trail mix to snack on after dinner when watching a movie. She added all sorts of things (popcorn, pretzels, marshmallows, chocolate chips, etc.). She then declared, "And now for the finishing touch!" before pulling out baking powder. I tried not to burst out laughing and inquired, "Baking powder?" She looked at me disgusted and insisted, "NO!" She then added sprinkles instead. Sometimes, her creations don’t look the best—I still remember the night she was creating ice cream sundaes for her and her brother. Her brother took one look at it (all the items she added left it looking like some sickly brown color) and gave it a hard pass. She tasted it, declaring it delicious. Looks can be deceiving, but I don’t blame him for passing on it. These kids are a hoot. I have so many stories with all my shared experiences with them.

Another family I have a plethora of stories with is a family consisting of two brothers; I started watching them when they were in 2nd and 4th grade. It’s hard to believe that they’re in 7th and 9th grade now. I have spent the last few summers with them and even acted as a tutor for them while they were forced into virtual learning. I pick them up from school now with the return of in-person school. They’re super interesting individuals. The older of the two is a super fan for the franchise of Sonic, Mario, Pokémon, Disney, and all things The Nightmare Before Christmas. His memory is a steel trap with a mind like an encyclopedia. His younger brother adores animals, reading, swimming, and baking. He’s a devoted fan to Terraria. They both love sharing their newest discoveries with me, urging me to play games with them.

Lately, they’ve had me play Animal Crossing New Horizons, and we’ve created new outfits, flags, and town tunes inspired by InuYasha. They are a bit obsessed about InuYasha ever since they learned about it thanks to me; I mentioned once that there’s a clip in one episode (Season 2, Episode 24: "InuYasha's Soul, Devoured”) where an old man essentially makes a Life Alert reference. They burst into laughter and immediately checked it out on Netflix. I can’t tell you how many times they’ve re-watched the clip. They began to inquire all about InuYasha, asking about different characters, the storyline, other funny moments, if there are memes, etc. They randomly will start watching “InuYasha Best/Funniest Moments” videos and suddenly I’ll hear Kagome yelling at InuYasha to sit or Jaken lamenting that “there are no boats—unless, you count the ones over there, of course.” I burst into laughter each time. Our conversations about the anime led to discussing commercials and how Adult Swim aired one of Kagome and InuYasha exclaiming each other’s names; they didn’t believe it existed. Once I showed them the proof via YouTube, they were shocked speechless. Once that wore off, though, they thought it was hilarious. They love discussing InuYasha memes that the InuYasha group shares (the recent favorite is Every time Sesshomaru sees InuYasha--Sesshomaru: You've yee'd your last haw"). One post depicted the “wasp cup” from Starbucks, claiming that it was Naraku’s order, and another was about Naraku’s favorite restaurant, which prompted them to discuss on the drive home from school who would meet Naraku for lunch at the restaurant (they decided that Oogie Boogie, Weaville Underwood, and Bugsy would meet him there). They are so animated when they discuss all things InuYasha with me.

This summer when they returned from vacation, the older of the two gushed that he saw the Season 2 of YashaHime trailer (the sequel to InuYasha that began airing fall of 2020). He questioned me on if I had seen it, hoping to get my insight. He was excited that Kagome and InuYasha were coming back for real (not just being in flashbacks like in season 1). He proceeded to show me different anime he could watch on their TV, and I pointed out that one of the anime he could watch was YashaHime, which he hadn't noticed. He was surprised but excited, exclaiming, "That's great! That's the best fit for me to watch since it's the sequel to InuYasha!" He cracks me up; he sole factor for determining whether it was worth watching was the fact that I had discussed it with him before.

We’ve discussed a variety of other anime, mainly funny moments in them. One of their favorite characters to talk about is Miya from SK8 The Infinity; he’s hilarious, and they dubbed him “best character,” insisting if someone doesn’t like Miya, there’s something wrong with them. One day we discussed the "I'll take a potato chip and eat it!" clip from Death Note. The boys thought it was hilarious; the elder brother then inquired, "Miss Jessica, remember the anime laugh?" As anime has quite a wide variety of content and laughs, it took me a minute to process what he was specifically referring to. The laugh popped into my head (just the sound at first), and then I remembered it was Hak's laugh from Yona of the Dawn--I showed them that clip back during one spring break. His memory is seriously flawless, and it leaves me in awe.

Truly, his memory is something else. You might just say something in passing, but months later he'll bring it up, inquiring if you remember ______. He does this with the Sakeru gummy commercial featuring “Long Long Man;” he makes so many jokes about the rabbit costume Long Long Man wore (unsurprisingly, the rabbit ears were super long—he had me change my island flag on Animal Crossing to the Long Long Man bunny for a time). His favorite stories to do this for are about Iris (Iris is my now 3-year-old niece); he asks time and time again about the trips to Kansas City. He especially loves the stories involving Iris and ice cream, like the time when Iris saw the sculpture of ice cream at the Crown Center and ran straight to it so she could hug and kiss it. He adores the stories how Iris refused to leave without the inflatable cow bouncer, when Iris ran laps around the tables at Russell Stovers, when my sister ordered food from Fritz and thought that she'd get two bags/containers of onion rings only to receive two literal onion rings, etc. He also enjoys the stories about when my family went to Sea World quite a few years back; his favorite is the "Magic Seahorse" one. We rode Journey to Atlantis quite a few times, and my dad started chanting, "Magic Seahorse! Magic Seahorse! Magic Seahorse!" (there was a seahorse that would guide the way). He ended up getting my siblings, me, and random people on the ride to chant. He was so enamored by the story that he wanted to see the magic seahorse, and we discovered that the seahorse's name is Hermes. He’ll ask about stories about my friends and me, like the time my best friend started playing “Never Gonna Give You Up” while walking around town with me, which earned glares from people driving past. He tries to “Rick Roll” me ever since that story, but it never bothers me (it’s not a bad song); his attempts usually involve various hidden/secret Rick Roll videos, which, apparently, there's a whole playlist. They love all the stories about my new kitten’s antics, begging to meet little Tsuki and play with her.

They love playing with animals and often play with their black lab, Pearl. One day the younger of the two decided he was a new Pokémon and that he had to “battle” Pearl. He declared, "I'm a Pokémon. I'm Blanket. Blanket is placed in attack position. Blanket used Swallow. Pearl is defeated." He then proceeded to attack my shoe as the "blanket.” Next, he decided he evolved, explaining that it was similar to Kangaskhan since his evolution granted him a "brother blanket." He then proceeded to keep throwing the other blanket across the room, shouting, "Go, my brother!!!" Some of his attacks reminded me of Mimikyu and its Z move. It was very spontaneous and unexpected but incredibly hilarious!

The boys love Pokémon; it’s one of the first things we bonded over, and they love to play the various Pokémon games with me. Over the summer while his younger brother was at swim practice, we often went to the park to discuss Pokémon combinations. He often wanted to come up with Pokémon names for restaurants; some of the ones we came up with included Alcreamie Queen and Toxel Bell. They also know that I love art, which led to us working on mash-ups/combinations of Pokémon with other things. They really enjoyed the Spideysaur drawing I created after watching an early episode of Pokémon Journeys. We created this long list of potential candidates, and we started sketching out some of the ideas: Kermit the Croag (Croagunk and Kermit), The Magic School Bug (Charjabug and The Magic School Bus), and Brumander (Charmander and Bruni). It was a lot of fun, and it inspired me to create some new art pieces thanks to the brainstorm of ideas. It’s always fun to create art with them.

Over the past summer the younger brother went to Media Camp. He loved working in the media room; one day he arrived to pick up like 10 minutes late--he apologized for the delay, admitting he had been in the zone in the media room and hadn't realized what time it was. I wasn't bothered by it; his brother and I had happily chatted while we waited. I was glad he enjoyed the camp and had the chance to tap into his creativity. He's quite the creative individual, but he doesn't always pursue creative outlets. He was incredibly proud of his "Dorito Rain" piece he made--it was even feature on the camp's webpage, and his friends all wanted a copy of it. It’s a really neat art piece, and my friends adore it, too.

Over the summer on weeks the boys don’t have camp, their parents want them to do some daily work in their summer workbooks. They dislike their summer work, but they will complete it with a bit of grumbling. One day the younger brother’s assignment was to write a Limerick poem in the AABBA format. He insisted it couldn't be done, so I decided to write an example for him. I got a kick out of my example, but he didn’t share the sentiment.

“Doing summer work is so much fun.

On my list it's number one.

I want to do it all the time.

Oh, the joy is so sublime.

Summer work is second to none.”

Once he read the poem, he glared at me, crumpling the paper I wrote it on into a ball before tearing it apart. He was quite peeved that I had the gall to write such a “horrid” poem, emphasizing how he did not agree with it. I pointed out that he didn't have to agree with it or even write one like it; I just wrote it to prove it could be done (and because I'd get a kick out of his reaction). He was still irritated about the poem, but he got over it fairly quickly. He’s a good sport (even if he doesn’t like the assignment or your point).

He’s a rather spontaneous individual. Just last week he came down the stairs, proclaiming he was the “Sock Man.” He reached the bottom of the stairs, putting himself in this peculiar crouching attack pose. His mom asked for a hug before she took his brother to school. His response: "Only if you can catch me first!" He darted out of the room before declaring no one could catch the Sock Man. He conceded after a moment, giving his mom a hug (she wasn't going to chase him). He then proceeded to explain the story behind Sock Man. One day at swim practice they were doing part of their "land routine" on the track. It had just rained, and his shoes were apparently bothering him. He decided to take them off and run only in his socks. He thought it was hilarious that he was faster than everyone while running in his socks. He'd pass them all, laughing and stating, "No one can beat Sock Man!" He said they all looked confused by his declaration but that no one could keep up. I love this family; they’re a fun bunch, full of personality and humor.

My career journey has allowed me to meet all sorts of characters. One of my favorites is a 1st grader from student teaching. He was quite the unique individual; he had been coloring with a crayon before suddenly looking at me. He then proceeded to dub me “Melon” (after the melon crayon he was using); I could have gotten upset about this, but I decided to roll with it. I dubbed him “water,” announcing that together we were watermelon! He thought it was hilarious and would often brag about how he was smarter than me, that he was smart, smart, smart. As a joke, I bought a Smart Water and wrote two additional smarts before giving it to him; his mother thought it was hysterical (she was a 5th grade teacher across the hall). We joked a lot together; it made student teaching all the more enjoyable.

Working before/after care has been a lot of fun. I often got to spend mornings drawing with the usual coloring crew at an elementary school. They had me create numerous original coloring sheets for them. We had quite the growing collection of “puffies,” and the boys had me create “Breakfast Shark.” Breakfast Shark is always hungry, and they loved having me have him get into all these unusual situations for the coloring sheets. They were never short of requests. We often had fun conversing and being silly in general. Two of the girls loved to create stories for my mom; one story used predictive text to create my favorite about the “Crimson Tide of the New Year.” A lot of it was nonsense, but the story began with a bunch of walkie talkies. Most of them were “dead” because the bakery tossed them in the oven (not the baker but the bakery itself). The bakery was arrested. This event began the “Crimson Tide of the New Year.” This tide was a new bread ceremony where the bread was crimson, due to the walkie talkies. A walkie recorder held a funeral for the deceased walkie talkies. Sharks surrounded the crimson bread that was swept out to sea. This all transpired on planet Tacocat. My mom loved all their tales, and they always kept things interesting—it was hard to feel exhausted when they’d concoct all these strange and silly stories that left me giggling.

I still remember the morning a 5th grader willingly played Pretty Pretty Princess with a group of kindergarten girls. He was so in tune with himself. Social "norms" were of no concern to him; he was used to playing with his preschool sister. Wearing all the jewelry, he announced, "Aren't I beautiful? Who wants to play Pretty Pretty Princess with me?" A group of older girls began snickering and seemingly wanting to dim his shine. Their antics didn't deter him in the least; he confidently declared, "I have a picture of me in all the blue jewelry; I'll show it to all the boys in my class. I don't care. I'm so beautiful!!" He's so empowering. His soul is truly stunning, shining brilliantly. I love that he didn’t allow others to influence or dictate his path. He truly is a role model, not just for his peers but for adults. We can get so caught up "adulting" that we forget to breathe, smell the roses, and have fun, losing touch with our inner child. People get caught up worrying about what others believe. This 5th grader is an excellent reminder to be true to yourself and pay no mind to what others might think; have fun and savor life.

Afternoons were spent at after care at a preschool. The preschool kiddos are just as entertaining and interesting as the elementary-aged ones. I still remember how they’d love to run around with toy animals stuffed in their jackets on the playground or how one little boy loved to run around with a cone on his head. They can be so random and laughter-inspiring. During snack time one afternoon we were watching Story Bots. The kiddos were very into the episode; it happened to be about colds/viruses. When the virus appeared, announcing that they would infect MILLIONS, one of the little boys declared, “I can’t watch!!!” He then proceeded to cover his face with his sandwich, which would have been convincing if he hadn’t eaten a giant hole in the middle of it, leaving essentially only the crusts behind. It would have been more convincing if he had closed his eyes, but, no, he proceeded to watch the episode through his crust window.

My coworkers and I had so much fun playing and joking with the preschoolers. One evening when the last kid was gathering her belongings to go home, she looked at me and declared, “YOU can’t come to my house. You’d just eat all my food!!” My coworker asked if she could go to her house, and at first the little girl agreed to it. My coworker went on to explain, “I’ll eat all your food, I’ll sleep in your bed, I’ll play with all your toys, I’ll use all your hot water—” The little girl interrupted, “That’s fine, I don’t even like hot water.” My coworker continued, “I’ll use all your COLD water.” This resulted in the little girl erupting, “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” She had second thoughts about my coworker going to her house and looked at my third coworker, dramatically announcing, “Only YOU can come to my house. They will eat all my food, and then I’d die!!!” My coworker explained that she could go to the store to get more food. The little girl looked at my coworker and announced, “You can have Goldfish and pretzels, but that’s it.” My coworker pled her case and managed to convince the girl to allow her to eat chicken, fruits, and vegetables, too. At this point, her mom arrived, causing the little girl to run to the doors, shouting, “MOM! They can’t come to our house! They’ll just eat all my food!!!” The mom thought it was humorous, doing her utmost best not to laugh. The little girl forgot her backpack on the floor, however, so I slung it over my shoulder and playfully remarked, “I have this awesome new backpack! I can’t wait to take it home!” Noticing said “new” backpack, the little girl screamed, “AAAAAHHHHH! Give that back!” She then happily went home with her mom. My coworkers and I erupted in laughter. Working with kids is always interesting. There’s never a dull moment and can be so entertaining.

I worked with so many different kids over the years, through practicum, student teaching, volunteering at a local children’s museum, babysitting, and working in multiple different schools. It’s been so much fun. I wouldn’t trade it for anything; the children truly make each day worthwhile. Some days have been extra long (before care, teaching assistant, after care, and then babysitting leading to well over 12-hour workdays), but the children I’ve worked with bring a light to my life that could never be replaced. Even if the days are long, they always create a sense of fun that a lot of other workplaces lack. Every day might not be “perfect,” but each day with the kids is enjoyable and entertaining—my friends love hearing all of my stories, laughing so hard their sides hurt. There’s never a dull moment when children are involved. My job allows me to have a positive impact on the future generation and playfully have fun with them in the process. I get to create art, play with pets, create art, try new things, share crystal, and make lasting memories with them. No two days or experiences are identical, and the children are always genuine; they bring authenticity to whatever they do. In a world where people often forget how to be true to themselves, children bring a soul-soothing presence to my life that’s irreplaceable. No two children are identical, and I cherish them for that very reason. I look forward to all my new bonds, experiences, and memories I’ll get to share with them!