Kids can bring a lot of joy into your life, whether you are a parent, an aunt, uncle, or even someone who works with children as part of your job. You can learn a lot from them, and they can learn a lot from you, too. They can provide you with different challenges, and you can help them to develop and watch them grow as individuals finding their place in the world. Yes, children can bring a lot of happiness and hope into your life, and if you like being around kids, perhaps the following careers could be perfect for you?
Teacher
One of the most obvious career paths you can follow if you like working with kids is becoming a teacher. Whether you choose to work in a high school with young adults, or at the kindergarten and elementary level, these roles will certainly offer you a lot. Teaching is a stable career with educators being in such high demand, there is the opportunity to progress to more senior roles within schools and other educational institutions, and even working for the government to help with the education policies. You will be challenged every day, but you’ll also get great satisfaction in seeing your students thrive and achieve their goals. If you’re interested in making a career move into teaching, consider online study as this might work around your current lifestyle better. Many people study online to become elementary school teachers, as well as obtain their teaching degree to work at various levels of education. You could even choose to work as a private tutor if you would prefer to work outside of traditional educational institutions and be self-employed.
Childcare
If you like working with kids, but you’re not interested in working in education necessarily, then moving into childcare roles might be a better fit. You could work as a private nanny for a family, and this can be a very rewarding role as you will forge close bonds with the children and the family that you work for. A typical day as a private nanny will include duties such as helping the kids get washed and dressed, changing babies’ diapers, food preparation for the kids, doing laundry, taking the kids to kindergarten, school, or any clubs that they might belong to and arranging playdates. You’ll also be responsible for doing fun and educational activities at home with them, such as arts and crafts, reading, being active with them in the backyard or the local park, and so on. If you don’t want to work solely for one family, you could look at getting a job in a day-care center where you will have similar duties, but be responsible for looking after larger groups of children with the other day-care center employees.
Pediatrics
Another very rewarding job that allows you to work closely with children is working in a pediatrics ward at a healthcare center or hospital. This is an ideal job for those who are interested in working in medicine, whether you choose to become a pediatrics doctor or nurse, occupational therapy, or another relevant healthcare role. You will need to get a relevant degree to work in whatever healthcare role interests you the most, but working in pediatrics can be very rewarding as you will be helping children recover from illness and injury. It will, however, be very tough on occasion, as unfortunately, you might have patients who are terminally ill. This can be very upsetting, so it’s important to keep this in mind before you move into a role like this and decide whether or not that is something you feel you could cope with.
Child Psychologist
Mental health is just as important as physical health, and if you have always had an interest in psychology and psychiatry, then this might be a great career choice for you. In this role, you will be helping children to cope with a variety of mental health issues, such as trauma, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, etc. Counseling and talking therapies can be helpful for a lot of people who are struggling with their mental health at any age, but as a child or young adult, it might be harder to process these thoughts and emotions. Again, this is a job that can get tough at times and you will be dealing with a lot of sensitive issues that at times might be disturbing if a child has suffered abuse or similar problems, but you will be doing a lot to help them navigate their way through these difficult periods and hopefully help them learn how to cope and move forward in a healthy, constructive way.
Working with kids can be very rewarding, and there are many other roles that you can explore that aren’t listed here. However, the suggestions above are very popular options for those who are interested in working with children, and each role can offer various challenges and rewards so finding something that fits your skills and interests shouldn’t be too difficult.
