by Victoria Montgomery

Created on: November 20, 2008   Last Updated: September 10, 2009

Pretend you are a preschool teacher. Yesterday you were a chicken, a cow, a frog, a turtle, and a gorilla. Today, your superpowers are going at full bore and you are able to leap tall blocks and zap robots at lightening speed. Tomorrow you will be the fastest runner on the planet and will be able to catch all escapees from your classroom.The rest of the week you experience reading, singing, dancing, crawling, hopping, laughing, crying, and whatever other opportunities pop up.

Then again, you might get to enjoy all these things in one day. It's been know to happen. A lot. Often. It's the best job in the world.

You must love children. And the runny noses, the screaming, the whining, the crying, and the mood swings. And that's only the teachers.

You must love the children. There will be stinky stuff, almost every day. Okay, every day. There will be yelling and fighting, crying and biting, hitting and pushing, block throwing and chair pulling and just about every other kind of not so much fun stuff you can think about. It's all in a day's work for a preschool teacher.

Someone once said it was a lark to watch a group of young children. Daycare workers are just babysitters. Plop them in front of a TV and they'll be zombies for hours. No problem. No sweat. Easy as pie.

Right. Just keep thinking that. We'll toss them into a classroom full of preschoolers and see if they make it to the end of the day. Not a chance. Preschool teachers are the bravest people I know.

Afterall, preschool teachers are trained to handle these children. They are educated all about useful childhood activites and games, arts, music and math, and the sciences. They are also taught how to handle specific behavior problems in the classroom. They are prepared. In control. Ready for anything that comes their way.

Uh huh. Got some swamp land I wanna sell you too.

It's not as easy as it sounds. It can be horrible, icky, ugly, snotty, disgusting and horrendous to be a preschool teacher. It can also be the most wonderful, joyful, rewarding job a person can ever hope to have. All in one day. Now don't you just want to rush right out and sign up? There's never a dull moment. Well, okay that's not true either but it's mostly true.

If I am truly honest it has been both the best and worst job I've ever had. But I have to say I don't regret any of the time I have spent doing it. Except for the pay, but we won't mention that. Or maybe we will. Low pay, long hours, and hairy days. Maybe you might want to consider being a leach farmer instead.

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