I get paid to be a kid again!

[fireheart]

So during the school holidays, we run our vacation care service. Because of the number of kids at particular services, we only run services at select schools. Usually what then happens is that parents can either:

a) continue to run through us and send their kid to the nearest school affilitated with us.

b) send their kid to another program not affilitated with us or the school will run a program not affiliated with us. (this happens at one of my sites-the schoolkids can access a coaching program or the holiday program, not both)

c) not send their kid at ALL.

For the January school holidays however, I've put myself in for working every day. Not so much of an issue right? Well, I checked today and discovered that half my days I booked are excursion days. Usually we offer the same 4-5 excursions for particular services.

So over the summer, I get paid to:

-Watch movies (a choice between 3 different ones)
-Visit 2 Wildlife centres.
-Visit a Planetarium.
-Take part in Black Light Minigolf and Laser Tag
-Visit a guide dog training centre.

Oh and all of this is done for free as well (well to be more precise, the parents pay for us to get in for free )
Have I mentioned before how much I love my job?

On top of that, for the excursion day, I am put in charge of 8 kids a day. Both excursions I've done so far have involved VERY well behaved groups

This time around I'll also have other kids at other centres (both of which I've worked at before).

[dalesys]

Bill Cosby - Special Class

[Solacelawlz]

This reminds me of the job i had in college at the campus museum when we had the leggo exhibit. Leggo houses, tanks, tables, submarines, fish, etc etc and tons of kids so i got payed to play with leggos all day long. Was glorious we even got in the paper!! Ah... i wish i could of had that job for the rest of my life! Congrats!!

[Pixilated]

I've never, ever wanted a job in which I was minding children ... but now I'm kinda jealous.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Ooh sounds fun All you need now is the musical chairs and jelly and icecream....
and the little bunches and pinafore to look the part *giggles*

[Sheldonrs]

I guess I'm the only one here who's mind went directly to "kinky role-playing games" when I read the title. lol

[Gilhelmi]

Well behaved children? There are such things?

[fireheart]

Yes, there are

[Kit-Ginevra]

Valium works wonders.Especially in their milkshakes. If not,in yours...

[HiddenMica]

The last one of these my mom did with my little sister... To get the kids to calm down for the bus while waiting, had them put a peanut on the ground for each of them and had them roll it with their nose through the grass for a treat. Everyone got one, but the winner got a special one (I think it was an ice cream over a smaller candy bar or the like). She was the only one who didn't have problems with her kids, and she got the problem group, as well as a few other kids not from her group because she was just so goofy with them all and kept them entertained. XD

In other words, it's not always the kids! The adult matters just as much on keeping the kids well mannered by keeping the entertained! Congrats you are kid approved!

[Gilhelmi]

Well behave Sponsors? There is such a thing?

[fireheart]

Well behave Sponsors? There is such a thing?

Ironically, this school is a public school and is fairly large. We have one of the larger programs as well. For excursions though, the adult: child ratio is 1:8, whereas for in-house stuff it's 1:15. Excursions thankfully tend to involve staff that children have actually met before.

During the school holidays, we get a mix of public and private school kids on the one site, all other sites tend to have private school kids only. Ironically, the private school kids can actually act WORSE off in some situations than others. (Two examples: sending kids off to the toilet from a playground, I'd send them in pairs for safety reasons. They KNEw where the toilets were, but would come back, say they hadn't found them and admitted they peed in the bushes . The other example was a kid at another site who built a castle higher than what was allowed. I was trying her best to get her OFF the thing, kid wasn't having any of it. It took a parent complaining and the coordinator to get her off.)

The worst of the public school kids?

-One kid had this thing where he'd go down to the gym and refuse to participate in whatever activity was offered. He'd also hide behind chairs/tables etc. If called out on it, he'd try and run. It nearly always took a male staff member to cadge him out from his hiding place. (the kid's family has...issues) Since then, we've insituted a rule that staff do not go down to the gym on their own unless everyone is outdoors anyway.

-Another kid threw a chair while in the gym. Luckily the chairs were completely plastic and the kid bolted afterwards to hide in the toilets.

The rest? Primarily backtalk and typical fighting over things...stuff that ALL kids will do at one point or another. And now i've inspired my own post!

[wolfie]

The last one of these my mom did with my little sister... To get the kids to calm down for the bus while waiting, had them put a peanut on the ground for each of them and had them roll it with their nose through the grass for a treat.

I'd be VERY careful about doing something like that.

1) Due to allergies, a lot of schools have banned peanuts in any form.
2) What's in the grass that the kids could be rubbing their noses on. Dog crap? Broken glass? Needles discarded by junkies?

[fireheart]

I'd be VERY careful about doing something like that.

1) Due to allergies, a lot of schools have banned peanuts in any form.
2) What's in the grass that the kids could be rubbing their noses on. Dog crap? Broken glass? Needles discarded by junkies?

We're an anaphylactic aware service. Ironically, we will serve products that contain traces of nuts from time to time.

As for the second part, we do have games that the kids can do while waiting for the bus that don't involve rubbing their noses in the grass. The worst case scenario though IS dog crap. (we don't have any glass near the grass )

[Monterey Jack]

This reminds me of the job i had in college at the campus museum when we had the leggo exhibit. Leggo houses, tanks, tables, submarines, fish, etc etc and tons of kids so i got payed to play with leggos all day long.

Leggo my ego.