I want to work with children. How do I begin?

[Kura Ookami]

I didn't know which foprum to post this at. I decided on this one because my major goal with working with children is to increase my connections with people and to develop my principle of love.

At the moment I feel like my higher self is encouraging me to work with children. Every time I've followed the guidance of my higher self it's turned out great and every time it's required courage. The problem is my alignment with love is weak at the moment and I find it easier to just sit at home and play video games than to seek out connections with real people. I'm on benefits from the government and I'm living at home. I currently don't work at all. I'm not satisfied with this situation.

In general I only see a positive outcome from this. It should increase my connections with people, children and their parents and I might make some good friends and increase my confidence so I can approach people my age more easily.

How can I begin? I've briefly searched for jobs in my local area and didn't find anything. What if I'm unable to find anything and this is just a dead end?

I'm a guy too and I'm afraid that people will assume I'm a pedophile because I'm male and I want to work with children. I've read articles about men who work with children who have been accused of molesting the kids even though they didn't do anything to them simply because they happen to be male.

I'm afraid of success too. I wouldn't know what to say to kids, how to care fior them properly. I've got zero experience in this field. What if I inadvertantly hurt one of the children i was taking care of?

Do you guys think I should go for this and how do I start? Are there any good websites where I can find out what oppurtunities are availiable in the UK?

[Holistic Star]

Hi Kura

Can I ask how old you are and what your level of qualifications are? It will be easier to guide you to the right resources.

I trained as a primary teacher in the UK and taught for a year. However there are many other routes to working with children. Working in nurseries, working with youth groups, working with young offenders, working in care homes, working with special needs children, working as a paediatric nurse, doctor, health visitor etc, working as a sports coach, music teacher etc.

Also what age groups of children are you most interested in working with?
I've mentioned some of the areas above that you could work towards. Do any of them grab your attention, or spark your interest?

Before I went into teaching I volunteered at several schools to see if it was what I wanted to do. Schools are always really happy to have help with reading etc and it gives you an idea of what it's like to be around children. You'll probably need to be police checked now first but that is relatively simple process.

Also - children need male role models. It's really important to their development. The only thing I would say (and this was said to female teachers as well when I was teaching) is never allow yourselve to be alone with a child for any length of time. Always ensure that there are other children or adults in the room with you.

[LordSappington]

There are plenty of volunteer organizations that let you do this. I know in my city there is a small organization that lets people play with autistic children as part of their therapy. I'm reasonably sure you don't need qualifications to do it. It may be easier to start out volunteering and see if it's truly something you want. You could also substitute teach. I know in my city, they're so desperate for subs that they'll pretty much take anyone with a pulse.

[TonyToneTone]

Just google the local foster home in your area. Give them a call.

[ns123]

I'm in the same boat you are. So don't fret.

I will answer your question with another question. Do you want to teach? Or are you wanting to do something else? Work at a kids camp maybe? Work at a children's museum? Read to kids at a library? In what capacity do you want to work with children? Most people think when you say that it means teach, but it is not limited to that.

As for feeling insecure because you are totally inexperienced - congratulations and welcome to the club! It is very natural when you start something new to know jack squat about it - that's what makes it a learning experience, and what makes your life worth living! So don't fret that you don't know all you think you should know. You're supposed to know NOTHING when you are starting from square one. We have all been there. That's why it's called a discovery.

Since you have time, start volunteering in working with kids. Take some classes if you want to teach. There are some alternative teaching certification programs that will allow you to be a certified teacher within a year. Volunteer at a museum, library, children's museum, zoo, children's book store.

Hope that helps!

[Kura Ookami]

Holistic Star: Good questions. I'm 25 and I've got 8 gcse's at A-C and two E's at A level. The A levels were Physics and Chemistry. I had other ideas of what i wanted to do when i was at school.

What's it like working with a youth group or in a care home? Teaching is a possibility although I'd definately be nervous standing in front of a class trying to teach something. Fear of public speaking is actually weird. People would rather be the corpse at a funeral than the person doing the speech.

Having no experience working with children I'm not sure what age groups I'd like to work with. I'm going to have to experiment with that and see.

LordSappington: Volunteering sounds like a good idea to begin with. I'll see what I can find online.

TonyToneTone: Foster home? What do they do?

ns123: Teaching is a possibility, but I want to experiment with other things. Working at a kids camp might be fun. I think I will volenteer at some things and see how it goes. The first step is finding out where i can volenteer, then try something out.