Nursery

I've been in a nursery for the week and it's funny because I've only ever worked with children that young once before and I was 16 so I can't really remember what they were like. And considering I have been working with 10 year olds' most recently they seem really small to me now. But as I've spent the week with the little darlings, I ave come to realise how funny they are as tiny humans. At times, they are so small that it feels weird for them to be in a school uniform with a schedule but at other times, they are so mature that they are adults in tiny bodies. I have been thinking about some of the things that I have seen and wanted to report back to you some of my observations.

Image curtsey of Google Images

1. They all want the attention.

If one child is getting attention from you, you are bound to have a million other little bodies come up to you for the attention and they will fight for it. I have had things shoved in my face and been tapped on my leg so many times that I can't count. They don't like not being centre of attention and it's a shame because there's only one of you and 25 of them. You can't split yourself in two.

2. They don't hesitate to tell on one another.

I have been watching the children play for the first week and the amount of times that the children tell on one another is hilarious. I can't help but have a little snigger when a child says "I'm telling on you" and the other child hasn't even done anything but still gets told off. I want to intervene but it's not really my place.

3. They can't dress themselves.

This one might be a little bit obvious but unless you've seen a child of that age, you can't really comprehend how much they can't dress themselves. I've seen children with their jumpers on back to front, their socks half way down their foot, their shoes on the wrong way and my personal favourite their coats inside out. They have not yet understood the concept of how to turn the arms of their clothes the right way round and jam them into it regardless if the seam is pointing outwards. They also just hand their item of clothing to an adult to fix it for them without even trying.

4. They fall over so much.

In one day, there was about 10 children that had got hurt in one way of another. They all came in crying their eyes out wanting a cold flannel or compress. I don't know what it is about the cold compress but a wet towel sedates them and they stop crying. It's weird because if I think about myself, I don't think my first instinct would be a wet towel to stop myself from hurting. But then again, I'm not a child and I think it brings them comfort.

5.They openly pick their nose.

You will be sitting with them and in front of you, whilst they have eye contact with you, their finger will be jammed up their nose rooting for gold. And the worst ones are those that instantly put their finger in their mouth afterwards. It's gross and I stop it every time I see it but they keep going back for more afterwards. It's an interesting thing to see that them without any sense of societal norms that one does not pick their nose and eat it in public.

6. A lot of them do not like to get messy.

Now I went into nursery thinking that all children love getting mucky and dirty especially when it comes to paint and ink but I have been so surprised at how many children would use the very tips of their fingers to paint and to try not to touch the paint. I did vegetable printing with them and so many of them refused to pick up the vegetables if they were covered in paint. Bearing in mind, my whole hands were covered in paint by the end, I didn't blame them! It's messy and I'm not a great fan of having paint all over my but I took one for the team. I even got some paint on my watch!

7. They do not remember.

Every single day, the children ask me what my name is because they don't remember. This isn't a problem because I know they are so small and I'm not the priority in their life but it makes me laugh so hard when they moan at me for not remembering their names. Bearing in mind, there are around 26 children in the morning session and then 26 different children in the afternoon session so that's around 50 odd children's names to remember, which is almost impossible.

8. They are adorable.

You can't deny how cute they are when they come up to you and ask for help or want you to play with them. 3 and 4 year olds' maybe a little mischievous  at times but they are adorable as hell doing it.

Image curtsey of Google Images

Love you,

Nicole

xxx