This is a cross-post, which was first published at my Facebook profile. I usually don’t share more personal parts of my life publicly, instead I tend to keep them to Instagram and Facebook. However, this share was reacted to more actively than any of my shares before. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as my Facebook friends did before.
As I quite often get asked why I actually have chosen to study and work in the social pedagogy sector, which many people are surprised about because I am male, here is an example of why:
Earlier today, I was just spending some time with friends, when I suddenly heard a familiar child’s voice calling my name. Looking behind me, I notice that it’s one of the children who regularly is at the daycare centre where I do my internship. 6 year old girl of Iranian origin. So, I tell my friends I will catch up in a moment.
As she comes near me, she jumps around and tells me very excitedly that she has new shoes and I should look at them. It were shoes with lights in the soles, which were really incredible to her. So, I say to her that they are really special and could understand she is happy. Something which makes her even more happy.
After she has jumped around for about 3 minutes, I ask her where her parents were. She explained they were busy with her little sister and didn’t have time for her. I explained to her that they did have time for her, but were just busy with her little sister because she’s a baby, and babies just need a bit more attention sometimes, but that her parents evenly care about both of them. After which I ask her if we should go to her parents, she excitedly says “yes”, grabs my hand, and together we walk to her parents.
After a short talk with her parents, I say goodbye to them, and tell the little one I will see her Monday, which made her smile from ear to ear. About 10 minutes passed by then, and I catch up with my friends, explaining the situation shortly, and we have had a lovely time the rest of the afternoon.
Tonight, I suddenly get a message of my younger brother here on Facebook. The parents of the girl had come over to visit my parents. At first, I was actually kind of worried. Not that I expected to have done anything wrong, but I can’t deny that when your parents are contacted and/or visited by other parents, it’s usually a bad sign. That being said, there was actually a different reason.
What I didn’t know was that the girl had been causing trouble at home ever since the birth of her little sister. She had felt left out, especially because in her eyes she was sent to daycare while her sister was with her mom all the time. However, that simple explanation I had given her of her little sister being a baby and therefore needing more attention had been enough for her to understand that she wasn’t left out. As her parents told, she had even sung a lullaby to her little sister, something which hadn’t happened before. Before, she didn’t want anything to do with her own little sister.
As her parents had told my parents, when they had first seen me, they had their sincere doubts about me. Basically, they had supposed I lacked the social skills and would probably be changing my study soon. However, as they explained, they were wrong. To not go into too much details, they left me a drawing their daughter had made me as a thank you. And asked me if I was available for babysitting sometimes.
Now, you might say that you still don’t know why I have chosen the sector of my study and work. And yet, everything I told you just now is why.
Honestly, being able to make any child happy is the most worthwhile thing to do, especially if you can do it as work. And also being a positive influence is incredible. And then I haven’t even said anything about being complimented by parents, which is literally one of the most unusual things to happen in life. And I don’t mean that in a negative aspect of parents, actually the exact opposite. Parents are amazing people, and they care so much about their children that it’s very hard to be trusted by them, and rightly so. However, when it does happen, it is huge, and basically indescribable in words.
Personally, I couldn’t think of a more incredible thing to do than helping others, and especially making them happy while doing so. And that’s why I have chosen to study social pedagogy and work in this sector. I couldn’t think of anything else I would love doing every day of my life.
