An Interview with Ms. Deborah banner

We interviewed our very own Ms. Deborah about her experience in the military and with KinderCare, and you can read all about it below!

 
How did you get your start at KinderCare?: Well my grandchildren go to KinderCare. I would come in and chat with Ms. Connie. I liked the atmosphere and I loved the teachers. So about late April, Ms. Connie and I were chatting and she said she had some openings and thought I would be a great fit. She told me to just fill out the application and it worked out wonderfully! My grandchildren are five years old, a four years old and a two years old.  I have the four year old in my class right now!

Can you tell me more about your military experience?: Yes, when I was a think about 23, I was working at Jack In The Box in Virginia.  I was thinking to myself “Gosh I’ve got this job and I’m going nowhere, I need to do something with myself.”  So, a friend of mine said “Why don’t you go and join the military.” Well I thought about this for a short time, only about a minute.  I went to my husband and I said “Honey, I’m joining the army. You can travel with me.” I went to basic training in South Carolina, and then I attended Advanced Individual Training School (AIT). My job at AIT was radio equipment repair, but I really never got a chance to work my job because they had no need, so I worked as a Chaplin’s assistant.  I spent four years and decided “enough is enough” because I had a family and really wanted to spend time and not have to travel-so I got out.  I stayed out for eight years before deciding to go back to the military. This time I had the opportunity to go to Germany and spend two years overseas.  I missed the cut off for the Afghanistan war, but I do have family that served and that we lost. I think the military is a good experience for everyone.  It teaches you discipline, it teaches you to be orderly, to look at things beyond yourself.  It teaches you how to get along with people from all walks of life.  It was a great experience for me.

What learned skills from your time in the military are beneficial to you in you role now?: In the military you have to be consistent and rule oriented.  I found that if you follow the rules and apply the rules and don’t change it, then everyone has an even keel. When you one way one day, and another way another day, it throws everything off kilter. 

What advice would you give an incoming Teacher that is just getting their start in ECE?: I’d ask them to think twice and make sure that you genuinely like children. You have to like children in order to do this job.  When you walk in that door, know that you are committed to each and every child and they are all going to be different.  Do not compare them.  How one learns, the other does not.  You must treat each child as an individual. 

What is your favorite part about being a Teacher?: Watching a child “get it.”  If you’re showing them how to write something or draw, whatever the case may be and they are telling you “I can’t do it” I say “Yes you can, watch.  Keep trying.” When they get it, their face, that look..”I told you! You can do anything, there’s nothing you can’t do.” 

AUTHOR
KinderCare Jobs
BLOG HOME PAGE PREVIOUS ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE
Blog Similar
How would you rate your experience popup