My Job

I realize that the majority of my posts lately do not include pictures, and I am sorry for that. I have found that uploading cute pictures of my kids and writing about them was a MUCH easier task when there was just one child. One child who was completely independent. Peyton, bless her little heart, is the biggest mamma's girl I've ever met. If I put her down, or leave the room, you would have thought I had called her a mean name and hurt her feelings. The lip goes out, and starts to quiver, and the crocodile tears start pouring. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining...at ALL...I love my little girl, and cherish the fact that she wants to be with me all the time. I probably even give in a little too much. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the title of my blog, but I just wanted to explain myself first. Someday, I will come back to the blogging world with full force and the cute little pictures of my cute little kids will return.

Today, however, I would like to reflect on my job. I don't talk about work much on here. There is probably a reason for that, but the therapist in my just hasn't found that reason yet.

I work with children ranging in age from 5 to 11. I work with their parents as well. These children have a variety of problems...from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), to Autism, to Oppositional Defiant Disorder, or to my favorite (NO sarcasm there, I truly love working with children with this disorder) RAD or Reactive Attachment Disorder. I have been doing this (including my internship) for 3 1/2 years now. I've seen it all. I've had children who had been abused, neglected, and hurt in the worst kind of way imagineable.

The things that I see and the things that I hear are heartbreaking. So, I won't share them. I just wanted to share that I love my job. I LOVE the children that I work with. They make me reflect on my own children and ask myself "Am I doing enough?" "Do I hug them enough?" "Do I kiss them enough?" "Do they know how much I love them?" The children that I work with make me come home every Wednesday and Thursday and SHOW my children how much I love them. They make me motivated to give my children the best life possible. To teach my children morals, and values, and how to be a good friend to everybody. I never want them to be the cause of someone else's pain and suffering.

I am thankful for the field of Social Work. I am thankful that I took a job as a workstudy when I was 18 years old at the School of Social Work at the U of Arkansas, and switched my major promptly from journalism to S.W. I am thankful to my mentors and my colleagues for teaching and guiding me.

After I had Brody, when I went back to work, I asked the girl who I was replacing how she did it. How could she go home to her daughter every night after hearing some of the most awful things that had happened to some of her clients and be okay...and not break down. Her response will always stick with me: "Because, it makes me a better mother." I believe that to be true, and know that whenever I come home stressed, or depressed, or wanting to punch some dead beat, I look at my children and it all goes away.

I don't know if I really am making a difference in these kid's lives or not, but I kind of live by this saying:

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was,the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child...."