Four Ways to Get Used to Children

By Austin Cowan
Blog Content Contributor

Many people describe children as “life’s special gifts,” while others can hardly stand being around them. Nevertheless, as long as the human race exists so will our offspring. To all the people out there who are uncomfortable around kids, this blog post offers four ways for a person to improve their relationships with children.

1. One of the best ways to begin enjoying an activity is getting paid to do it. Many people desire to make a lot of money and childcare is a great way to do this. Babysitting gigs are probably the easiest childcare job to get, because any parent can hire a sitter to watch their child. Two ways to become a sitter include using online websites or being hired by friends/family to watch their kid(s) temporarily. Babysitting gigs normally deal with smaller groups of children, which is a great starting place for a person uncomfortable with kids.

For people who are bold, working at a Day Care/After school Program is also a fantastic way to make money. Day Cares/After school Programs contain large groups of children, so the pay at these jobs are not to be ignored. Parents will pay good money to have their children taken care of by the best child care system around. Lastly, summer camps are paid child care positions. Summer camps can encourage those who even hate children to begin to enjoy their presence by being surrounded by kids. Being surrounded by children will bombard a person with the worst parts of kids, along with the best. If the pros outweigh the cons than a person may begin to like children.

• Online Babysitting sites
  • Sitter.me
  • urbansitter.com
  • Sittercity.com
  • Care.com
• Day Cares/ Afterschool Programs in the San Marcos area who hire paid workers
  • Sunset After School Program
  • Small Fries Childcare and Learning Center
  • First Step
  • First United Methodist- San Marcos
• Summer Camps around/near the San Marcos area
  • T Bar M Camps
  • Highland Lakes Christian Camps and Conference Center
  • Texas Mathworks
  • Epic Adventures

2.) Spend time with family and friends. Many people will do things for their loved ones which they would never do for someone else. If this is the case, then make an effort to visit the children you are around frequently, if not daily. By making children a part of one’s daily routine they will become less foreign and much more manageable. Children love to spend time with their older relatives because they look up to them even if they do not show it at times. So take initiative and take that annoying kid to the store and buy them a scoop of ice cream. After all, even the worst of things are more bearable when ice cream is involved.

3.) For people who say that they hate kids, volunteering at a church or organizational event with friends/family, may change their mind. Churches and organizations who deal with children are almost always in a need of volunteers, especially good volunteers. Child haters should make sure to have a family member/friend work with them when volunteering for child care. This will grant them the adult time they need when working with the kids.  So, go volunteer and help out your community. On top of a feeling of self-accomplishment a love for childcare may come out of this as well.

• Here is one organization in/around the San Marcos area where people can volunteer to work with children.
  • Boys and Girls Club of South Central Texas
• Here are some churches in/around the San Marcos area.
  • Calvary Baptist Church
  • Sozo Church
  • Cypress Creek Church

4.) The fourth way to get used to being around children is traveling. The reason is that many people do not like children because of their attitudes. So if a person cannot find one child in their community who does not annoy them, then they should go somewhere this does not happen. Traveling will allow child haters they chance to enjoy being around children by being surrounded by a different culture. Everyone deserves the chance to live in an environment nontoxic to them.

Working with children, for the first time, is like opening up a fortune cookie. A person does not know what the end result will be, however, the potential for an amazing experience is there. These is no time to waste. Go ahead and use these four methods to connect with children.

Featured image by Austin Cowan.