The Undeniable Joy of Working with Children

I’d like to share an interaction that I had with a toddler today that absolutely made my week.

Toddler: For you! (While handing me the teeniest piece of playdough you could ever imagine.)

Me: Thank you!

Toddler: You’re welcome. (In a very “duh, of course” sort of way.)

(Repeat 5+ times.)

Life has been pretty difficult lately. Personally, I’ve been dealing with a great deal of stress, and processing a lot of trauma. If you’re anything like me and you live in the United States, you’re probably pretty exhausted and possibly triggered by election coverage and all of the misogyny, racism, islamophobia, xenophobia, and all the other –isms and –phobias that go along with it.

There’s a lot of work that goes into library programming, even more than you might imagine. It often takes days and weeks and even months to put together a program that may only last an hour. This is not to minimize all of the behind the scenes work, but let’s put that on the back burner for now. I’d like to focus your attention on that hour of programming when you’re in the zone and you’re bringing all those plans to life. There is something so incredibly therapeutic about dancing to Motown hits with toddlers, or being given the gift of a speck of playdough. For that hour, I am not Stefanie Molinaro with all the baggage and stress and worry I carry as an adult living on planet Earth—I am Miss Stefanie and I am here, safe within the magical walls of the library, to read stories, to have dance parties, and to provide a space that encourages imagination, creativity, fun, and kindness.

These programs don’t last forever, and while I treasure each and every memory with the kids I work with, these moments are fleeting. Regardless, those small reminders of humanity, those moments when I’m experiencing “flow” and am completely in my element, are enough to recharge my faith in humans, and our possibilities for the future, if only just a little. Sometimes that’s the push we need to keep going and to tell ourselves that it’s going to be okay.

Maybe you don’t work with children, and maybe you don’t even like kids, but I hope you’ve found something or are able to find something that brings you those moments of joy and purpose, especially when the world is rapidly becoming even more of a dark, heavy, and scary place.

Originally published October 28, 2016