Life Lessons Learned in a Preschool Environment

Summary

The author, Sumera Rizwan, reflects on the unexpected life lessons she learned from her brief but impactful experience teaching at a preschool, where she observed children's resilience, empathy, and unconditional acceptance.

Abstract

Sumera Rizwan, a mother and computer science graduate, shares her profound experiences and the life lessons she gained during her time as a preschool teacher. Despite the challenges of managing children who were initially reluctant to part from their parents, she found that the children quickly adapted and embraced their environment with joy. Rizwan was struck by the children's capacity for empathy, their ability to live in the moment without prejudice, and their eagerness to learn. She admired their genuine expression of emotions, their appreciation for life's simple pleasures, and their capacity to forgive and forget. Although her teaching career was cut short due to health issues, her love for the children and the profession left an indelible mark on her life.

Opinions

The author believes that children's daily overcoming of their fears to find happiness in their surroundings is a lesson adults could learn from.
She emphasizes the innate empathy of children, suggesting that if adults had even a fraction of this empathy, the world would be a better place.
Rizwan points out that children naturally accept each other regardless of race, religion, or color, highlighting societal biases that develop later in life.
She notes that children are unpretentious and true to themselves, unlike many adults who often mask their true feelings.
The author values the children's ability to enjoy life's simple pleasures without concern for others' opinions, seeing it as a virtue adults often lose.
She admires the ease with which children forgive and forget, contrasting it with adults' tendencies to hold grudges.
Rizwan observes that all children, regardless of their individual learning abilities, respond positively to love, compassion, and kind words.
Despite her short tenure, she expresses an enduring passion for teaching and a deep connection with the children she taught.

Life Lessons Learned in a Preschool Environment

photo by Robert Collins Unsplash

My life has been full of adventures and experiences, but I got some very unanticipated life lessons while teaching pre-schoolers.

It all started when I joined a preschool setting as a part-time teacher. I have children of my own so I knew this wasn’t an easy job. I was aware of the challenges but I was unaware of the fact that it was not just one way learning from teacher to student in fact they taught me some major lessons about life.

Each day had its new challenges with some wonderful experiences

As the day started the children came to class with their parents most of them were sad and they didn’t want to leave their parents, clinging to their legs, reluctant to enter the classroom. It was our duty to walk up to them and receive them happily reminding them of the fun stuff we plan to do during the day. Some of them were convinced while others had a little tantrum instore. The strange part is once the parents left, within minutes the kids forgot about them and they were happily running around as if nothing had happened. This was a daily routine and what I gained from this is that every day these little stars faced their fears and once they were sure there was no way to retreat they decided to be happy about their situation and gave their surroundings a chance.

A child’s smile can do wonders but in a similar manner if a child starts to cry the whole class becomes upset for no apparent reason at all. These minors have so much empathy in their hearts that even if adults had a fraction of it, the world would be a much happier place.

They laughed at each other and with each other without any grudges or envy. They made a way to live and let live caring least about each other’s race, religious background, or color. These are the differences societies implant in their little minds in the process of growing up.

They were all like little sponges soaking in the information and learning new basics with every passing day, oblivious of the fact that they taught me some major rules of love and life in the process.

They were not afraid of expressing their feelings they were always true to themselves and to others unlike most of us adults these little kids did not pretend to be what they are not. They were always the same person inside out.

The best thing about these pre-schoolers was that they enjoyed the little pleasures in life they laughed aloud, jumped in the puddles, and played in the rain without worrying about what others would think of them.

These innocent beings forgave and forgot easily and never made a big deal of it.

Each child was a different individual with different learning abilities but one thing was common in them which is that they all responded to love, compassion, and kind words.

My experience as a preschool teacher was short-lived due to my health conditions but the love for this profession and the children was everlasting.

Sumera Rizwan is a Mother and a Computer Science Graduate. She lives in Derby, UK. She is passionate about expressing her self through her stories. She talks from her heart and aims to touch the hearts of her readers.