Narrative Essay on First Job

Amy Miller

Dr. Ortego

English 1101

26 February 2014

                                        First Job

The day I turned sixteen I was looking for a job. I had a car, a license and a lot of hope. In my mind a job would be fun and something productive. All my friends also where getting jobs so I knew having one could not be that bad. I searched for a job for two weeks straight and finally landed one at a child care center. I was looking forward to getting started and even more to my first pay check. I expected this to be a simple and laid back job, but it ended up being challenging, draining, and stressful.

As I pulled up on my first day I was full of energy. I expected to see kids running and playing everywhere and having a good time. When I opened the door I did not even hear any kids it was complete silence. I was completely surprised the kids where in organized groups playing quietly with their surrounding friends. This place was way more structured than I thought it would be. I found the most challenging part was keeping the kids in order and not letting them get out of hand .Organization was the key to keeping the kids in a structured group.

I thought I found an easy job but I quickly realized it took a lot when you are working with kids. I always had to come up with new games for the kids to play and keep them busy at all times. I never realized how much energy kids had. When I took this job I figured all I had to do was show up and play and with the kids. To my surprise I had to make schedules, clean areas, and make lunch. The amount of energy it took to kept up with the kids was a lot .I was constantly going. After a while it became physically draining. It took a while to get used to the paste of things.

As I started to form a bond with the kids they began to respect me more but every day was a challenge and brought something new. I was stressed majority of the time, it seemed there was always a problem to deal with. I did not let it show though, I kept a smile on my face for the kids. Being that this was my first job it added more stress because I wanted to be good at it. Working was turning out to be not as fun as I thought it would be.

In the end that job taught me a lot about myself. Even though it was more challenging than I anticipated it was a great experience. It prepared me a lot for my other jobs and it taught me some great skills. I would have to think long and hard if I ever decide to work with kids again. I will never forget my first job and everything that I experienced while working there.