The Pitfalls of Working with Children: Seven Annoying Behavior Types

At an after school job I recently had, I had a bunch of big mouths and smart mouths infest my group of upper grade charges, mainly a group of about six 5th grade girls who were cancers to the class and the program. They – especially the one who was the “queen bee” – always had to have the last word and would never shut up, challenging almost everything I said and every direction I gave. I got so angry, frustrated, and just plain sick and tired of them that by Valentine’s Day I was gone from that gig.

And lastly (and I do mean lastly)

7. THE BULLY

Perhaps the most classic of classic pitfalls, making so-called “weaker” or “wimpy” kids’ lives a miserable hell with their various stunts; mocking, stealing from, excluding, even beating up those who do not deserve it.

This is indeed a serious pitfall – it was bullies who caused those two boys in Littleton, Colorado to shoot up their school and kill thirteen of their classmates in 1999, and it was bullying and exclusion that caused that young man at Virginia Tech University to kill 32 of his fellow Hokies last year.

Maybe, just maybe, if people were more considerate, more sensitive, and just plain nicer to those three guys, and even lent a friendly hand and stopped people from bullying them, those 45 people would still be with us now.

I, personally, had an absolute zero tolerance for bullies at all the schools I worked at. So much so that I obtained a reputation as someone that if you picked on another kid or belittled him or her in any way, especially if the kid was little or younger, God help you. For you would be dealt with severely.

Simply put, I hated bullies. I always have. And I always will.

These seven pitfalls of working with children – these annoying behavior types – could also be described as the seven cancers. Cancers that can make a teacher’s or a coach’s life miserable and disillusioning, to the point where one wonders what are they doing there. That certainly happened to me.

Let this serve as a word of caution to those who decide to pursue a career in the “Kid Business”, whether it’s in education, sports, recreation, or whatever:

While it is a rewarding and fulfilling profession, and while the vast majority of kids do not fall into these seven bad behavior types – I want to make that perfectly clear – these negative types, these pitfalls, these cancers, serve as thorns in that bed of roses.

Those who are prepared to deal with those pitfalls will thrive, survive, and last a long time in the classroom or gym or playground. Those who are not, won’t.

I don’t think I can make a point any clearer than that.