First day of treating the kiddos on Monday and I think I squeeze-hugged the wrong little dude. Working in the schools is a peti-dish of viruses. I got my first cold and I'm sure it won't be my last. I was looking forward to really getting going this week, but alas I had to call in sick today so I don't infect everyone else.
I had dinner the other night with my OT cohorts and have found that working with kids is a privilege. There are lots of OT jobs out there, I had two job offers this summer, but working with children is a special type of OT job. Most new-grads don't get to work with kids right away if they didn't have an internship working with the little people. One friend waited 6 months to get her "peds" (short for pediatric) job. Another is moving to HI to gain more experience working in the schools, she already had a peds internship as well. I guess what I'm trying to do be grateful for the opportunity to start working with kids right away. Sometimes I can get caught up in politics of it should be like this, or it should be like that. Who am I to judge being a new grad? How long do I call myself that anyway, a year?
I'm still learning a lot about what it means to be an employee. I haven't worked for someone else in about 10 years. I did massage at places, but that doesn't really count for working in a professional work environment. I feel like I might make a couple blunders here and there, I get hard on myself for being too out-spoken and direct. I am learning that there is a certain finesse with working with others that I feel I might still be rough around the edges. I continue having to learn to be humble in my experience as a therapist and a person. I'm still working on who I am as a person, a job that will never be done.
