What do you want to be when you grow up?
Its the timeless question that gets asked of children generation after generation, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" At every stage of childhood, the answer changes or at least the reasoning behind the decision does. While our hope at Mainspring is that children learn about the various possibilities of community jobs and opportunities out there for them, we mostly strive to educate children on the importance of being a good human being... a kind, compassionate, fair, humane person.
This subject recently came up because the school-wide unit on Community Workers and Places is in full swing. As an exercise, Ms. Marisa led the Shining Stars through a writing practice asking them to think about and complete this very question. For some, the expected Fireman, Police Office and Singer answers surfaced. For a few though, it was surprising how thoughtful and insightful these 4 and 5 years olds could be. For one in particular shown here, the answer is what spurred this posting. It's in these moments that as an organization you realize that what you are doing is good and purposeful. Because of the loving and consistent relationship this student has built with Ms. MJ, he wants to be a Teacher... and in our book, there couldn't be a more nobler choice of profession!
