Something else I can't fix

I am suffering from one of the occupational hazards of working with kids.

I'm sick again.

I don't feel too bad, just a fever and sore throat. It's not strep, or at least I'm 99% sure it isn't, as strep usually just flattens me like a goddamn steamroller.

But it makes dragging myself out the door to work really difficult.

I'm not really surprised, last week while I sat with one of my little guys, working on a project, he kept coughing. He brought his arm up and tried to cough into his elbow, the way they've been taught to do, but what he really did was just sort of put his arm up, not all the way, and every time he did, a blast of warm air hit me in the face. I was trying hard to time my breathing, but I apparently lost.

Or maybe it was one of the other kids, who knows? Half of them are coughing or sneezing or both all afternoon.

Or, since I swear to god they wipe the cafeteria tables off after lunch with a slab of bacon, I got all germed up by that.

The kids are the ones who wipe down the tables after lunch is over. Big bucket of warm water, a rag and a kid who's trying to get out the door as fast as possible so as not to miss the tiny amount of recess they're allowed is a recipe for dirty tables.

As soon as the long tables are wiped,(slapslap with the dripping rag, dunk in the bucket, slapslap the next table) while they're still wet, the benches are flipped up onto them and the tables are collapsed in the middle and moved to the walls so the custodian can use the machine to clean the floors.

When I arrive to set up and start moving the tables and dropping them into place, the tops are still wet under the benches.

So basically everyone's farty butt vapors have been germinating on the tops of the tables along with all the chunks of boogers and bits of food for two hours. And it's all over my hands when I'm done setting things up.

I do go wash my hands, of course, but that's an awful lot of stuff attacking my immune system. Not to mention it's disgusting. Blech.

So I feel more than a little crappy tonight.

I do have a bit of news, though.
Apparently, our programs are going to become cookie-cutter programs starting this fall. Boxed curriculum for kids who're already weary from a day of top-down 'education' in school. After school, kids will come to a place they've always had fun and do school work instead.

I'm just a babysitter, of course. But after seven years in my current placement,  I have one of the three largest programs in the area. That's not an accident. I've worked hard to be innovative, imaginative and fun. To make it a place where children feel valued, where they have choices, and where they're allowed to enjoy their time.

I'm able to find real educational value in everything we do, write up educational objectives and goals and post the appropriate papers for parents to see. My kids are happy, my parents love me, and the program is double the size it used to be in the afternoons... and TRIPLE the size in the mornings. I must be doing something right.

It seems to me that the children would be better served if more programs operated in a similar way. The company would make more money because programs would grow, and kids would be having a great time. Win/win.

I know better than to expect any sort of monetary reward for the passion I've put into what I do. But how goddamn dim does a person have to be to dismiss the success of a program like mine?

One reason corporations really suck?
There's no one to hate. They're too big.

Stay tuned. Not sure yet what I'm going to end up doing. But I have some ideas.