Why group interviews should be abolished

If you’ve ever partaken in a group job interview I’m sure you will understand what I’m about to rant about. Group interviews are the lazy way to do an interview process. It picks out the extroverts and gives people a chance to manipulate other job goers – now how is this a positive thing? It turns everyone against each other all while throwing groups of strangers together in an artifical environment, urging them to show their leadership and team skills. Well guess what BOSS? Some people are introverts and will want to melt into a puddle rather than act out a horridly cheesy part of an untrue story in front of 30+ people. I have team skills- I’ve played team sports since I was 5. Leadership? Uh yes, I lead groups of rowdy college kids and wrangle up groups of pooping toddlers on a daily basis. But personally I have zero interest in building Lego men with random people when I’m trying to earn a job. I want to sit down, talk face to face with those I’ll be working for and with and understand how the work environment is, etc. I love the old fashion interviews. I have yet another group interview coming up, for me to get into my Early Childhood Education program; let’s just say I’m a bit nervous(wish me luck).

What is your experience with job interviews? What works for you? Do you like group interviews?

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Bubble wrapping playgrounds: why?

Why are we protecting our children from failure?

Yesterday I was at a playground and noticed they’ve taken out all the “unsafe” play equipment or modified it to be “safe”. The firemans pole now has platforms(photo below), the climbing walls are now stairs with railings and god forbid they leave a tree standing near the playground in case kids decide to climb a tree!

This is such a disappointment…I mean it’s one thing to make it so children can’t fail inside the classroom, but now outside during play?! Play should be filled with experiments, risks and learning how to challenge yourself and body. When I was a child we played for hours on end, unsupervised, in a large dirt area filled with “unsafe” hazards such a tall trees to climb, fences, animals, a stream & prickle bushes, etc. Our playgrounds were wooden, slippery, tricky to climb, and yes, we fell off them all the time. But here I am, alive and well!

Instead it seems we are failing our children. Children need to fail! Failure develops character and resistance. Life is filled with bad and good times, success and failure…so why on earth are we setting our kids up to expect success? They need to learn to work for success and prepare and know how to deal with things when they don’t go so well. The toddlers I work with have mastered the playground which states it’s meant for children 5-12 years old. This is a prime example that we are not challenging our children and therefore we are hindering their development.

Besides the whole overuse of cellphones we see these days, I would say this is the most concerning trend within our generation. Kids expect to have things given to them, rather than knowing they need to earn it.

I see this all the time at work since I work with kids and from watching young adults in our society. I’d love to hear your take on this…do you see it? What’s your experience? How can we change this? Do we need to? What’s the future like for these kids?

❤️

dreams; a personal post

Without saying any numbers, I’m young. I’ve had the dream of opening my own daycare for a few years now after realizing it’s not totally impossible for me to achieve. Would it be easy? Of course not, when has opening a business and keeping it running easy? Never. So add children into the mix and you have a recipe for a disaster of many kinds (financial, my sanity, etc etc).

I’d like to think that I’ve somewhat proven to myself that I am able. No, nannying isn’t the same but it’s a lot of the same principles. Some problems of mine are:

Timing: first I would like to get higher education…1-2 years later. Opening a daycare isn’t an overnight endevour, let’s be honest. I would add another 2 years to that for my next points/problems:

Money: of course. It’s expensive and I happen to live in one of the priciest areas on this continent(great!) Buying a house alone would cost me upwards of 1 million dollars, and let’s be honest…I could work until I was 109 and still be paying for that house!

Space: since housing prices are soaring and I would like to stay in this area since my life is here, where does this leave me to open a daycare? I could rent a space, but I find these “retail spaces” so cold, and they often lack outside area which if you’ve read my past post, is VERY important to me.

Reality(?): by the time I figure this all out, earn the money, and start it up…I’ll be wanting a family of my own. Oh well fuck! Of course I can’t plan everything that will happen in the future but I do like having a plan.

Any advice, words of encouragement? Do you run your own daycare? Are you completely clueless in the area but have something to say? Have you opened a business? Tell me I’m crazy if you want! I would love to hear from ALL of you.

Thanks!