(This is my answer for "Describe your experiences with children. Reflect on what you have learned from these experiences." This is for my application to teacher education.)
Where children are concerned, you can expect the unexpected. Even the best plans have to be flexible.
While coming home from school with my three children one day, I was planning in my mind everything we were going to do when we got home: math homework first, then play a game that would help Jordan and Ashley with their spelling words and Hailey with recognizing her numbers. While I prepared supper I thought we could use a potato for a science project that was on the back of a handout they'd brought home earlier. They were going to learn a lot academically that afternoon. I had it all planned.
However, as we drove into the driveway, Ashley asked if they could play outside. We'd been cooped inside with cold weather for a long time and it was beautiful that day. I checked the time and told them they had fifteen minutes before we needed to start homework. Jordan pulled out her bike – the one without training wheels. I figured this day would be like all of the other days in the past year and a half. I would steady the bike while they pedaled in the yard, and they would tire of it after only a couple minutes. We would still have time for all of the projects I had planned.
However, this day was different. I let go quickly after Jordan started. And she kept going – and going! She then tried on the driveway and she was riding her bike on concrete! She wanted to do it again and again and was getting better each time. Then Ashley wanted to try. Ashley had yet to allow me to let go of the bike and had been pretty scared of the entire idea. She kept saying she was scared this time too. I told her, “Ashley, sometimes you just do it, even when you're scared. I'm scared of getting a teaching degree too. What if this is just some crazy idea? What if I go through all of these classes, spend all of this money to get a degree, and then fall flat on my face when I actually try to teach? What if I'm not any good at it? It's scary. However, right now, I feel that it's what God is calling me to do. So I keep doing it. I'm scared, but I keep doing it.” A few minutes later, Ashley told me to let go. And she kept going! Maybe not as far as Jordan, but she had made a major leap forward by telling me to let go. Then she wanted to do it again, and again.
Did they learn more spelling that day? Did we get the science experiment done? No. Instead, they gained self-confidence. They learned to face obstacles and keep going. On the other hand, I learned to be more flexible and constantly reevaluate my priorities. Think what I would have missed that day had I stayed on my schedule!
I've had a lot of experiences with children: I've volunteered in various capacities in children's ministry at church in the past fifteen years and recently have spent almost three years as the director of a four-year-old Sunday School. I have three children that keep me on my toes every day. Children can surprise you with something new every day. When you thought you would have to do something for them, you learn that they figured out how to do it by themselves. When you have all your plans laid out and your to-do list written, they have a way of changing your priorities. No matter how much preparation you have, they'll throw you a curve by doing something totally unexpected. My experience from all of my experiences? My experience is that I'm a student too. I still have a lot to learn from them.