thoughts on the last day of work

I am no longer employed. I quit my job earlier this month because I'm going back to school full-time. It's been an interesting place to work so I thought I would share some thoughts:

as much as I liked the baby room, I preferred being with three year olds. They're better conversationalists, for one. Fewer diapers. Less feeling like I was going to doing something wrong and seriously damage someone. 

It took me longer than expected to stop being so sick all the time. Until the first week of February, I had a cold on and off every two weeks. The sickness in general wasn't a shock, but the hit my immune system had to take certainly was unpleasant. Kids are apparently quite germy. Oh well, we were all there once. 

I am absolutely, without a doubt, certain that children need discipline. The time-outs we were allowed to give really were not that effective. I'm not sure of the home life for most of the kids there, but it didn't seem like most were getting told "no" or taught to respect authority. That makes them hard to deal with for us, but I kept thinking of the issues rising from that which will escalate and probably continue into adulthood. This is a soapbox for me now. 

Not going to daycare as a kid myself, I wasn't sure what to expect. I think I anticipated working with grumpy, yelling people all day. On the contrary, my co-workers were actually great. I think it was the other kids that make daycare not a fun place. There are some really mean kids out there! 

The atmosphere as a whole was not that bad. I didn't hate working at a daycare (except when I had to get up early to be at work at 7:30. I remember being a morning person and I wonder when that changed). This was a job that changed some of my views on things, gave me a new experience behind my back, and honestly, told me that I don't love taking care of other people's kids all day. Not 20 of them in a room, anyway. 

I still like kids, I don't consider daycares to be "birth-control" or other things I've heard, but that many kids in one room for an entire day is a huge thing. I definitely respect people that can work in this field for years and years. Helping a child grow and develop is hard in such a large-scale setting. They need one-on-one and it's a bit frustrating not to give it to them. I hope to raise my children at home. It's not a perfect world so I shouldn't get prideful and say I will or it's the only way, but I do believe the ideal setting to be at home. 

Just some parting thoughts.