When you stop and think about it, every person on this earth was once a little boy or girl. World leaders, great scientists, influential novelists, and famous artists were all kids once, and their only concerns revolved around snack time, naptime, and bedtime.
Sure, sure, you’re thinking. What’s the point? Well, the point is that if you love kids and you’re interested in pursuing an early childhood development associate degree, you’re giving yourself the chance to majorly impact the leaders and thinkers of tomorrow.
Children have three times as many neurons as we do which means they’re incredible learners, and scientists have widely realized that the first three years of a child’s life are the most important for their development. This means that as their teacher you have a pretty big influence on the person they’ll become later on down the road.
If an associate degree in early childhood development sounds interesting, then wait until you actually start your classes. You’ll be learning the latest teaching techniques, how to design and implement a curriculum, infant and toddler development, foundations of child development, creativity exercises, how to teach gifted children, children’s literature, and much, much more.
Plus, once you have graduated with your associate degree in early childhood education and are actually working in the field, your days will be filled with lots of fun, and lots of challenges. During a typical day, you might be responsible for doing some of these tasks:
- Designing classroom presentations
- Convert data into practical, classroom applications
- Create esteem building exercises for students
- Monitor the learning styles of students to ensure they’re not lagging behind
- Customizing teaching styles to fit students’ needs
- Organize parent/teacher conferences
- Resolving behavioral problems
You also stand a pretty good chance of finding a good job in this field. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the childcare and development field is expected to grow by at least 14% in the next few years. Wages are slowly on the rise as well, especially at the nicer facilities.
If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur then this is a field you could make significantly more than the national average by owning your own business. Owners of day care facilities do very well, and once you got your business up and running your responsibilities would mainly include developing curriculums and running the business. The hands-on childcare would be left to your employees.
If you love kids and are interested in embarking on a career that will influence the people of tomorrow, then getting an early childhood development associate degree is a necessary first step. Many students love their experience in this field and go on to get their Bachelor’s Degree in Education, which allows them to teach elementary, middle, and high school students. Still others keep going to get their Master’s Degree in Education, which allows you to teach the teachers of tomorrow, or even get involved in research.
There’s no doubt that getting an associate degree in early childhood development can put you on a fascinating path to a great, rewarding career. Good luck, and happy teaching!
"...in the big picture, people with associate degrees make more than people with high school diplomas. "
"Many students enroll in a 2-year college with the intention of transferring to a 4-year college and obtaining a bachelor’s degree."
"...the more degreed-education you have, the less likely you are to be unemployed."