How good are you with children?

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When I first came to Central Washington University, I was kind of forced to declare my major early, considering that I was studying music and music takes forever to complete. Anyway, I chose to study music education and teach high school band.

However, during a group meeting with my clarinet professor, a girl who completed her education studies began asking questions concerning children in middle school band. That raised the red flag that I just wouldn't be able to handle children very well. If I tried, I would probably blow up at them and get myself fired. Especially since I'm a perfectionist and I'm not very patient at times when it comes to getting people to play at my level of standard.

This is why I have chosen to drop music education and choose something else. I thought about studying social psychology and sociology in order to become a specialist in Autism and AS.

This is also why I'm curious on how well some of you handle children, ranging from 0-16 years of age. Is it possible for people with AS to be good teachers or good parents? Or, is it just me? I would certainly like to hear from some of you about this.

I get on really well with 8 years and under but older than that they drive me nuts and I want to perform violence on them. I was originally going to be a teacher but changed my mind as I couldn`t handle a class of 30 kids no matter what age.

You mean like Homer Simpson when he strangles Bart?

Heya. Just as a preface so you know where I'm coming from ... I don't think I have AS per se, but I have some clearly Asperger's (undiagnosed) first degree relatives and many such tendencies myself. My 19 month old son does, too. I am 24 years old.

I have a very high IQ and an analytical mind. I am the kind of person who would generally gravitate toward engineering, accounting, or science. When I take those "what is your ideal job?" quizzes, I always get results with minimal interpersonal interaction. However, the circumstances of my life thrust me into a position as an educator of preschoolers six years ago. Despite the fact that my brain isn't wired like a stereotypical outgoing super-creative preschool teacher's brain, I've done very well as a teacher, receiving awards and much praise for my approach to teaching and child care. After three years of teaching three-year-olds I went to Central America and spent some time volunteering with orphans. After that I worked exclusively with infants and presently I am a nanny to a toddler, as well as a mother to my own toddler.

This was not natural or easy for me, but working with children turned out to be an incredible blessing. It forced me into roles and actions outside of my comfort zone. It taught me how to give of myself and be less selfish. This was all a very gradual process. My first year as a teacher, I loved watching my students pick up new concepts, but I was highly impatient with their childishness. Like you (the OP) I am a perfectionist and I like to run a tight ship in the classroom. At first the only way I knew how to achieve that was by raising my voice and giving a lot of time-outs. I am really quite ashamed of the ignorant and irritable way I sometimes acted with children in the past.

But it was all part of the journey. I am so glad and grateful for these experiences caring for and educating children. If I had been in the kind of profession that comes naturally to my personality type, I think I would be a much more rigid and less gentle person today. I still run a tight ship, but I can now achieve this in a manner that is both firm and loving.

I also picked up skills crucial to parenting. My son can be a challenging little guy at times, especially as he has displayed some ASD behaviors. If I had not previously learned a good dose of patience and practical childcare skills, I would be totally lost right now. But because I have these abilites, I have been able to be a good advocate and teacher for my quirky boy.

Kids and I don't get along well. They're so little...and loud! I'm also terrible at pretending to care about what they're talking about. Then I feel like a terrible person for not caring, which makes me stressed, which makes me even less patient and caring.

I assist in leading a cubs group in South London; they're aged 9-10. I get on better with them than the adult leaders. They really enjoy my company. I'm the only leader that will run around with them and actually join in with their games. The other leaders just watch and, well, lead.

You mean, you're cancelling your career choice because you finally realised you'll be teaching children?

I drive a school bus part time and I remember during training my instructor told a story of a driver who quit after the first day saying, "I didn't know I'd be driving kids all day."

If you realise the children in your eventual band will more than likely be similar to you when you were in band, and I bet you could teach yourself. I was a band geek for ten years. If memory serves we were the most behaved kids in school.

Teachers yell and explode with students all the time, I've seen it. It's part of the job, don't let that stop you. All the enjoyment you'll get from teaching music will far outweigh any bad things that might occur.

My mum keeps saying I'm very good with children.

I dont talk to children unless they talk to me because I could care less about them.

I usually get along great with children, it's the teens/preteens I can't stand. In fact, sometimes I relate better to kids than adults.

im totally lost with kids that are not able to form their thoughts in speech. it all refrains to eye-contact, picking up gestures and th elike... and i just dont get it.
kids older than that, i come along very well with. these days, it seems to be usual to treat kids either completely at random or just belittle them and pretend grown-upness by not taking them serious. i, however, think of kids as potential non-idiots. it could be that any of them grows up to become an atypical nt, someone not so close-minded or just whatever way a cool person. therefore, i listen to what they have to say, talk to them, explain things etcetera... a lot of them youngsters seem to enjoy that.
also, kids that age usually are more dead-out honest because they didnt pick up yet to those strange mind games.

I am awful with kids. But I don't like them; never planning on having them when I'm older.

I like kids. I'm good at playing with them sometimes but crap at talking to them or reading to them.
My brothers like me 'cause I'm good at games and football though.

I'm better with beef or chicken, and on occasion I can do great things with pork, but I'm not bad with children.

Ok, ok, horrible joke over.

I can only deal with them up to a certain age. Once they start believing they "know everything," I just can't stand them. Not all kids of that rough age group are like that, but enough are that I'd be pulling my hair out. Now if I could pick and choose, only deal with the ones that I thought would be open-minded, concerned with more than how "great" they are, then yeah, I could probably do pretty well.

Strangely enough, I get along great with kids. I just can't stand to be around them. Except for mine, of course. Although the non-stop running monologue she's got going sometimes pushes it. I do like how kids tend to talk straight about most things so as long as you can beat down all of the pronouns, they tend to be clearer than most adults I've ever had the misfortune of speaking with.

I don't do well with children. I never liked doing kid things when I was kid so I just can't relate. I have an 11 year old son and am a single parent. I am not the best parent but I'm not the worst either. I put a great deal of effort into being a parent but I always seem to do a pretty mediocre job. My son seems to understand my being an aspie and I've explained to him that there are going to be things that I just won't understand or do very well.