Kids

I spent this last summer working full-time with kids. I had never before spent so many consecutive hours with children, nor had I spent so much of my week at a job. Up until this point, all of my jobs had been part-time and my interactions with children had been in short bursts of a few hours at the most, as opposed to spending all day with them.
From this experience though, I have learned a few things that might be helpful when interacting with kids from a position of authority, such as a parent, a teacher, a babysitter, and so on.

1. Kids will rise to meet your expectations. If you are assuming that the child(ren) are going to ignore your directions and be disrespectful toward you, that is exactly what you are going to get. However, if you tell them that you have high (yet reasonable) expectations, they will test the boundaries at first, but if you stay strong and don't give in to the tears and attitude that may come, they will change their behavior to match what you expect of them.
2. Giving children the opportunity to earn lost privileges back is more likely to result in acceptance of poor behavior and follow-through on the consequence. Simply stated, if you take away a certain privilege for a certain amount of days, or forever, as a consequence for bad behavior, they won't feel the need to make things right with their misbehavior. If the child knows he will be able to watch TV again in two weeks, it will be frustrating for him, but the time will pass and he will not have done anything to earn it back. If a little girl is using her toy to hurt others, taking it away forever will discourage and upset her, and she will eventually find a way to start hurting others with something else. However, if the child has to earn back the toy and TV watching privileges, it gives the child a sense of responsibility for what they did wrong and gives them an opportunity to make it right before they can have their privileges back.
3. Relationships are key. If a child feels they can trust you and that you care about them, they are more likely to listen to and respect you. If you think about it, even adults are more willing to comply with the requests of people whom they care about and trust. It is important to build a relationship with children that is warm and affectionate mixed with good doses of firmness and gentle correction. I'll admit, the perfect balance between the two can be tricky to strike, and may even be different for everyone. While trying to navigate the two nearly opposing factors, just remember to be consistent with expectations, consequences, and other things that are black and white. 

Children are a precious and wonderful, albeit complicated and sometimes confusing, gift from God. Their innocence and naivety is a much needed reminder of how pure and lovely God's creations are. Even though they can be exhausting and frustrating, interacting with children consistently leaves me feeling more alive than most things. Someday, I want my own children. However, until then I will continue to learn from, play with, and teach the gifts that God has blessed others with.