Veronica K.

“ Since I was 12 years old I have been babysitting for family members and family friends. The children's ages ranged from a 2 months to 12 years old and could range to up to 4 children at a time. During my first year of college, a family contacted me and I cared for their 4 children during the school year. The last three summers I have worked as a counselor at Spring Hill camps. The first 2 summers were at the...

Since I was 12 years old I have been babysitting for family members and family friends. The children's ages ranged from a 2 months to 12 years old and could range to up to 4 children at a time. During my first year of college, a family contacted me and I cared for their 4 children during the school year. The last three summers I have worked as a counselor at Spring Hill camps. The first 2 summers were at the overnight camp and I worked with high school campers from the ages of 13 to 18. Those years, along with co-counselors, I was responsible for the physical and emotional care of the campers. They stayed for 2 weeks at a time and we took them to fun activities, had small group discussions and worked alongside of them in community service projects. This past summer (2011) I worked for the Spring Hill day camps in the Indiana and Grand Rapids areas. The children's ages ranged from 5 to 9 years old. Throughout the day, with a co-counselor, we cared for the physical and emotional needs of campers. We had fun participating in high adventure, water and nature activities with the campers. We also had small group discussions. The children ate lunch and snack at camp. I was responsible for making sure they ate enough, cared any possible injuries and maintained security by signing them out with appropriate parents/caregivers. In addition, during staff training we were instructed on food safety, child neglect, first-aid, fire and tornado safety.
Over the years I've enjoyed spending time with the children by playing games, making crafts and being innovative with creative lunchtime or dinner settings (example: picnic lunch). My cousins would tell you I like building forts and cooking dinner. During down time or nap time I make sure toys or the like are cleaned up. I prefer being outside with the children as long as weather is permitting. I think kids should be active as much as possible and not spend so much time watching TV or playing video games.
In addition, I graduated from Grand Valley State University in December 2010 with a major in Psychology and minor in Sociology. Over my years there I have taken child development, lifespan development, psychology of the exceptional child, and numerous other classes with child and family dynamics incorporated. In my final semester of undergraduate school I had an internship with the school psychologist at an early childhood center. Finally, I am currently attending graduate school for a Master's of arts in counseling psychology with the intention of pursuing family counseling.

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