I want to do Child Life. That's what I'll tell you if you ask, but most people won't know what that means. So this page is dedicated to explaining a little bit about what that means, since it is a huge part of my life and my passion.
I want to become a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS), which are trained professionals with expertise in helping children and their families overcome life’s most challenging events (from the Child Life Council website). Along with that…
"They provide emotional support for families, and encourage optimum development of children facing a broad range of challenging experiences, particularly those related to healthcare and hospitalization."
"Because they understand that a child’s wellbeing depends on the support of the family, child life specialists provide information, support and guidance to parents, siblings, and other family members."
"They also play a vital role in educating caregivers, administrators, and the general public about the needs of children under stress."
In my words I want to work in a hospital. I don't want to be a nurse or doctor. I want to help children cope, through what they know how to do best, be kids. I want to help them understand what a heart surgery is by demonstrating on their teddy bear. I want to distract them from IV's with bubbles and toys. I want to make sure that in the midst of chemo they still get to play. I want families to feel comfortable in the hospital, I don't want siblings to be left out. I want to make Christmas at the hospital just as fun as the one at home and I want to make sure sicks kids still get to make messes and paint and play dress-up because nothing should stop a kid from being a kid.
It may sound like an easy path of taking some development classes and blowing bubbles with kids my whole life, but that is the farthest possible thing from it.
Child life is an incredibly competitive field. At Iowa I will have to apply to the program, of which they accept ten of eighty to a hundred applicants each spring. If I make it into that I will continue to volunteer and keep up my GPA to get into a good internship, take the four hour certification test, and try to find a job.
There are approximately 5,000 hospitals in the United States. 400 of these have child life programs. Fewer than that have internships. That may sound like a lot, but when I'm competing with every other child life student in the United States for a limited number of spots it's not.
This is my dream. I will stop at nothing to someday find myself in a large children's hospital as a CCLS. It won't be easy, but I know that this is where I am called. This is the dream.
Child Life Poem:
What I’m not:
A nurse.
A doctor.
A social worker.
A “Keeper of the Toys.”
A magical “make-this-kid-not-cry” person.
Only someone to play with the kids.
I’m not superfluous.
What I am:
I am a teacher,
A helping hand,
A support,
An advocate,
An active listener,
A therapeutic touch,
And a child development specialist
Every.
Single.
Day.
I am an OR prep-er,
An IV teacher,
A de-coder of PICC, VCUG, MRI and NG,
A distraction provider,
An inpatient support,
And a guide and voice for siblings
All in the same day.
I am calm despite cancer, CAT scans, and catheters.
I am strong in the face of syncope, sickle cell, and surgery.
Kids can’t always do these things for themselves.
That’s why I’m here.
I am deliberate in all of my actions and words
Because I use the language of children
And it has power.
I am flexible and go where I’m needed
Because children can’t always be flexible
About when they’re going to freak.
I am not here to merely play with children,
give them toys, and distract them
With “SpongeBob”.
I’m a Child Life Specialist.
When kids say they can’t, I tell them they can.
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