I found out about the job of child life specialist in a child development class in college. It was a friday class which meant many students skipped it, but being the type-a leo that I am, I never missed a class. It was during this lecture one day that the professor briefly mentioned Chid Life. And I mean.. briefly.. I'm talking "... and another job opportunity with children is the role of child life specialist. Ok, moving on". I jotted down the name and looked it up online when I got home. It was love at first sight. I ran to my roommates room jumping up and down yelling 'this is it! this is what im going to be!".
I don't want to age myself, but this was back in the age of tumblr, pinterest, and blogs. I looked all over the internet for more about child life - anything that could give me a glimpse into the day to day of a REAL child life specialist. Nothing. So, I did what any ambitious college student wouldve done, I made my own blog!
Adventures in child life began on tumblr when I was just studying child development. I kept up the blog through volunteeering at childrens hospitals, my practicum, my internship, my first job, grad school, my second job, the pandemic, leaving the career due to burn out, and up until today where I am back and better than ever sharing tips and making resources to sell on my shop.
I'm so grateful to have gotten lots of recognition for my blog in the past, from finding it tucked away in my grad school syllabus under "suggested resources" to being recognized by followers at a conference and being asked for photos. My blog was my favorite companion on my adventure in child life and still continues to be.
Times have changed and blogs aren't really a thing anymore, but I did find this blog section of my website & it's made me so nostalgic for the days I used to share stories from working at the hospital & what it was all really like. Maybe we bring blogs back? Do we still have the attention span for that?
Stay tuned for more!