What are the Pros and Cons in becoming a Child Life Specialist?

I have a BA in Psychology and have been teaching. I want to pursue a career in the health care field and am wondering about going to grad school to be a Child Life Specialist. What are people's opinions?What are the Pros and Cons in becoming a Child Life Specialist?I am a child life specialist. I love my job, so I'm a bit biased and can think of more pros than cons. But I'll try.



CONS:

-The pay. Similar to teaching or slightly less depending on where you are.

-The hours can be rough, depending on the job. While I work a typical 9-5 schedule 5 days a week and only have to cover 1 holiday a year and 1 weekend a month, other positions have more unfortunate schedules, like working every other holiday, working weekends, etc.

-The ability to actually get a job. There are more child life specialists out there than child life jobs. Often times, people must be willing to move to get a child life job.

-The burn out rate is VERY high. It's an emotionally draining job and you really have to make an effort to take care of yourself so that you don't quickly burn out.



PROS:

-It can be a FUN job! =)

-I get to play!

-I can see that what I do makes a difference in the lives of many children and families.

-It doesn't get boring- no day is exactly like another. A typical day for me could include doing medical play or medical art in the playroom, distracting 15 kids during procedures, explaining to a new patient what his diagnosis is, making a memory box with siblings of a child who is at end of life, going to a school visit to teach a patient's classmates about cancer, running a community health event, attending a fundraiser, watching Toy Story three times in a row with a child who isn't well enough to do anything else, running a sibling support group, attending a meeting with parents and hospital staff about how to make it a better place, accepting donations, taking the local NFL team around to meet the patients, doing a pre-op tour... or any combination of the above. It's never the same, and there's always something going on.

-The job does involve a lot of teaching- diagnosis teaching, medication teaching, coping skills teaching, etc. But I'm able to adapt my teaching to each individual child and the way he or she learns instead of teaching to a group. While one child might learn better from a book about leukemia and me talking, another might not be able to grasp what leukemia is without an actual activity, like making blood soup and learning about the blood cells that way.



I'm having a hard time coming up with a list of pros, because it's not really specific things that keep me in this job. I really enjoy my job. I love that each day presents challenges and something different. I love that every child is different and I have to find a way to reach each child differently. I love that the kids are so accepting of each other (I work in hematology/oncology, so the patients become very close.) I love that kids are still kids, no matter what's going on- that even if they're feeling really awful, if really terrible stuff is happening, they're still kids. Yeah, they may have chemo running into them and be facing a rough prognosis, but what matters is still if we have enough purple sparkle paint or if they get the good IV pole with the good wheels so it's easier to ride on it.



There are horrible days in child life. When I have a bad day at work, I don't mean people were grumpy and things didn't get done. I mean a child died. And that's horrendous. There's no way to find anything okay in that, and it NEVER gets easier. And one of the rough things about that is that other people, outside the children's hospital world, really can't stand to hear about it, so it's difficult to talk about your job without making people sad. But as hard as all that is, for every child I've known who has died, I have been so honored to have known that child. And for every child who has died, there have been 50 more who have survived. And that doesn't make any of it okay, but it makes it okay for me to be doing this job. I'm not able to explain this well, and it may not be something anyone can truly understand until they're in the field.



Okay, I've gone on long enough... I hope this gives you some insight!What are the Pros and Cons in becoming a Child Life Specialist?Hi Ms. Monkey,

TruSnap gave a pretty accurate and honest portrait of what being a Child Life Specialist is like. Bottom line: it is very rewarding, but very demanding.

I just came across a new magazine for Child Life Specialists called Light Spinner Quarterly. It's jam packed with information about the field, organizations related to it, articles, etc. Most importantly, it is a publication that supports and validates the field and Specialists themselves. Specialists get to tell their stories, which help others in processing things that could otherwise cause burnout. Maybe check out their site lightspinnerquarterly.org

Pros: It is a field where you are making a genuine difference, it changes and strengthens your character. As adults, we can all look back and remember that one person that made a difference in our lives as children. For many, it's a teacher, for some it was a coach or family member. The kids that are growing up now get to look back and thank a Child Life Specialist for being that person.



Cons: Because you are dealing so heavily with the psycho/social domains of children, emotions can run high and eventually run thin. Be sure you use your support system and learn proper boundaries to ensure you are well taken care of and can go the distance. You have to know yourself pretty well before going into a giving field. Some things are a matter of perspective.



The best of luck in your choice!