The Y's Karen Kane (Image: Submitted)
For YMCA of Greater Saint John child care educator Karen Kane, 35 years went by in the blink of an eye.
She started out as an on-call babysitter, then began working at the Y part-time.
“I started working in the daycare when they needed someone to fill in there and then the supervisor realized, ‘hey, she’s got potential,’” said Kane, adding she began night classes twice a week to complete her Early Childhood Education (ECE) certificate.
She has worked at six different YMCA locations and primarily works with the three-to-four-year-olds, and for a short time with five-year-olds. She loves their curiosity and inquisitiveness, and how they are so excited to learn while allowing her to express her own creativity through daily lessons and activities.
Kane adds there is still a lot that has remained the same across 35 years. Kids still want to run around outside, play with toys and be creative with painting and play dough, with technology being incorporated into their play.
“It amazes me through the 35 years how much they know of technology, it amazes me,” she said. “I had to get one of them to show me how to turn an iPad on when we first got iPads – kids just absorb everything and they’re so adaptable.”
Kane has made a positive impact on the lives of more than 600 families in her 35 years at the Y, which she is incredibly proud of. She even runs into former Y staff members and parents from over the years, who fill her in on how her former charges are doing.
“You have to be a certain kind of person to do this job this length of time,” she said, noting that kind of person is someone with patience, strength, perseverance, resilience, and flexibility.
Kane continues her impact through mentoring new staff, many of whom call her their “work mom,” to help them grow and develop in different best practices in child care.
“What’s been really cool … is seeing where the Y was 35 years ago, and how much even the [child care] has changed and grown … how I’ve grown through working here 35 years,” she said.
