Only with me. Mayyybe once a year, someone else will be blessed with her leaning against a leg. But she only ever seeks me out and she insists on daily cuddles on my shoulder. If I’m laying down far enough, then she also likes when I lean my head against hers.
I am 23 years old. I graduated college last year with a degree in social work. I found a full time job in my field that pays $19 an hour, and I also have benefits such as health, dental, and vision insurance. They also offer a 401k plan which I put 8% of my paycheck into.
With my current income, I can’t reasonably afford an apartment on my own. I’ve heard only that it’s recommended no more than 30% of your monthly income should go towards housing, which gives me a bit under $700. Considering rent prices plus utilities, the best I’d be able to do is a shabby studio. So I’m stuck living with my parents until I find someone to split rent with or find a higher paying job.
I do have savings. Roughly $10,000 at the moment, which is about the amount of student debt I have. I want to keep that cushion, so I haven’t paid it all off yet but intend to by the new year. Additionally, due to an injury as a kid that left permanently facial scars, I get three settlement payments of $10,000, $10,000, and $20,000 when I am 18, 24, and 30. So once I get that settlement later this year, I’ll have a larger cushion in my savings.
Since I’m currently living with my parents, I do get to save more of my paychecks. They only have me pay for my groceries, which totals maybe $250-500 a month. Other regular spending includes cat food, litter, and hobby materials which all together is maybe $100 a month but probably less. I go out very sporadically for things like movies or pre-prepared food. I treat unnecessary things like that as a special treat and plan spending for it.
Overall, for being a young adult that recently graduated, I feel like I’m in a good place. Good savings, full time job with benefits, and I do well with saving my money. However, I can’t afford rent, things are only getting more expensive, and social work in general does not pay the best. I worry about what the future holds. Ideally, I’ll have a partner and duel income will surely help, but I would like to have the ability to be fully independent if it’s needed.
What should I be aiming for? Do I need a higher paying job? Am I screwed if I stay in my field? Or am I doing fine and need to just relax?
So I’m no longer a teacher but I do work with 0-6 as a consultant now. I have a kid around 5 that I’ve been working with who doesn’t participate in lessons and usually acts like he doesn’t care and just would rather play. After some prompting, he admitted to me that he doesn’t know his letters, and doesn’t like doing the review with them because he gets them wrong. He is very resistant to activities where he knows the goal is teaching him things. “I’ll just learn them next year.”
So, I had an idea. I am exciting to try it and want to share but would also love feedback and some other ideas I can provide to his teachers to help make learning his letters more fun.
The school has letter blocks already. And I have a small beach ball that I’m going to write all the letters on. I’ll be working with another teacher so there will be three of us in the group. The idea is that we toss the ball and see what letter a finger is closest too. No pressure to recognize the name, but rather you can describe the letter, and the other two people race to see who can find the matching letter block first. And of course if the letter is only described, I make mention of the name too so he can build those associations. We keep track of points (he likes games with winners), and then we can give him a prize from the schools treasure box after.
I’m also thinking of approaching it as “hey, I’m trying to create a game and want to test it to see if it’s fun, could you help me out? You can help me figure out the rules too.” Which I think will lessen the feeling that I’m trying to teach him things.
So, what do you all think as teachers and parents? What other ideas do you have that could make this better or that I could do as separate activities?