If you have a passion for working with children, there are several careers that can allow you to make a positive impact and find fulfillment. Helping kids grow and learn about the world can be incredibly rewarding. Consider exploring these career options to find a job that you truly love.
There are so many ways to help young people. Consider the skills you currently have or what you’d like to study in college courses to chart a path that leads to assisting children as they grow into successful, happy adults.
1. Teacher
Students depend on teachers for so many things. They need role models, instructors, and friends all rolled into one person who leads their classroom each day. You could become that person for them and take your skills to various school settings.
Preschool teachers watch young kids learn their first lessons. You could spend your days leading art projects or conducting activities that develop your fine motor skills.
You might also get an education to teach in grade-school classrooms. The kids would be over five years old and need more textbook instruction to prepare for their next grade level. Picking between teaching positions will depend on what age group you want to work with and what you want to teach.
2. Daycare Worker
People who work in daycares create second homes for the kids who depend on them throughout the week. Your career could involve teaching kids hands-on activities while creating safe play environments for them to make friends. You’d also have considerable job security as the field grows by 6% each year due to the ever-present need for childcare.
3. Behavior Analyst
Board-certified behavior analysts have unique careers in child development. They watch kids and parents learn their daily behaviors and create plans to improve how they interact. They also often help families with children with developmental disabilities or brain injuries by noting behavioral issues and developing goals to monitor each client’s progress.
This rewarding career does require a thorough education. Behavior analysts complete their undergraduate degrees in related subjects like psychology, then complete 1,500 hours of fieldwork before passing the 150-question exam from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB).
It may take time to start in this job field, but you would use your training to help families every day, which might be the rewarding career change you’re searching for.
4. Children’s Librarian
After earning a master’s in Library Science, you could become a children’s librarian in a public or school library. People in that job help kids research information and find new books to support their interests or education. They can also lead library-centered activity hours or events, depending on how they want to help the kids who visit their library.
5. Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist
When people start looking for careers in child development, they often consider becoming speech-language pathologists. Kids may develop or acquire communication disorders at birth. A speech-language pathologist is an expert who teaches them how to swallow, eat, speak and develop receptive language skills.
You could perform this job in a hospital, school, clinic, or private practice setting. Children need this assistance worldwide, so your work setting would vary based on where you want to live. Add this role to your list of careers working with children to ensure you consider every option before starting a new job or educational path.
6. Family Photographer
Anyone with an eye for photography and the passion to open a business could become a family photographer. You’d work exclusively with families to document annual photos, back-to-school moments, and even birthday parties. Managing your professional schedule and being your own boss could improve your daily anxiety symptoms if a more traditional job structure isn’t the right fit for you.
7. Pediatric Dentist
People in pediatric dentistry roles perform regular cleanings for their clients, but they also specialize in pediatric-specific dentistry issues. You could help kids with cavities, teach them to stop sucking their thumbs, manage their gum diseases, or repair their dental injuries.
In addition to four years in dental school, you’d need to complete two years in pediatric residency to specialize in your training before starting this career. However, this is another essential role required in every town, so you could perform this job anywhere your life takes you.
8. Social Worker
Social workers help kids in various settings. You could find employment as a social worker in a school system, a federal or state agency, or with a health care provider. In this position, you’d assist kids with their psychological and social skills while counseling parents about all things parenting.
You might also work with kids one-on-one to help them through mental health complications related to poverty, the foster care system, disabilities, or abuse. There are numerous opportunities to focus your social work education, so you could help young people in multiple ways throughout your career.
9. Child Psychologist
Mental health professionals who work with kids are child psychologists. They study the psychological development of children at various stages to help them cope with relationship problems, issues at home, mental health concerns, or developmental disabilities.
Using interventional methods like psychotherapy or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), you’d unravel complicated feelings or events with kids to teach them how to heal and process things. While reading any list of careers working with children, considering becoming a child psychologist could be the way for you to make the most positive difference in the world if you’re passionate about mental health.
10. Pediatric Physical Therapist
Physical therapy is helpful for all age groups. It’s about more than healing after hospitalization. It also covers issues like teaching kids how to walk when they have a developmental delay or gain motor control when they have a nerve disorder.
Pediatric physical therapists can help kids of all ages or only specific age groups. It depends on your specialty. Consider which types of physical therapy you’d want to study to pick your next career path.
11. Juvenile Justice Lawyer
Adults aren’t the only people caught up in the justice system. Young people also need representation for various reasons.
After earning your law degree and passing the bar exam, you could be the voice for kids involved in child abuse or child trafficking cases. They also need lawyers who specialize in the foster care and adoption system.
Kids also get arrested, so your law degree could lead to representing them in criminal cases. Whether you’re a juvenile justice lawyer active in a courtroom or working on litigation to improve legal systems for minors, your career could be more fulfilling in the legal world.
12. Nanny
People often think of nannies as babysitters, but they’re so much more than that. The position often appears on each list of careers working with children because they’re so in demand.
Nannies can operate private businesses and work with local families or host their nannying services at their homes. You could also nanny for a single wealthy client that provides a W2 form alongside health insurance and retirement benefits.
Whether you nanny for celebrities, politicians, wealthy families, or your neighbors, you’ll work with kids daily and teach them as they grow up. Nannies model healthy behaviors, relationship skills, and everyday life activities. It’s a vital role many kids need when both of their parents work and they’re too young to enter the school system or prefer to homeschool.
Research Careers Working With Children
There are numerous careers in child development to consider when contemplating a career change. Whether you’re in school, want to go back to school, or hope to use your current skills to make meaningful professional changes, you’ll find your next favorite job by researching positions like these.
Author – Beth is the Managing Editor and content manager at Body+Mind. She is passionate about writing about fitness, diet, fitness, mental health, and parenting. In her spare time, Beth enjoys trying out new fitness routines and recipes.
