By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Children watch you, so compassion is important, said Hays Area Children's Center teacher Karen Thomason.
"If you don't show compassion to another person, how can you teach [compassion]?" she said. "Kids watch you. You can't say we're teaching you compassion or sharing or giving or turn taking if they don't see it come from you."
She said it helps build children who grow up to be giving and become involved in organizations and their community. It starts as young as the 2-1/2 years olds she has in her class.
"They watch every move you make," she said, "They can tell by your voice if you're happy. ... I will stand behind that 100 percent. You can't fake with little kids. ... They can sense it on you."
Thomason was nominated for the Hays Post Teacher of the Month by her lead para.
"Karen is the most positive person I know, and she is like a grandma to everybody at the center," said Audrey Bieker, Thomason's lead para. "The kids adore her, and she is always coming up with new ways and strategies to help the children learn and grow in all aspects.
"She is so full of life. She loves the kids and her job, and she does it so well."
Bieker said she and the other paras look up to Thomason and seek her advice.
"She is the most kind-hearted and compassionate person I know, and there's nobody I could think of who would better deserve this than her," she said.
Thomason didn't set out to be a teacher. When it came time to send her children to school, she wanted to make sure they were with people who would care for them and love them, she said.
She was applying for another job, and during a break, someone noticed how well she did with some children who were acting up. She ended up landing a job in early childhood education and went on to receive her child development associate's degree.
Thomason, who now teaches 2-1/2- through 4-year-olds, has been with the Hays Area Children's Center since the Community Child Care Center merged with Early Childhood Development Center to form the HACC in the 1980s.
"We went through a lot of growth and good changes," she said. "We are always still changing and developing for early childhood."
Within the last several years, the Kansas Department of Education has put a new emphasis on early childhood education and kindergarten readiness.
"In the child's development, so much is achieved in the first three years," Thomason said, "anything from empathy to their physical development, their social development, how they interact with other people when they build those bonds and securities."
From where Thomason started 30 years ago, early childhood specialists have learned the importance of nutrition, and the children are learning more academically.
"Socialization is so important," Thomason said. "Even kindergarten teachers will tell you, the academics — they have to have certain requirements obviously — but that social, those self-help skills that we teach them in those early years are very important when they start school."
Having a nurturing learning environment builds confidence, she said.
"My philosophy is that I care and love them all," she said. "I want to do what is best for each one as an individual."
The children are in a classroom setting, but the focus is on individual needs, Thomason said.
Instead of learning colors or shapes through a lecture or worksheet, the children learn through play. They might go on a color hunt, or they might learn animal sounds by playing with a toy barn.
You have to stay positive and upbeat, Thomason said, because the kids can tell if you're not.
Her favorite teacher when she was attending Catholic school in Munjor was her second-grade teacher, Sister Frances Rose — a strict, but a good nun, Thomason said, who also cared deeply for her students.
"She knew everyone had their strengths and weaknesses," Thomason said. "I kind of still have that philosophy today. They all have their strengths. We all have our strengths. I am here to help you get stronger in one area."
She said she loves seeing a child learn something new.
"Just when they master something or something joyful has happened to them. When they light up, I think, 'Yes!' I have helped them, and we have mastered something. ... The little light bulb goes off and 'I got it.' "
Thomason said one of her greatest rewards is giving to other parents the same comfort she sought as a mother who was returning to work.
"I have had parents tell me that they think about their children, but they know their children are safe and being well taken care of," she said, "and they don't have that extra worry in the back of their minds."
Having taught for three decades, Thomason, 61, has taught children of the children she had in class and many of those parents still remember her.
"It makes me want to tear up," she said. ... "I think they are always a part of your life."
She keeps track of her students after they leave the HACC — through elementary school and high school.
"I look at the high school graduation and there is Susie or Bobby still looks like he did when he was little," she said. ... "You never really forget your kids."