Damien Tinkham knows from life experience how impactful NurturEd Early Learning Center is. Mr. Damien, 18, is wildly popular at NurturEd, where children call out his name the minute they come in the door.
That ability to relate so well partially comes from his age, says this teacher’s aide, and partly because he knows a lot about their lived experience because he was in their shoes. He said they’re different with him, and he enjoys having that connection.
Mr. Damien’s mom, Tiffany, is the administrator at the Cumberland NurturEd location at the intersection of Diamond Hill Road, Bear Hill Road, and Angell Road, and he came here as a child himself before starting to work here nearly three years ago.
“They’re just fun,” says Mr. Damien of the children he interacts with every day. “They think I’m fun, too. The kids always laugh at me.”
Children really do say the funniest things, says Mr. Damien, of Central Falls, and he’s lost count of how many times they’ve tried to marry him off to one person or another in the building. Part of why he loves this job, he said, is that he hears so many things he wouldn’t necessarily hear in typical adult society.
This LaSalle Academy graduate’s love of children extends to the goals for his career, which involve going to Florida Southern College to study biology and to eventually become a pediatric emergency medicine doctor.
Mr. Damien’s schedule to this point has brought him to work at NurturEd in the afternoons, and though he’s headed to college soon, he hopes to still come back to work here when he can.
“I’m going to miss it, especially this group of kids,” he said. “They have a ton of personality.”
Always a standout student, he says he plans to put in the hard work to get to where he wants to be in life, and the start of everything will always be at NurturEd. The place has a lot of sentimental value, added Mr. Damien, partly because he came here as a student first.
When he’s not at EMT school or at the gym, said Mr. Damien, he’s usually being active, including his time as a dancer. He loves to eat, hang out with friends, and absolutely loves Florida and Disney World, which is why he chose a school in that state.
Asked what he sees as one of the top misconceptions about childcare services, Mr. Damien says too many people overcomplicate children and who they are. While it’s important to study and develop best practices based on the information available, he said, “at the end of the day, they’re pretty simple, and it’s easy to make them laugh.” He said he’s learned so much personally through all of his experiences here.