Which careers are good if I enjoy working with kids?

Traditional careers where you work with kids include becoming a teacher in daycare, preschool, or elementary school.

But if you're interested in doing something other than teaching, jobs where you are exposed to kids often include: pediatrician, a nurse in a children's hospital, child psychologist, a researcher (on psychology, behavior, nutrition, health) focused on children, a child advocate (lawyer, social worker), work in a toy store, work in a zoo or petting zoo, work as a face painter/clown/or entertainer for children, write children's books or music for children, design / build toys or playgrounds for kids.

In other words, there are lots and lots of ways you can work with kids on a daily basis, so it also depends on what else you like to do.

A lot of people who want to work with kids but not teach think about working at non-profit organizations that serve kids - these are sometimes called youth development organizations. You could be working with kids, middle schoolers or high schoolers, and these organizations do tons of different things. They could be trying to help get more kids to go to college or working with youth in a sports context or providing academic help with homework. Another idea is to consider museums, which are also non-profits, because they almost always have an education department; that way you can sometimes combine an interest in working with kids with some other cultural or artistic interest, depending on the institution: fine arts at an art museum, like the Museum of Modern Art; performing arts at a dance company, like Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; music at a music hall, like Carnegie Hall, etc.

You can also consider working in a museum. Most museums have educators who create and lead K-12 programs at the museum for visiting teachers and students. Go to any major museum's website and you'll see their education section to get a sense of the variety of programs that educators create for museums. An excellent college to train to be a museum educator is the Bank Street College of Education (I believe it is affiliated with Columbia University in NYC).

A Daycare Or DSS

Play Therapist are pretty cool occupation. Also, there is an organization called PlayWorks that has full -time salary position that are kid related.

You can also look into the toy industry where they conduct focus group to find out if the new product (toy) they plan to release will be enjoyed by the kids.