*Autobiography*

Hi, my name is Amanda Camen I am 35 years old. I was born in Davenport IA in

1983. I also have a brother and a sister. Growing up I attended many schools for
elementary and middle school because my mom didn’t like to stay in one area for more
than a year. When I was around 11, I started watching children along with my brother
and sister. Money was tight growing up, so my mom was always working
and I was there for my siblings. My mom told me all the time that I was going to have a
job being around children also a baby making machine (Laughing). I would always play
school with the neighborhood children and my brother and sister in the summertime. I
enjoyed taking care of children and teaching them.

I was 14 when I started working, I started at McDonald’s and was there for about a
year. I worked many other fast food restaurants and was never happy at any of them. I
also tried working at bar/restaurant and still not happy with that. I just didn’t feel like I
belonged with any of these jobs. What my mom told me when I was younger always
stuck in my head. I just needed to finish my school to be able to move on with my life. I
was 19 and met my first husband. We got married at 20 and had a wonderful son that I
named David. That marriage didn’t last very long. I was a single mom for a year. I
meant my new husband in a yahoo chat room in 2004. We hit it off right away talked for
a couple weeks and then I packed up my stuff and my son and moved to Wisconsin and
at the time I was living in Iowa. We dated for 2 years and got married December of
2006. In April of 2006 we had a wonderful baby girl. In 2010 we had anther baby girl,
2013 came around and a baby boy was born. In 2017 we found out we were having yet
anther baby girl. In October 2019 we were blessed with our last baby girl even though
my son wanted a baby brother it didn’t happen that way.

In 2006 I was having trouble finding a job and had a friend that needed some one to
watch her children, so I took them in. I had more friends looking for care, so I called the
county and got certified and enjoyed being home raising my children and being able to
bring money into the home. I was so excited to do what I loved. I was able to do it for 2
years than we had to move and lost all my children and was not able to redo my
certification. So back to working out of the home so I tried factory work and did not care
for that at all. So, I was able to get some financial help and go to school for my CNA
license. I did that for about 6 year living in Barron. I enjoyed it very much because I was
still taking care of people. It was getting very hard working 16 hour shifts 4 days a week
and I was missing out on my children growing up and was becoming burnt out. We
moved to Rice lake in 2015 and trying to figure out a way to stay home and still bring
money in cause at the time we had 4 children and bills adding up. I asked around about
babysitting again. Right away I had people in need of childcare. I did it for 2 years and
then in 2018 I got licensed and have been enjoying every moment of it. It’s a joy to be
able to help others and stay home and raise my own children.

To say the least, I have jumped though many loops and opportunities to be where I
am today. I am so glad that growing up I had many opportunities to be around children.
Also, I thank my mom for telling me that I would do great with kids. I also thank all the
parents that let me take care of their children. With out working parents I would not be in
the great situation that I am in. I am growing every day. I am so blessed to be able to
take the preschool credential to better myself and my childcare.