It isn't every person that can look back on his or her career with a heartfelt sense of pride -- but then Mrs. Marie Tucker of Pembroke isn't just anyone.

For 15 years -- two as a volunteer and 13 as a paid employee -- "Tucker'', as she was affectionately known on the job, helped to shape the lives of dozens of Bermudian parents and children through her role in the Ministry of Education's US-imported Verbal Interaction Programme (or VIP), which aims to introduce youngsters between the ages of two and four to new concepts and skills in the comforting and nurturing presence of their parents.

This month, Mrs. Tucker retired from her founding position in the programme, which has also developed over the years into a powerful bonding tool for the parents and children taking part -- an aspect of the VIP that, in the course of its evolution, has become more and more important to the programme's emphasis and direction and more and more gratifying to staff like Mrs. Tucker.

"I have worked since I was 17,'' the one-time theatre cashier and teacher told Community recently from her home on the North Shore, "but I have only had five jobs. Out of the five, this has been the most rewarding.'' Rewarding, Mrs. Tucker said, in the sense that she felt she was making a difference -- not only in the lives of her young charges, who under the dictates of the programme would normally spend a total of up to two years in her company, but also in those of the parents, many of whom would be insecure or hesitant about their newly acquired roles.

"Many of the parents who came to us,'' Mrs. Tucker said, "would be referred to us by other services or would call us up themselves because they were concerned about their child's ability to learn.

"The programme was always fun, however. There would be no pressure. We were simply there to prepare the children for kindergarten.'' In a nutshell, Mrs. Tucker said, the five or so VIP staffers would accomplish their missions -- sometimes with varying results -- by employing such tools as building blocks and storybooks in one-on-one sessions with their clients -- the idea being, she said, to turn the children on to learning through play while simultaneously encouraging parents to take an active and increasingly influential role in the development of their child.

"Many of the parents, who included as many fathers as they did mothers, have often come to the VIP with the feeling that they are just doing everything wrong.

"Especially in Bermuda, parents tend to compare their children with the children of their neighbours. And if they aren't learning as quickly as their neighbours' children, they think: `There must be something wrong with them.' "We try,'' Mrs. Tucker continued simply, "to boost the parents' confidence in terms of their parenting skills, to tell them: `Don't worry about the child. Every child develops at a different pace.' '' As one might consequently expect of such a privileged position -- "People would allow me into their homes,'' Mrs. Tucker said, explaining that it was necessary often to work with a parent and child "in an environment that was comfortable for them, their own turf'' -- the mother of three natural offspring and one adopted son has no doubt learned a thing or two about children in the course of her long career.

"Every little person,'' Mrs. Tucker said, "wants and deserves respect. And you have to treat them, as a result, like little people . If you look at them like that, as tiny individuals, they will respond more favourably, and interact more freely.

"This programme,'' the recent retiree continued, "is a preventative programme. It catches problems with children before they have a chance to develop. I remember, as I look back on my career, one little fellow who was quite difficult to handle, and is now a perfect gentleman. I am delighted when I see things like that, because all of society benefits.'' The programme's development, consequently, of more and more productive citizens -- and the hand that she has had, both direct and indirect, in creating a lot of them -- has been of particular satisfaction to Mrs. Tucker, who admits that she has left her VIP position this month with an unusually heavy heart.

"Gaining the trust of the parents and the children, making them believe that I really cared, was my biggest challenge,'' she said. "I will miss that, the sense of accomplishment that you have when they finally let you in.'' Nonetheless, Mrs. Tucker explained, she is quite content at this stage in her life to rest her fate in "whatever God has planned'', although she feels, as a self-professed lover of small fry, more than confident that it will still involve children.

"I love children,'' she said. "Even when my own were growing up, everyone flocked to my house. It is one of the reasons that I volunteered (with the VIP) in the first place.'' Of her ultimately long-term involvement with that programme, she added: "Most of the time, you would see (a parent-child session) through and pray that it made a difference.

"In my case, I feel that I did a good job, that I contributed to the community. I believe, in my heart, that I did.'' And so, no doubt, will many of the people that "Tucker'' has touched over the years.