On Babysitting in a Cage

I’ve spent the better part of my Christmas vacation being a full-time babysitter. That’s right, the job for teenagers all across America has become my most constant stream of income, despite the fact that I am the holder of a degree from a competitive institution (that I got into from out of state, thankyouverymuch).  While I am absolutely exhausted from running after my extremely energetic charge by the end of the day, I have to say it’s a nice change of pace from my leisurely workout at the gym and then quality time with my phone and computer attempting to find a real job.

There is an unfortunate downside to this gig (and no, it’s not that I spend the better part of the day taking Thomas the Tank Engine out of the dishwasher or listening to the Curious George music on pbskids.org), but rather, I am more or less being watched by my charge’s grandmother, who lives in the basement.  She’s nice enough, and certainly enjoys chatting with me while she putters around in the kitchen, but her constant watching makes me feel like I have to be an over-the-top babysitter, as opposed to my normal laid-back self.  Because my young 5-year-old spends the day in his own little world, I don’t feel the need to sit on the floor and play trains with him every single time he drags them out. Nor do I feel a need to stop him from jumping off the furniture or throwing his matchbox cars around the living room.  By the time I leave, everyone is uninjured, the toys are put away and everything is hunky-dory.

But since grandma decides to climb the stairs, I feel compelled to sit on the floor, or to take him outside in the 20 degree weather so he can run until he’s completely out of energy and my poor little fingers freeze off.  She comes up to fix him lunch, and then stands around waiting for me to make sure he eats it.  He’s FIVE.  With serious attention problems.  Left on my own, I would let him take the hour to eat lunch while he simultaneously ran around the living room.  I also would probably allow him to stay inside when it’s 20 degrees outside and watch a movie.  I see no harm in being lazy, it’s Christmas VACATION.  And for the record, I don’t particularly ENJOY laying around watching movies or playing computer games all day every day.  But since it’s cold, our activities are limited.

Apparently, my babysitter doesn’t think that our activities are limited.  Which is why I spent four days last week playing in the snow, which by Thursday, we had to shovel to cover up the grass that was starting to show.  She doesn’t think it’s a problem to go outside in the cold with a wind chill putting us at about 10 degrees.  I don’t particularly want to be standing out there.  I’ll do it for a bit, but I’m sure not standing out there for more than 20 minutes.  When I stop feeling my face, the fun is over.  Period.  I don’t care if he needs to keep running.  I don’t care if he’s not cold.

I’m thinking this would all go more smoothly and be far less stressful if I were left to my own devices and not being monitored by my own personal babysitter.  At the Sarah School of babysitting, everything that’s supposed to get done gets done, snacks get eaten, toys get picked up and we play all sorts of games and activities.  Sometimes, these don’t get done in the proper order, sometimes I leave the toys out for a few hours.  But it all gets done.  And it gets done without supervision, charmed.

December 30, 2009. Tags: Babysitting, Christmas. Miscellaneous, Sarah's Etiquette Tips.