On Thursday night, I will transform into a babysitter. I am going to watch a friend's (I have a friend!) 14 week old baby so that she can enjoy a romantic meal with her husband, and then she is going to do the same for us in a few weeks. Lovely. And? I'm nervous as hell.
I was a constant babysitter in the days of my youth. I started with cousins, and moved on to kids from church and the neighborhood and so on and so on. During college, I was a full time sitter for two of the most rotten kids on the planet. To say I have experience is putting it lightly. However, having my own kid has really changed my perspective.
The degree of trust involved with leaving your child in someone else's care is of a magnitude that I have never known before. When we left Sam with my parents, who never killed any children that I know of, I called every 45 minutes or so to check that they weren't poking him with sticks or anything. Because I am so aware of this in my own experiences, being on the other side of the fence is oddly terrifying. I am solely responsible for someone else's baby, even if only for a few hours. This child is the most important thing in these peoples' lives, and they trust that I will protect him and meet his needs in their absence.
And I will. It's not that I don't think I'm up to the task. Hell, I have my own kid, and he was that age just a short time ago, so I think I'm fairly well suited for the job. It's that I never before realized (as most teenagers probably don't) the enormous responsibility involved in caring for children.
It kind of makes me wish I could go back in time and give myself a good talking to.
6 comments:
i think you DID just give yourself a good talking to...and remember, they are tougher than they look (and hey, so are we)
what a lovely thing to do for your friend....you'll be smashing.
That's why later they'll be holdnig your kid as ransom. Everything works out with their kid, you get Sam back a-o-k.
Eeep! That's a scary though, des.
Thanks for the boost, Jen. God knows I need it sometimes!
I just started doing home daycare and I know EXACTLY what you mean. I have four kids of my own, so I know what I am doing, but watching someone else's kids makes me nervous because of the enormous responsibility.
You WILL do fine. Hell, I'd leave LG with you anyday... how's tomorrow work for you? But then I'd probably have to pry his little fingers off your leg/coffee table/door frame in order to haul him out the door after he'd had a taste of "Amy-sitting". Still. It could totally be worth it...
In the end, it was awesome! The baby was sweet and he went to sleep about 45 minutes after I got there! Hooray!
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