Saturday, May 05, 2007

I.M.M.A.T.U.R.E

So, at what age did your kiddos start babysitting?

Katherine SHOULD be able to babysit now..She's 12 and has taken the Red Cross (required) babysitting course. But, she can't--we have a hard time trusting her to watch herself ...no less her sister and brother (referred to from here on as the demon spawn).

I remember when I was her age I was babysitting like a mofo...all the neighborhood kids. For HOURS UPON HOURS UPON HOURS...I had quite the business. All kinds of money to spend..well, you know the drill

Katherine on the other hand cannot be trusted. She blames it on the demon spawn. I blame it on her immaturity and unability (is that a word??) to keep her nose out of a book or her eyes off the television set for more than oh say 20 seconds and therefore, the demon spawn tend to do things like get into the sugar and throw it ALL OVER THE FLIPPIN KITCHEN, take out EVERY toy they have into the livingroom, TAKE out all the movies out of my cabinets. Well, you get the idea.

She wants me to trust her to watch the demon spawn (I told you I was referring to them as that the rest of the post...don't judge) and be PAID...(Do I seriously have to pay my own child...you know the one I feed, clothe, etc. to do this???) hahatrust?? I'm pretty sure I would come back to Katherine tied (or duct taped) to one of the chairs and the spawn standing over her with a sword.

Tell me oh great internet friends....what to do oh what to do????

2 comments:

Jen said...

The word you are looking to use is inability.

NO, she should not be PAID to watch her brother and sister! We never got paid to watch our sister...lol. As for the babysitting thing, you need to let her practice. I know that she wants to try, but you need to lay down the ground rules...No books or TV while watching the kids. She must come up with inventive ways to keep them entertained. Buy her some games that can only be played with the youngers only when she is babysitting. That should help some. I don't know what else to tell you!

Love ya!

(Oh and don't forget to call Disney!)

Special K ~Toni said...

I agree with Jen about having inventive ways to occupy their time. You need to start out small- 30 minutes while you are VERY close by.

I think you SHOULD pay her. My sisters hated watching me. Make it to where she can earn a little pocket money. $2 an hour is reasonable to start with.If you expect her to be responsible she should have SOME kind of motivation. That's my 2 cents worth.

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