As a kid, I have always watched movies and television shows, specifically those that are comedic, and they typically call in a young teenager to babysit their child for the night. Depending on the nature of the child, the babysitter might expect to have a peaceful night or an exhausting night. Overall, babysitting is tiring job, but the type of child you are tasked with taking care of is what determines whether the hourly pay was worth all of the work or not. Because the parent had already known who I was, she simply gave me a list of instructions on how to care for her son.
She also told me a list of her son’s quirks and characteristics, just so I knew the kid’s personality. The entire time she was talking to me, I simply tried to make myself seem like an experienced, responsible babysitter. I am sure I was going to be a responsible babysitter, but I was still a beginner in terms of babysitting. As the parent was showing me around her house, I kept thinking to myself, I can do this. I can take care a hyper four-year-old while maintaining the clean house. As the kid started noticing that both of his parents were leaving, he started to cry. When his parents were officially gone, I tried to calm and soothe the boy, but he would not stop crying. Fortunately, the mother came back to tell me how to calm him down. Spending an hour of watching “Toy Story” did the trick.
After an hour of watching “Toy Story,” I realized that his parents do not want their child to watch more than an hour of television. I start becoming frazzled when I try to make him stop watching television so that he could eat his lunch. After many attempts, I gave up. Then, I remembered his mom telling me that he really enjoys swimming in his little pool. In order to stop a child from doing what he is doing, you have to distract him and encourage him to do something else that he would find really fun.
Luckily, the child was hungry, so I was able to feed him some yogurt and peaches before I dressed him into into his swimming attire. If you are dealing with an excited child, however, you might have to work quickly because he gets fussy very easily. Have you ever dealt with a kid who is so excited that by the time you have finished dealing with him, you feel like you have just completed a workout? I was looking forward to watching him play in the pool, but he insisted that I follow him wherever he went.
He kept getting in and out of the pool, and the day was boiling. After a few hours, I had to get him ready for dinner. This time, he did not want to leave. I never thought four-year-olds could be so resistant! When I finished feeding him macaroni and cheese for dinner, he was not tired but I was! I was sweaty and smelly but, fortunately, for the last half-hour he wanted to play with his puzzles. I was able to finally sit down and play something relaxing. Being a babysitter is a lot of hard work and sweat, but the experience is rewarding because the child will be happy next time he sees you.
