Wanted: Well Rested Babysitters
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I am notoriously cautious about who I allow to watch my kids. My friends sometimes joke about how much happier I would be if I would just find some quality babysitters, but I assure them that I have one woman I use - a professional nanny - and I don’t mind just working around her schedule. She’s really busy because she nannies during the day and then goes to college at night, so my husband and I only get to have date nights when she had an open night.
For a brief period of time I was a little less selective about the babysitters I used. When my husband was in Kuwait last year I had a choice: either trust some more people with the kids or hardly ever get away. I started sifting through the pool of teenagers at church and had a few of them come over and babysit. Most of them worked out great, but there was one instance that made my trusting tendencies come to a screeching halt.
I hired a teenage girl to come over and play with the kids upstairs while I worked downstairs. I told her to let them watch one show on television and then they could all play until it was time for me to take her home. I could hear everything that was going on upstairs, so when the next TV show started playing I figured my instructions hadn’t been clear so I headed upstairs to clarify everything.
The babysitter was passed out on the couch, sleeping as though it was the middle of the night. Both of my kids were standing in front of her, saying her name over and over in an attempt to wake her up. She was one heavy sleeper.
Two things occurred to me at that moment:
1. Thank God I hadn’t left the house.
2. Thank God the kids hadn’t gotten into anything dangerous.
I tried to wake her up gently, but she was drooling and snoring and didn’t hear me. I wound up shaking her a little, and when she woke up she knew she was busted. I loaded everyone into the car, took her home, and vowed never to trust someone with my kids again who I didn’t know personally and fully trusted.
Now whenever one of my friends ribs me about being too cautious with who I use as a babysitter I just tell them this story and the ribbing stops immediately. Am I paranoid? Yeah, a little. When it comes to my kids, though, I don’t think a little paranoia is a bad thing.
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