were things better with the new babysitting job? negative.

am i doing it wrong?

i probably shouldn't be writing right now in the heat of my frustration and annoyance/general anger... but i will start by saying that this weekend has officially been filled with babysitting failures.

this family was three boys, 2 1/2, 4, and 9. the night went well- i got there at 4, got a little orientation, made them dinner, watched a movie of their choice (home alone 2, not sure if i'd let me kids watch that that early on or not..), then bedtime came. then the nightmare began. do you see a pattern? i do.

this time, it was the middle one who would not have anything to do with sleep. i did his exact high maintenance routine of the chocolate milk, reading a story, scatching his back for 10 minutes, sitting by his bed for another 10 or 15 minutes... and basically to sum it up, the kid would not stay in bed, was up and out and bothering his brothers, was making noises, sitting on the stairs- you name it. i remained calm and firm with him but even his dad telling him on the phone to get to bed did nothing... as did me reminding him that he wouldn't be able to go to the movie he wanted to see tomorrow if he didn't follow directions.  (his parents told me to remind him of that). 

so i'm texting with the mom, she's blaming it on the fact that i'm new and they're not used to them being out, and that she feels like they've done just a GREAT job for having a new person. way to hold your kids to high standards. and i heard the same as last night... "oh my gosh, he NEVER does this?!"

right.

they finally come home at 10:45 after deciding to skip their late night movie (wow, bright idea!) and walk in with cake from the cheesecake factory that they almost give to the 2 kids that are still up. that's it, reward your kids for not doing what you asked.

they want me to babysit basically 2ce a month on saturdays so they can go out- i am giving it ONE more time. so then i can say no and it can't be blamed on the fact that i'm new and they don't know me. that will no longer be an excuse and these people will have to own up to their childrens' behavior.

here's what gets me and then i'm done: these past two evenings have irritated me because 1) waste of a weekend and 2) it makes me feel incompetent when in reality i know that these kids are the issue. i don't like feeling like the parents think i can't do my job, or anything like that- i hope they realize that they are lucky to have a 22 year old responsible TEACHER for that matter willing to sacrifice nights of her life to stay with their kids. when i have kids, i know i will LOVE to have someone older and responsible like that. not to build myself up, but you know what i mean.

alright. that is it. i feel better now and will return to my psych. reading that i wasn't able to complete earlier due to reasons mentioned above.  thanks for hanging in with me if you even read this whole debockle. (how do you spell that word?)

hope YOUR weekend was better and here's to a better weekend NEXT weekend!