Ranting and Raving
I'm not an angry person. I'd like to think that on most days I'm a pretty rational person. But like everyone else I have my buttons and got one of them pushed yesterday. For clarification, that was no euphamism for sex.
I do love Twitter, except for those occasions where people use it as their own personal chat room where others can see. So I was forced to witness a discussion that evoked an opinion from me.
My opinion is this: I never. ever. want to hear someone complain about babysitting. Ever.
Most of the complaining about babysitting I see is by young single women who do not have children of their own. I get that sometimes children are difficult. I also get that as parents, we tend to rely on the people we trust using them over and over again. However, if these girls don't want to babysit, they should just say so. This goes for anyone who accepts doing a favor for someone else. Don't do the favor and then complain about it. You accepted. The person asking for the favor more than likely did not point a gun at your head for said favor. So when these young girls complain, it pushes my button.
They don't understand. They don't get it. And they probably won't until they have two children ages 3 & 5 and it's the 3 year old's nap time, and you have run out of the 5 year old's juice (the only liquid in the world the child will drink) and the child is thirsty. So they take them to the store, and the 5 year old runs away, the 3 year old starts crying in the cart and they think "If only I had a babysitter for 30 minutes."
That's when they'll get it. I don't want to go into a story resembling walking to school uphill both ways in 10 ft of snow, but I would have a carrier with a 12lb baby in one hand, a 25lb 18 month old on the other hip and go to the store. After that, I would come home make dinner, clean up, and then start on homework for college courses. They won't understand that anything beyond going to the bathroom requires strategic planning that could fail at any second during any mission.
I guess it pisses me off because I've been guilted and shamed into not asking for help. For not asking for a babysitter when I could use a night out with my husband or an afternoon to myself or with a friend. I know how it feels to get the icy looks upon returning when the kids have been difficult and the brush off when it's apparent our company isn't wanted anymore. It sucks to know that help comes at a price. I would rather someone be honest with me and tell me that they didn't really want to take my kids instead of the alternative.
So the next time you agree to do a favor for a friend, whether its babysitting, or something entirely different, please don't accept unless you really don't mind. You never know, you may need a favor someday in return.
I'm not an angry person. I'd like to think that on most days I'm a pretty rational person. But like everyone else I have my buttons and got one of them pushed yesterday. For clarification, that was no euphamism for sex.
I do love Twitter, except for those occasions where people use it as their own personal chat room where others can see. So I was forced to witness a discussion that evoked an opinion from me.
My opinion is this: I never. ever. want to hear someone complain about babysitting. Ever.
Most of the complaining about babysitting I see is by young single women who do not have children of their own. I get that sometimes children are difficult. I also get that as parents, we tend to rely on the people we trust using them over and over again. However, if these girls don't want to babysit, they should just say so. This goes for anyone who accepts doing a favor for someone else. Don't do the favor and then complain about it. You accepted. The person asking for the favor more than likely did not point a gun at your head for said favor. So when these young girls complain, it pushes my button.
They don't understand. They don't get it. And they probably won't until they have two children ages 3 & 5 and it's the 3 year old's nap time, and you have run out of the 5 year old's juice (the only liquid in the world the child will drink) and the child is thirsty. So they take them to the store, and the 5 year old runs away, the 3 year old starts crying in the cart and they think "If only I had a babysitter for 30 minutes."
That's when they'll get it. I don't want to go into a story resembling walking to school uphill both ways in 10 ft of snow, but I would have a carrier with a 12lb baby in one hand, a 25lb 18 month old on the other hip and go to the store. After that, I would come home make dinner, clean up, and then start on homework for college courses. They won't understand that anything beyond going to the bathroom requires strategic planning that could fail at any second during any mission.
I guess it pisses me off because I've been guilted and shamed into not asking for help. For not asking for a babysitter when I could use a night out with my husband or an afternoon to myself or with a friend. I know how it feels to get the icy looks upon returning when the kids have been difficult and the brush off when it's apparent our company isn't wanted anymore. It sucks to know that help comes at a price. I would rather someone be honest with me and tell me that they didn't really want to take my kids instead of the alternative.
So the next time you agree to do a favor for a friend, whether its babysitting, or something entirely different, please don't accept unless you really don't mind. You never know, you may need a favor someday in return.
