Babysitting!

[Ally-Ann]

I love babysitting! The baby I typically watch is ADORABLE! Especially when he smiles 'cause he has chubby cheeks and a boxy smile. Plus, he hardly ever cries. Anyone else enjoy babysitting? Come on, I know I'm not the only one!

[Beau Soir]

Aww! He sounds cute! I like babysitting too. ^__^ I babysat this little girl whose mother is fluent in Japanese. We watched Hello Kitty cartoons and had Pokemon tea parties. It's so much fun, and she's such a little sweetheart... I've never seen her have a tantrum!

[TopazRaven]

Kids kind of drive me crazy. I love them, but I seem to have a hard time handling them when I try to babysit. I don't have a very good connection with children for some reason, or people in general. I've always been so much better with animals, especially cats and dogs. It makes me feel so bad, I'd make a terrible mother. 0.o

[USSRGirl]

I'm with ya, Topaz. I'll take critters over poopy screamy kids any day. Though critters and kids... I dunno. I volunteered at a few of the summer camp and kids face paint/cat agility (yeaaaah...) contests for the animal shelter and it was fun yet hectic. At one point some little kid stole my shelter dog. .__.;; I mean, I let them walk her, turned back to cutting out stuff for the crafts and assumed they'd just hang around the table. They like walked down across the street. DX I learned the hard way to tell them the doggies stay with the staff.

[Beau Soir]

Kids kind of drive me crazy. I love them, but I seem to have a hard time handling them when I try to babysit. I don't have a very good connection with children for some reason, or people in general. I've always been so much better with animals, especially cats and dogs. It makes me feel so bad, I'd make a terrible mother. 0.o

No mother knows how to do everything perfectly with the first child. XD You pretty much learn as you go... Or so I've been taught about that first part, I don't know from experience. o__o

Some people just have a more natural connection with children... Maybe they had younger siblings growing up, or they've just had a lot of exposure to handling kids before. I learned a lot when I taught Tae Kwon Do because I was in charge of quite a few kids. Kids will listen to pretty much anything if you turn it into a game... lol!

Hey, some people can't get along with animals, but you can! No need to feel bad. Kids aren't for everybody anyway.

[TWWK]

Hardly crying? No tantrums? It's probably because they're interesting in having a friend (you) over. My kids are angels around other people...they let their true colors show when no one else is around.

[ScalpelFactory]

I babysat [read: monitored and ensured my young charge did not die or destroy property with fire] a 10-year-old boy a couple summers ago, and it was one wild ride.

Very fun, especially after I set the ground rules and made sure he knew the boundaries. He would try to push the envelope by egging me on to make lunch faster or some such, and I would firmly remind him with a grin that if he didn't watch it, he'd be making his own sandwich.

Once I twisted my ankle playing with him and his cousin in his sizable yard. He told me to stay put while he and his cousin got the tractor to bring me back to the house. After sitting out there for a few minutes, I yelled up to the garage, "A GIRL COULD DIE WAITING FOR YOU TWO!" XDD

He was a very good-natured kid and had a kind heart, despite his 'tough guy' attitude. Once he saw a person in a wheelchair and told my mother, "I feel sorry for that man. Everything must be hard for him." I was very impressed.

[Yuki-Anne]

When I was in high school a woman on my praise team had a baby, and I got to be that little girl's first babysitter, every week for several months. I went off to college and couldn't baby-sit her anymore. Fast-forward to this Christmas, the same girl introduced me to her little two or three-year-old brother and told him proudly that I was her first babysitter. It's so awesome that she remembers! ^_^

[Ally-Ann]

Very fun, especially after I set the ground rules and made sure he knew the boundaries. He would try to push the envelope by egging me on to make lunch faster or some such, and I would firmly remind him with a grin that if he didn't watch it, he'd be making his own sandwich.

See, I'm not good at that. Asserting myself as boss, I mean. That's why I do better with babies than with little kids. You're lucky!

[ShiroiHikari]

I've babysat plenty of kids, but I don't really enjoy it much. I don't handle children well after they start walking and talking. I guess I'm afraid I'm going to say the wrong thing because I find it very difficult to talk to them.

Babies are easier; you don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing to them because they can't really understand you anyway. You can blather on and they don't mind. Make some funny faces at them, tickle them, or shake something shiny in front of them and they are amused. If they're upset, change their diaper, give them a bottle, or rock them to sleep and that usually takes care of it. But older kids want to be amused and I just don't really know how to do that.

I figure that when my husband and I do get around to having kids, I'll be in charge throughout their infancy and he'll be in charge after that. >_> He's much better with children than I am.

[Atria35]

I love to babysit, but haven't done it often. The only people I really babysat were the couple kitty-corner from us, when their kids were young. I only did it occasionally for about three years.

But I've been around lots of young kids in community activities and whatnot- they seem to like me

I want to babysit more. It's both fun and I can get paid for it!

[Yuki-Anne]

[quote="ShiroiHikari (post: 1451937)"]I've babysat plenty of kids, but I don't really enjoy it much. I don't handle children well after they start walking and talking. I guess I'm afraid I'm going to say the wrong thing because I find it very difficult to talk to them.

Babies are easier]

I'm actually pretty bad with babies. When they start screeching, it's really hard for me to tolerate them, especially since I can never figure out how to hold them so that they'll stop. I mean, aside from the obvious ways to get them to stop, like feeding them if they're hungry or changing their diapers or whatever.

I'm much better with kids when they're old enough to realize how awesome I am.

I kid, but I generally do a lot better with kids 3 and up.

[FllMtl Novelist]

Babysitting is practically integrated into my daily life. I'm always kicking my siblings' butts to get them to do their chores when Mom's upstairs or out shopping. XD Heck, I think I do it a little even when she is there. She's just so mellow sometimes. XD

The only kids I've really babysat (with parents gone) were my younger siblings, and I used to babysit other kids if their parents and mine were busy doing something.

My best experience is most of the most recent times, when it's the weekend, and the kids don't have any homework. We can all pretty much chill and let each other do whatever.

But hands-down, the worst experience was when my youngest sister was still in diapers, and my mom went to the doctor. She took my sister and I with her, and I watched my sister in the waiting room while Mom saw the doctor. Not long after Mom was gone, the baby started wailing. I couldn't get her to stop. I tried to feed her, I checked her diaper, I tried carrying her around the waiting room--nothing worked. This old woman, bless her heart, suggested rocking my sister in her carry-around car-seat thing, which I eventually did try. But it still didn't work. I think I was left holding the crying baby until Mom's appointment was done. So that's about a half-hour, or an hour. My Mom was annoyed with herself (wishing she'd asked for the child while she was waiting for the actual doctor to show up) and the office's staff (who didn't do diddly through the whole ordeal). I was probably thirteen or twelve at the time. I didn't even get paid. ;_;

I think babysitting my siblings grants me certain freedoms: I don't have to go out of my way to impress the parents (they already know me), I don't have to worry about messing up the routine (I live here, and I don't exactly shut myself up in my room all day), I know which groups don't get along well (I only have three younger sibs, but certain arrangements end in tears); I also know how to get them to do what I want, even when they're being rebellious. XD

So I'm not sure how I'd do with another person's kids, though apparently someone was going to ask my mom if I could do some babysitting. But it didn't work out, because I was only fourteen at the time (I think). The woman thought I was sixteen. XD

[Furen]

I love babysitting, my sister hates it, but won't let me watch the kids because she needs the money, so I just play with them, get them really REALLY wound up, and then I send them off to their parents >: )

[FllMtl Novelist]

I love babysitting, my sister hates it, but won't let me watch the kids because she needs the money, so I just play with them, get them really REALLY wound up, and then I send them off to their parents >: )

Hahaha. XD

[Roy Mustang]

Some one ask me how I like children. . . boiled or fried. WC Fields


[font="Book Antiqua"]
[color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[Ally-Ann]

I don't know if this is grave digging since it's been a month, but I got to babysit again tonight! I had some trouble, though. The baby woke up and just wouldn't stop crying. However, God has blessed me with a kind mother, so she came over and helped me calm him down until his parents came home. I just hate it when babies cry. It makes me kinda sad. ;_;