Talk to the Goat
This is why my parents paid my babysitter good money. Then he would just play video games with me.
If I ever had to babysit, I would begin by sitting on babies. I would terrorize them into submission, and then make them fear for their life if they told on me.
I am a mean person, but for $2.50 an hour I had better get some enjoyment out of it.
I hear you. I have my beef regarding parenting philosophy of our modern day society. It is everybody else's responsibility.. but never the parents' anymore. Cringe!
Get this...I NEVER had a babysitter! I don't know how my parents did it. And I wasn't allowed to babysit, hich I'm thankful for now!
You got screwed...im relatively your age and I never made less that $5/hr. Of course this is NY and things are more expensive here....even babysitters.
But come on, didnt you ever do any bad babysitting things?? check the liquor cabinet? invite over a boy? snoop through their drawers? Anything?
Awww man, you really made me be so thankful I don't babysit anymore. I did it for ten years. Was the worst! *twitch* 
Lois Lane
Jay, you certainly have a way with words. I was moments away from writing my congressman when I realized posting a comment would be sufficient enough. I don't have children yet but I'm working my ass off to provide a good family structure for them when I do. And if I need a babysitter, I'll make sure he/she also teaches them to speak French and play the piano. Of course, I'd pay at least $3.25/hour for that kind of service...
i'm guessing osha doesn't tend much to the babysitting trade?
when i was younger my neighbors raised and killed rabbits. they would club them int the nose while holding them by the ears with this big... club, i guess, then skin them and etc. t'was gross.
never had a babysitter. never had to babysit. amen.
So, what I'm taking away from this, is that I am significantly overpaying the highschooler next door to spend 1-2 hours with my lovely girl, who is a.) well behaved (she even puts her own dirty dishes in the sink at 3 yrs old) and b.) easily amused. For 7 bucks an hour, the next door neighbor sits on my couch and does homework while my girl watches a movie.
(Oh and even as a mother, I don't enjoy snot: that never changes.)
Wordless Writer?
What the McFuck is that all about?
i babysat my parents. and i never heard a clink of a cent. just pontifications that if i grew up, my own kids would put me in a home.
My parents divorced when o was 12 and my mum remarried. Consequently i spent from 13 - 18 (when i left home ) as a free babysitting resource. I have cleaned up mountains of snot and puke. I have read,late at night, via the unhealthy glow of a newborns luminescent green crap. I have gazed in awe and wonder as my baby brother managed to pee on his own head after i removed his nappy (daiper) and laughed with glee as said brother threw up in my elder sisters mouth.
But all this pales when put next to my first job.
When i left school the uk was in recession and the government (under margaret thatcher) introduced Youth Training Schemes (YTS) to replace proper apprenticeships. I used to work a 38 hour week for the sum of 18.75 gbp.....50p an hour!
Jorge: I don't really think of this as writing. It's more like talking with a keyboard. If it was writing, it would just be the tip of the iceberg; my day is spent writing 'real' stuff, and some days are spent just trying to write anything at all.
You kids got it knocked. I remember being so embarrassed when my younger sister looked up at our sitter and proclaimed, "Hey, you are black."
Oy Vey!
once i got paid $3/hour to watch five kids. luckily they all cleaned up after themselves. only one diapered child.
one summer, a mother expected me to clean all the dishes. including the mound of dirties from the previous night's meal.
now, as a part time adult babysitter, i get paid $10/hour to watch 5 year old twins, and the parents tell me not to clean. they were a little upset on the few occassions that i did. life as a 23 year old babysitter is now sweet.
we used to torment our male babysitters. we'd jump on them until they agreed we could stay up later. fun fun!
BTDT - and worked in after school care for 15 years until I had my own. Always underpaid in the after school care, and well paid in the private jobs...how is it that those people with major input into the lives of the next generation can be treated so badly? How do we expect to attract quality staff when we don't pay them enough to live on? I've been out of the industry for almost 4 years, but that particular nerve is still raw.
I was involved in the union, and our two major stumbling blocks were getting the staff to take themselves seriously, and getting everyone else to take the industry seriously...it was a long held view that we were "just babysitters" (like that is a bad thing!) Some of my fondest memories of childhood are of the teenage sister of a friend who used to babysit me.
Some of my best experiences in the present are of meeting people in their late teens and early 20s (or their parents) who remember me from after school care. Sorry for the rant! Great topic Jay, you write like a bloody demon, I love it.
wow dosent sound like fun!
thank goodness I was so shy. I baby sat twice in my life and never again, all I remember was that they had cable and I could watch MTV, a thing I never saw(early days of MTV)
as for being babysat it never happened, my parents were poor and never went out anyway...they still dont
Jay: Thanks for the clarification.
As it stands, I quite like your talking with the keyboard.
Yes. I like it a lot.
That and alcohol.
Hey.
Waitaminute...
Very well written!
I have to say though, I wish I had had YOU, when my kids were young! Although I rarely had a baby sitter, when I did, it was for no more then 3 to 4 hours, they got $40.00 for the evening, and my home was always destroyed beyond belief when I walked back thru the door. I always fed my kids before I left, and left pre-made snacks ready for her to lay upon the table.
Your mom raised you correctly on the babysitter's code of behavior. You just didn't get the parents that appreciated it.
I am with you on it though! It IS a HARD, pretty much thankless job.
PS. I do have to say, there is NOTHING about any of my children's body fluids that I wiped up, that I found adorable. I would go one step further to say, I never got used to it.
I had a habit of buying latex gloves to wear to change my kids shitty diapers. (And still washed my hands and held my breath when administering to their many needs.)
It has been said, amoungst many of my family members, that I probably shouldn't have been a mother. Although I think I did a damn good CLEAN job of it. And payed my sitters well, mainly because I wouldn't want to babysit my babies. ssshhhh....don't tell em.
I've never been paid for babysitting but that's not to say I've never actually babysitted. Sometimes my parents would leave home for days at a time and leave me to take care of my little sisters. You're right, it's hard work.
I was the world's worst babysitter. I don't feel terrible about it because I got paid only $1 an hour (it was the 1980's not the 1960's!). I pretty much let the kids do what they wanted to as long as they didn't kill themselves, and I never cleaned. I don't know why the mom even had me come, I guess for $1 an hour you can't be picky.
Never in my childhood was I ever babysat, nor have I, in my motherhood years ever hired a babysitter for my children.
My kids are my responsibility, first and foremost. If it meant less income, then the appropriate changes were made. If I can't take them with me, then dad stays home, and vice-versa. The only people I trust my children with are my parents, and even they have to follow my rules; already hubby's parents lost that priviledge when they didn't follow instructions and lost my baby girl in a Wal-Mart.
Amen.
You are so right! My daughters are now babysitting age, and I told them not to dare do it for under 6 bucks an hour, and if there's more than one kid, add two bucks an hour on for each one of them. She thought nobody would pay that much, but you know what? They will and they have! People! You are paying someone to watch your most precious belonging! Get real!
Crit, well said. People who work in a day care - type facility have it even harder because not only do you multiply the children and the responsibility, but there are lots of other considerations, such as the constant cleaning so as not to spread germs, allergies, and differing nap times. it's enough to drive you crazy. And underpaid to boot! I just don't understand it. I could rant about teachers' salaries as well...these people are caring for our children, I'm pretty sure it's worth a couple more dollars an hour.
Monica, I had this one job at a house that had a satellite. I never, in 3 years, could learn to work the remote, and was too embarrassed to ask. I made sure to bring a book, although reading for 8 hours in a dark house is no fun.
3T - you are a responsible mother. I certainly didn't mind feeding the children, but I do think it's wise for the parents to be a little considerate. You would have been a babysitter's dream.
Charlie - I have 3 younger sisters. I did the babysitting for free to death also.
GM- $1! That's insane!
Kim, Good for you. I see no reason why babysitters shouldn't make minimum wage AT LEAST. And often, I babysat over night, and you notice quickly there's no overtime bonus. Oh no.
Being 37, I too was paid no more than $2.50/hr. for that thankless job. I had a pretty permanent "gig" on Saturday nights for this fucking CRAZY family who would always stay out later than they told me. One night they came home at 3:30 in the morning, in the midst of some HUGE fight. They were obviously loaded and b/c I was only 13 I let the husband drive me home. Then I broke off the gig and never saw them again.
Babysit did usually suck. However, I had some great kids. I babysat for the Boland boys -- 3 of the cutest little boys on the planet. I loved it. We played games, did crafts and had some fun.
Overall, I did see many of the same things - unrealistic expectations, silly reasoning, unclear rules.
But, it was great experience. And when I started having sex, believe me I had some idea of the responsibility of kids -- so they make good birth control!
I have always found that the lower the pay, the more work is involved strangely enough. I have a job where I'm paid a decent wage and appreciated and I love it. I even set my own hours. Babysitting, which should be a great job in theory and an important and respected one, rates even lower than waitress (also a serving job...hmmmm). Our society is kind of backwards isn't it!
Now I want to go see "Adventures in Babysitting." Thanks for that, Jay.
Like a sign in a greek kebab restaurant....no goat today
EEK. I bow down to your absolute bravery. I babysat my Godson, No problem. I read your entry, and wanted to curl up into fetal position! LOL!
I would have been 'let go' as soon as I was given my 'instructions'if I were in your place.
will you babysit me?
Sure Dick, but blowjobs are extra.
Hi Jay, I made $3.25/hr at my first "real" job at McDonalds. before that I made 20 bucks a week working as a farm hand at a friend's farm shovelling shit. Bleah.
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