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My Adventures in Babysitting :D
2 years ago
"If you think no one cares about you...
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When I was 17, I was babysitting a 4 year old girl named Susan, very precocious, aware, bright for her age. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was watching her until 10 that night.
At 5:00, I'm watching basketball, and Susan comes into the living room to announce:
"I would like a cookie."
I glance at the clock and then I shake my head. I was gonna be making dinner pretty soon so I told her simply, “You can’t have a cookie.”
Susan looks at me with eyes narrowed and then she huffs and turns away, and I get back to the basketball game.
About a minute or so later and I hear the sharp rasping of a chair being pushed across a linoleum floor, the soft thud of a chair end reaching the counter, and then the little grunts of a girl climbing. Susan was bright but it hadn’t occurred to her yet that sound travels. She also didn’t take into account the family dog rooted to the spot in the doorway, staring at her in the kitchen from the living room almost motionlessly.
Finally I got up off the couch and went into the kitchen to see Susan standing atop the counter, cookie jar in her hand, and she’d already fished out a cookie.
“Susan!” I barked at her, “What did I tell you?! You can’t have a cookie!”
This precocious, aware, and gifted girl’s mouth drops open and then she thrusts the cookie at me and says, “But I CAN!”
...
...
...
So… I go back into the living room and sit back down and watch the game, admitting defeat.
I mean, she proved me wrong. I told her she can’t and she showed me that she can. And this is something to pass on to all parents out there all over the world.
Never, EVER tell your child they can’t do something. Because they will move Heaven and Hell to prove you wrong. :D
At 5:00, I'm watching basketball, and Susan comes into the living room to announce:
"I would like a cookie."
I glance at the clock and then I shake my head. I was gonna be making dinner pretty soon so I told her simply, “You can’t have a cookie.”
Susan looks at me with eyes narrowed and then she huffs and turns away, and I get back to the basketball game.
About a minute or so later and I hear the sharp rasping of a chair being pushed across a linoleum floor, the soft thud of a chair end reaching the counter, and then the little grunts of a girl climbing. Susan was bright but it hadn’t occurred to her yet that sound travels. She also didn’t take into account the family dog rooted to the spot in the doorway, staring at her in the kitchen from the living room almost motionlessly.
Finally I got up off the couch and went into the kitchen to see Susan standing atop the counter, cookie jar in her hand, and she’d already fished out a cookie.
“Susan!” I barked at her, “What did I tell you?! You can’t have a cookie!”
This precocious, aware, and gifted girl’s mouth drops open and then she thrusts the cookie at me and says, “But I CAN!”
...
...
...
So… I go back into the living room and sit back down and watch the game, admitting defeat.
I mean, she proved me wrong. I told her she can’t and she showed me that she can. And this is something to pass on to all parents out there all over the world.
Never, EVER tell your child they can’t do something. Because they will move Heaven and Hell to prove you wrong. :D
It takes years of oppression to beat that shit into us.
so it didnt backfire on me
As a matter of fact, it's more likely to backfire and teach kids that violence is a way to deal with things.
In my experience it's completely ineffective and teaches kids the completely wrong thing.
Violence begets violence, and particularly with kids it doesn't teach them anything positive at all.
Dad made that QUITE clear.
it wasnt a shock or something spontaneous, he warned us and prepared us.
good on him
i dunno whats supposed to be so fun about it. :D
plays hell inside our innards, i would think