I'm going to be honest today, y'all. I really wish I had something to contribute to the Tell me About your Town linkup with Amanda. With me being gone all last month though, I had zero chance to prepare anything remotely close to being high quality. Sure, I have great places to take y'all on "blates" (the topic this month), but I have zero really good pictures, and I didn't want to half-ass anything. Hey... at least I'm honest! You should go to Amanda (Or Cassie's) pages to check out the other blate ideas from other bloggers though!
I do, however... have a confession for y'all today...
I don't like babysitting. Ok, maybe it wasn't THAT big of a confession. I also exaggerate in post titles. Oh well. Let's be clear though. I am NOT talking about my own children. That is NOT babysitting. When it's just me and my kids, that's me being a PARENT. When I have someone else's tiny humans in my house and it's my responsibility to make sure they're fed, have clean butts, and don't kill each other; That's babysitting.
I don't like it. Even before I had kids I didn't like it. I thought things would change after Zander (maybe even after Ainsley). Nope... things did not change, y'all.
My top five reasons?
5. Ainsley's Naps. Or lack thereof. When I'm babysitting, she just doesn't nap. No matter what I do to clear out the bedroom and keep the other kids occupied. She just doesn't settle enough to stay down. Sure it's not the other kids' fault... but it really annoys me.
4. Food. If you're going to promise to bring me food for your kids, please do so. Because I really don't have enough drinkable yogurts or gummy snacks to feed the neighborhood. Especially when your 6 year old eats as much as my 31 year old husband. I can't afford to feed the entire neighborhood. #SorryNotSorry. I'm not even asking you to pay for my groceries. At least tell me if you're not going to bring the food so I can prepare better.
3. Messes. Y'all, if you've seen my house prior to me staying at home full time you might not believe that I hate messes. I really hate them though, and when I have four children terrorizing my house my house looks like crap. When my kids are home with me they know the routine of cleaning up before we move onto another activity. Which leads me into #2...
2. Discipline. If I agree to watch your children, please... please for the love of all things holy, don't send them to my house if they cannot follow directions or listen. Before y'all even say it... YES, I know people parent differently, but c'mon. If I give a simple command direction of "put your shoes by the door / don't leave your shoes in the middle of the floor" and your kid just gives me a blank "deer in headlights" stare like they have no clue what I just said... there's a problem there. Teach your kids to follow direction before they stay with me. Otherwise, there will be a problem and I'm not going to sugar coat "how great your kid is". Nope, when you pick them up I'm going to tell you they don't listen and something needs to be done.
1. My sanity. I don't like feeling stressed. I don't like feeling like I don't have control. When I'm (literally) stuck in a house with snot monsters, I get a little crazy. There were a few of y'all that got text messages yesterday. Those were attempts of me trying to gain sanity back. Trying to remind myself that I'm the adult here. I mean, I know I'm the adult, but sometimes I feel like a small child forced into a corner in the fetal position. Too much? Maybe. Over exaggerating? A lot. But I stand by my statement.
In all seriousness, the only reason I ever agree to babysit is to have a favor in my back pocket. Josh and I live in a remote town. Availability of sitters we trust for our kids is limited, and should we want a date night or nice lunch just us one weekend, we need the ease of being able to have a sitter ready! Maybe it's sneaky, but I'm cheap and I don't want to use care.com or something similar.
Maybe I'm alone here. I definitely know I can't do this full time. Faith, I know you do this full time and props to you, girlfriend. This isn't for me. I won't be making income for watching kids.
My top five reasons?
5. Ainsley's Naps. Or lack thereof. When I'm babysitting, she just doesn't nap. No matter what I do to clear out the bedroom and keep the other kids occupied. She just doesn't settle enough to stay down. Sure it's not the other kids' fault... but it really annoys me.
4. Food. If you're going to promise to bring me food for your kids, please do so. Because I really don't have enough drinkable yogurts or gummy snacks to feed the neighborhood. Especially when your 6 year old eats as much as my 31 year old husband. I can't afford to feed the entire neighborhood. #SorryNotSorry. I'm not even asking you to pay for my groceries. At least tell me if you're not going to bring the food so I can prepare better.
3. Messes. Y'all, if you've seen my house prior to me staying at home full time you might not believe that I hate messes. I really hate them though, and when I have four children terrorizing my house my house looks like crap. When my kids are home with me they know the routine of cleaning up before we move onto another activity. Which leads me into #2...
2. Discipline. If I agree to watch your children, please... please for the love of all things holy, don't send them to my house if they cannot follow directions or listen. Before y'all even say it... YES, I know people parent differently, but c'mon. If I give a simple command direction of "put your shoes by the door / don't leave your shoes in the middle of the floor" and your kid just gives me a blank "deer in headlights" stare like they have no clue what I just said... there's a problem there. Teach your kids to follow direction before they stay with me. Otherwise, there will be a problem and I'm not going to sugar coat "how great your kid is". Nope, when you pick them up I'm going to tell you they don't listen and something needs to be done.
1. My sanity. I don't like feeling stressed. I don't like feeling like I don't have control. When I'm (literally) stuck in a house with snot monsters, I get a little crazy. There were a few of y'all that got text messages yesterday. Those were attempts of me trying to gain sanity back. Trying to remind myself that I'm the adult here. I mean, I know I'm the adult, but sometimes I feel like a small child forced into a corner in the fetal position. Too much? Maybe. Over exaggerating? A lot. But I stand by my statement.
In all seriousness, the only reason I ever agree to babysit is to have a favor in my back pocket. Josh and I live in a remote town. Availability of sitters we trust for our kids is limited, and should we want a date night or nice lunch just us one weekend, we need the ease of being able to have a sitter ready! Maybe it's sneaky, but I'm cheap and I don't want to use care.com or something similar.
Maybe I'm alone here. I definitely know I can't do this full time. Faith, I know you do this full time and props to you, girlfriend. This isn't for me. I won't be making income for watching kids.
