Birthday Babysitting
February 21, 2006
Before I begin, I’m going to say that most of this post is going to be a rant. There are some things in here about the birthday party, but something happened during the party that was so shocking, so appalling, that it has sort of overshadowed the party.
So here goes:
Shash’s Party Checklist
Saturday Afternoon…..check
Chips and dips………check
Streamers and balloons..check
said balloons popping in the pool…check
bounce house………..check
friends and family…..check
brand new neighbor I had never met introducing and then dropping off her two girls because they saw the bounce house and wanted to play in it……
WTF????????
You read that right folks. She dropped off her kids and left my house without them, and told me to call her when I was ready to send them home. I had met her for the first time in that moment. It wasn’t like I had met her earlier this week, this month, this year. I. Had. Met. Her. In. That. Moment. And it wasn’t like it was a moment that was used wisely to find out about her and her daughters either. She just told me where she lived, her name, and her phone number. That’s it. I know more about my UPS guy than her at this point. She knows equally as much about me, I might add. All she knew was my name, that I have 2 boys; one of which was having a birthday party, and that we have a few cool toys that were scattered around in the front room. Not exactly enough info to leave your children with a person for over 2 hours.
I have absolutely no problem watching other people’s kids. I actually enjoy it, in moderation. There were a couple of kids form the ‘hood who’s parents had dropped them off; but we have been friends for years. No big deal. But I can tell you that wouldn’t have happened 5 years ago when we first moved here. As a matter of fact, many of us parents would be outside watching our kids play and ride bikes. It took many of us a long time to tag team watching the kids as a group instead of having all of us out there, in our driveways or puttering in our yards while our kids played. I don’t know the reasons why the other parents didn’t do it, but my reasoning was that I didn’t want to be a mooch, or even make people even think I would be a mooch. I didn’t want people to think I wanted to or would take advantage of them. I’m kind of sensitive to that, it’s probably rooted in my childhood or something. That type-A personality trait that hates to disappoint might play a part in that too. Oh, and for some bizarre reason I worry about taking advantage of others, but others seem to have very little difficulty taking advantage of me. This would be one of those cases in point.
So these girls are at the party, jumping in the bounce house, running amok, and eating everything in sight. No problem, we have plenty. Then one of the girls asks for something to drink and the following ensues:
girl (age 4): I want something to drink
fom(friend of mine): would you like a juice box?
girl: no. I want milk.
fom: no, you can have a juice box or a water in a cup.
girl: I want milk.
fom: you can either have water or juice. No milk.
girl: I want milk.
me: sweetie, we don’t have any milk. You can have juice or water, but we have no milk.
girl: okay (big loud sigh). I’ll have water.
Then when I told them it was time to go I was told no flat out and the 4 year old went and played with the cat, trying to ignore me or hope I wouldn’t notice her off to the side. I was carrying her shoes and telling her it was time to go. I called her mom who sounded annoyed that the phone rang to let her know that her girls were on their way home, and we were watching them walk there.
I didn’t even get a thank you.
Bounce houses, a blessing and a curse, I tell you.
