2021, books, Family, Kids, Movies, TV, Uncategorized

We’re Not Bleeding

37 Comments

I have a babysitting gig tonight.

I was doing a quick scroll on Facebook (that’s about all I can handle on FB) and noticed my neighbor two doors up looking for a last-minute sitter since the scheduled sitter has come down sick.  It’s my neighbors anniversary and apparently the reservations have been made for months.  This is a newish neighbor; they moved in last May in the middle of pandemic and I don’t know them terribly well, but I thought “what the heck… I don’t have any plans on Friday night” and volunteered. 

The last time I did any child-minding was two Easters ago.  As part of the most over-engineered-egg-hunt in history, adults go out and hide the eggs for one assigned child (13 kids 13 and under).  Normally I am part of the egg-hiding crowd but that year there was snow on the ground and I was the lone voice of reason that maybe we should do something different.  So I rebelled and stayed with the kids in the house while all the other adults traipsed out.  Big jokes were made about whether I could handle this.  I told all the kids that as long as there was no bleeding, we would be fine.  The kids thought this was very funny and it’s still a running joke; I expect to hear that no one is bleeding on Thanksgiving.,

My neighbor is not a baker so I thought I might take some cookie dough to their house and bake cookies with the girls.  Or maybe we could make caramel popcorn to have if we watch tv.  Other than that no plans; I’m assuming from their ages (5 and 8) that they will be in bed before their folks get home, so a good book is on the docket a well.  YA thinks I’m in for a hard evening despite me reminding her that I was HER babysitter for years and she’s not bleeding.

Any advice for tonight?

37 thoughts on “We’re Not Bleeding”

  2. If they’re anything like my granddaughters, they’re already in the Christmas mode. Do you have any little craft projects from tour vast supply of stamps and paper goods?

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    1. Do I have any little craft projects? Do you know who you’re talking to? Actually it’s all I’ve been doing for the last 24 hours — trying to talk myself off the ledge. I’m a little worried that I’m going to show up at their front door with three or four days worth of stuff to do when I only have two hours of their time.

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  4. Do NOT show fear. Kids sense that and will quickly move in for the kill.

    Chris in Owatonna

    (Seriously, I think cookie baking is a good idea. You could also make a blanket/quilt fort, play board games, hide-and-seek,

    Liked by 5 people

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  10. The photo- That you on patrol?

    No bleeding is always good.
    Considering you don’t know the family or the kids all that well, do you know if this is a ‘no TV’ home or are they all plugged into electronics all the time? Are there books or not? All that factors into whether they accept your crafty ideas as new and exciting or they roll their eyes at you.
    Good luck.

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    1. I’d also be sure to ask before bringing dough to bake cookies if the parents are OK with that. Something sugary before bedtime might not be a good idea, although the kids would probably love it.

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      1. I did actually get permission for the cookie dough. One of the things that I already know is that the youngest daughter is diabetic. So before I made plans I actually asked mom if the youngest could have cookies and if cookies were an ok activity. She said absolutely that was fine although my guess is that I’m gonna have to learn a little bit tonight about how a five-year-old gets insulin. I’m guessing if injections were on the horizon I would have already been given a warning.

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    2. This is part of the mystery of the day in that I don’t know them well and in fact this will be the first time I have been inside of the house, not just standing on the front porch. My guess, based on what I see on Facebook and what I’ve heard her say is that this might be a limited TV household.

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  12. When I moved to Minnesota I read about a babysitter who was popular with parents, partly because she was so deft at getting kids into bed. Then someone figured out she was doing that by feeding beer to the little dears so she’d be free to make out with her boyfriend.

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  13. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I cannot even express how much I did not like babysitting as a teen trying to make money. My only advice: do not do this. Despite my dislike of babysitting I never fed the little dears beer. I think the worst I ever did was threaten to tell their parents if they gave me trouble.

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    1. Fair warning: the following is a rambling mess.
      I think a lot lately about the need for amusement and distraction. 1) I gave up cable tv, which I did watch that much but it made me aware of how much time I gave away to nothing. But other options are few for me. Now that I have, I pray, everything under control again, I have more time and need to try to read again.or something. 2) Sandy. All she can do to fill her time is watch tv, almost only HGTV. The same episodes over and over, which she does not know. Right now I am beside her as she watches. Netflix and Prime have some good animal shows which she likes, especially baby animals. Plus some nature photography, some astounding. Cannot read. Cannot follow a story such as a movie. Taking her out is a challenge. 3) walking to memory unit I pass the regular nursing home residents, not that regular. Four men missing parts on one or both legs for instance. About ten of them hang out in the main room rather than sit in tv room. They engage with person who runs activities, trying to keep their minds engaged. More power to them. Playing games. Activities director says most have few or no visitors. They have little money. Cannot get out. Struggle to have toiletries and the like. My son and I are providing some items, toiletries, puzzle books, snacks. Steve talks about this, the need to fill time with something that stimulates the mind. To keep spirits up.
      Cannot a 5 and an 8 year old entertain themselves, I am wondering about in this topic. I think about the pivotal book Amusing Ourselves to Death. We now have leisure time and it seems to be a burden.
      I look at the big monstrosity homes on some the HGTV shows, big spaces for people to walk through and with no other purpose in some of them. How hard to people work to have them and how little time to enjoy them.
      I am old and crusty I know, but it all seems to have gone terribly wrong.

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      1. Clyde, I am absolutely certain I am way over thinking this. Except for the cookies which I think will entertain them because their mother doesn’t bake, I’m wondering if they may just ignore me.

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. My mind was just wondering through my life. I suspect you are looking forward to it. It was all just a trigger that took me through things I do not know or worry about.

          Liked by 2 people

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