Number 4 has secured fairly regular babysitting jobs for two different families.
Every job she’s done so far has been from about 5 or 6 p.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. She’s there for a couple hours, gets the kids dinner or dessert, puts them to bed, and then has some time to chill out.
Today she had another job for one of the families — two girls — but it started earlier in the afternoon — around 3:30 — and she was going to be there until 9 or 10.
One of the girls is friends with Number 5, and they had a couple conversations at school and Number 5’s friend told her she wanted her to come over today, too.
Number 5 came home from school earlier in the week and asked if she could go with Number 4 when she went to babysit today.
I told Number 5 I didn’t think the mom would be okay with that, plus it might be a little awkward at bed time if her friend had to go to bed and Number 5 was hanging out on her couch in her living room with Number 4 until 10:00 at night.
“But Mom,” Number 4 said. “I’m going to be there for so long with them both awake. I’m going to have to occupy the two of them for so long.”
I reminded her that was the whole reason why she was getting paid.
“Yeah,” Number 4 said. “But if Number 5 came with me, then they would occupy each other, and I could get some quiet time.”
And that was when I knew Number 4 had learned Mom Lesson #486: Playdates — Why You Need Them And When To Use Them.
Need some more help? Get my FREE course —
3 Keys To More Helpful Kids
Wonderful that your are nurturing the ability to work for some income (no matter how minimal). My daughter babysat for several families and learned so much while doing so. As the parent of the babysitter, I know this takes effort on your part as well. Many parents these days don’t want to be bothered and would just give some $ to the child to keep from having to worry about it. Props for taking the path that will allow them to learn more.