I'm not even talking about a daycare or date-night babysitter here. I'm talking about the general person-who-watches-the-kid babysitter.
I can remember being a kid, maybe 8 or 9, sitting at my dad's feet while he interviewed one high school girl after another, looking for one trustworthy enough to take care of 3 grade-school aged children for the summer. He always involved us in the interview process, but it was exhausting for us. I can only imagine how he felt.
Let's see the babysitters I remember- we had the gorgeous Barbie doll preacher's daughter. She was pretty awesome, but super religious. Her dad actually officiated my sister's wedding. She was always doing active things with us, but she kept trying to take us to Sunday school. Then we had the popular high school girl- I think for one kid, she would have been great. I don't think she was ready for 3 completely different personalities. The last one I remember was the party girl who lived one street over. She used to take us to her house so she could swim in her underwear with the boys in the neighborhood. My dad fired her for leaving our TV set to MTV's "The Grind". MTV was outlawed in our house.
So, how do you know who to trust your life to? I'm not exaggerating. A child is literally your life, in a smaller human being form. People can paint good pictures. I know tons of people who are awesome at interviews but suck as employees. People are good at telling you what you want to hear. They can even rig references. How do you know you're not going to end up on the news at the end of the day because you picked the wrong babysitter. And on the other, but no less heartbreaking end, how do you know your kid won't prefer the company of a babysitter to the company of it's own parents? This is some scary shit, and I'm not prepared for that, and I'm again grateful that I don't have to deal with it.
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