When I was a schoolgirl, we lived in a neighborhood with very few children, so when a family moved in with little kids, I pounced on the opportunity to earn money babysitting. At thirteen, I was the youngest of two children. My sister Alice, three years older, was beyond babysitting and into the world of horses. I had always wanted a younger sibling, but it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. I loved little kids and, as I saw it, babysitting could not only help me earn money, I could satisfy my “big sister” craving.
I called on Mrs. Little, our new neighbor, to offer my babysitting services. I couldn’t have called on her at a better time. The Littles had five children, boys nine, seven and five, and boy-girl twins nine-months old. Mrs. Little was at the point of desperately needing to get out. She asked me to babysit once a week.
Mrs. Little made a surprising statement. “Unless we have something special to go to, it doesn’t matter which night we go out, Friday or Saturday. You make your plans and we’ll go out on the other night.” Who could ask for a better arrangement than that?
I was in junior high school, eighth grade, at an age where I wanted to get together with girlfriends for movies and overnights. My babysitting arrangement was perfect. The children were all good kids and I had opportunities to cuddle the twins to my heart’s content.
I wished I could have taken a girlfriend along to babysit, as many of my friends did. But, my parents were adamant about my not having friends along; they felt my attention would be compromised.
One evening, I arrived at the Little’s at dinner time, since they were attending a progressive dinner, an event where guests have one course at one house and go on to other homes for the following courses. She mentioned that Elaine, the girl twin, had a slight cold, but she didn’t seem sick. Mrs. Little couldn’t leave a phone number with me (this was light-years before cell phones) but she would call me from time to time throughout the evening.
I fed the kids dinner, bathed the little ones, supervised the older ones, and eventually put them all to bed. As was my practice, I checked on them every hour. When I went into the twins room, I heard a raspy sound and realized it was Elaine. When I picked the baby up and held her upright, her breathing seemed less labored, but as soon as I laid her down, she struggled for breath. Alarmed, I called my mother and she rushed over and agreed we had a sick baby.
We looked in the phone book and found their family doctor’s phone number written on the inside cover. My mother called him and he came right over. In those days doctors made house calls. He strongly suspected the baby had pneumonia. As it happened, Mrs. Little called while he was there and they rushed home to take the baby to the hospital.
What would have happened, I’ve always wondered, if I’d had a girlfriend with me. Would I have been so diligent?
Okay, one more story about babysitting. I was probably fourteen by now and Mrs. Little asked me to spend the weekend so they could attend a conference. I jumped at the chance–just think how much money I would make in a whole weekend!
The weekend went well, but I was beyond weary by the end of it. To take care of five children’s every need for an entire weekend–meals, keeping the house tidy, changing two sets of diapers, chasing after two toddlers, the whole bedtime routine–it was exhausting.
When I dragged myself home, afraid I’d never have the energy or strength to spend my hard-earned money, I told my mother, “If you want grandkids, you’d better count on Alice–I never having kids.
Mother laughed. “Rough weekend, huh?”
I got over it and had many more years of babysitting. Later, I had four children of my own. Remembering my earlier experience, our standing rule was that our babysitters could not have their friends along.
Mary, You brought back memories. I babysit for the local vet’s kids and several others in town. When I was a Junior I got a job making & selling popcorn at the theatre and was glad to give up babysitting. As a freshman I tried staying with an elderly lady (lady sitting). I like babysittingchildren better and I like popping corn even better. Our bookclub read Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson. Your last blog about the Soloists made me think you might like it.
Great stories about babysitting, Mary. Reminded me of the time I babysat two boys, each avid Mets fans. Needless to say, whenever there was a major league baseball game on TV, I didn’t have to really do anything 🙂 After all, I was making easy money back then, 75 cents/hour! I did learn how to keep score, though, and this knowledge came in handy when my two boys played baseball many many years later.
Mary, I admire your eagerness to babysit, your anecdotes and diligence as a baby-sitter. I was often in charge of my five younger brothers and sisters and I began babysitting for others at age 11. This continued all through high school. After that, babysitting went to the bottom of things I wanted to do — waaay to the bottom! It was just too much.