My Babysitting Nightmare

Hey y'all! Hope your day has been treating you well (mine hasn't). I'd like to share with y'all a little story about my day--hope you enjoy!

I woke up this morning at around 11. I'm on my first two weeks of summer vacation and I dare someone to tell me to wake up before 9. I woke up, got dressed in my workout clothes and went downstairs to begin making my breakfast. Considering I was on a tight schedule, I was moving pretty fast and just ready to get my behind to the gym for a good workout. This tight schedule was all due to the fact that I had to babysit at 4 o'clock the three boys on the corner of my street. Now, I had been dreading this job all week. Why, you ask? The eldest is in 5th grade I believe and can take care of himself (which his mother made very clear to me), but the two younger ones, aged 6 and 4, are a handful. They're fun and adorable, so I do love watching them from time to time, but this was the first time I had had to deal with bedtime. Oh, the dreaded bedtime. I was told to brush their teeth at 7:45 and put them in their beds at 8, but the 4 year old was so not up to doing this task. As soon as I told him he had to brush his teeth, he got the I'm-about-to-start-bawling look on his face and said in a whisper-y voice, "Do I have to go to bed?" It was terrifying to say the least. He did start bawling and I had to call his mother, who then had to speak to all of the boys. I eventually got the two youngest in bed and did their dishes for them to make up for the fact that earlier, the youngest had been playing around and hit his head on the wall, leaving a huge bump. I mean huge. I iced it and was petrified of the mom that would see the bump and think her baby was abused by the babysitter. At the end of the night though, both the parents returned home and I told them everything that happened. Yes, this saved me from never being hired again indefinitely by not telling the parents about their son's injury, but it didn't save me from the embarrassment I felt, one, not being able to put the kids to bed, and two, not being stern enough with the youngest. On top of my embarrassment, I felt like I had let down not only the parents who had paid me to watch, entertain and protect their sons from any harm, but myself for not doing better.

All in all, it was a nightmare, and I need to get my babysitting skills together because, let's be honest, we're in a recession.

Signed,
Penelope P.