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Working Moms
BiscuitEater21
member
vent about babysitting (loooong)
BiscuitEater21
member
in Working Moms
So I am a babysitter/mommy lol who likes to get some extra money, while helping with low-cost rates ($5/hour) and not having to lose anytime with my baby.
Mid August I went to be interviewed by a mother with a son who is only 3 weeks older than my son. She asked that I not bring my son every time but occasionally was fine. Off subject, but I also mentioned that I visit my mom and other family for a night or two about once every month and she asked that I give her at least 2 weeks notice before I plan to leave... Well, one of the things is that I don't always plan very far in advance before we go to visit my family since they don't even live 2 hours away!
Anyway back on subject, I was hired to go to her home, where she works by calling health insurance customers, to watch her son from 8am to 2pm every Friday and possibly more days or hours later on...
Point being, I am very uncomfortable with this babysitting job and have already been to their home more than 10 times. I feel like this is a sign that I should quit and just keep my other sitting job. I'm not sure if I am the odd one or if it really is "Jesse" here.
My son is formula fed, not that I was on a strict schedule before I stopped breastfeeding and he falls asleep sometimes without even making a peep. Jesse's son however, I have to watch him to see his "sleepy" signs 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours and then I have to put him to bed to cry to sleep. This doesn't bother me so much anymore since he is usually asleep within 20 minutes. But I'm also commanded not to get him up from his naps until he has been laying down for at least 1 1/2 hours...this is one of the things I am pretty uncomfortable with.
I guess I don't understand why a baby would be left in his crib for another 45 minutes because he has only been in there that long. One day he happened to poop almost immediately after I put him in his crib and he didn't even nap for 15 minutes after he cried to take that nap for exactly 27 minutes. I didn't even have the baby monitor on and could still hear him crying from the living room.
Jesse texts me once in a while when she is working to answer any question I might have (I have had at least 1 question each of the multiple times I've been there) or to give me directions or commands on what she wants me to do with her son. Well, she told me I should not go pick up her son because he was just tired fussing and then when he woke up not even 15 m later she told me not to go get him.
Against her advice I went to get him anyway just a few minutes later and changed him (because he had totally crapped himself and his clothes!) and put him back to bed. He went back to sleep in like 10 minutes! I knew there was more to his cry than I'm tired, I just have a feeling before he even took his cat nap in his poopy-butt.
Also, I get the feeling that Jesse gets mad at some of the things I do while babysitting although she has never said so. I have texted her in advance to visit my family about 10 days before doing so, and she seemed upset about it although it was no where near the day she needs me. She added me on Facebook right after our interview which I was also kind of uncomfortable about.
Well usually when I get to Jesse's house, her and her husband are both there waiting to greet me. I am always only there until 1pm until the 2pm I was hired for (which is not a problem at all-just noting it). Last Friday when I went into the house all of the windows were open so it was freezing, and the lights were on but the baby monitor wasn't in the living room and the all of the doors were closed except the office and baby's room (which is flip-flopped from the ordinary). So I sat there for 10 minutes before texting Jesse to see if she still needed me and what the plan was...I was confused and feel like she could have given me a heads-up like a note or something. She didn't text back for 25 minutes so I texted her again and even tried calling but didn't get an answer. So I decided to go home and got a call back right as I was pulling into my driveway!
Am I overreacting or is she in the wrong? I personally would not spend my hard-earned money on a sitter if I worked at home like Jesse does. My son is what everyone tells me is an easy baby and I would probably be able to spend most of the day on the phone while taking care of him. Jesse's son entertains himself almost the whole time I am there and sleeps over half of the time I'm there. All I really do is change his diaper once or twice, sit there while he plays on his mat with his toys and then sit there some more when he sleeps. It's really easy pay, I just find this particular woman and job so uncomfortable and I'm not really sure why.
Am I the only one???
This discussion has been closed.
Re: vent about babysitting (loooong)
This. Remember each child is different and when you are an employee you need to listen to your employers needs. If you disagree it's not a good fit.
First, if you're uncomfortable in a job and want to quit, why are you even asking? Just give her notice and drop the job.
Second, every kid is different, every parent is different. Likely, neither of you are wrong, just have different parenting styles and babies with different temperaments.
Exactly this. I lost interest when you mentioned she didn't want you bringing your son along (which is one of the reasons you wanted to babysit) and she wanted more notice than you were willing to give for holidays.
Hop in your time machine and don't take this gig.
ETA: went back and skimmed the rest. A person working from home with a child absolutely must have childcare as well. You simply cannot work and care for a baby at the same time.
It sounds like it's not a good fit, and I would quit.
Just FYI- I work from home most days and there is no way I could provide care full-time to my son while working. I spend a lot of time on the phone, and having a screaming baby/Elmo/noisy toys in the background would not fly. On the rare days that I do work with him at home (if he's sick or DC closed), I really can only answer urgent emails and take urgent calls, and the rest of my work waits until he's in bed.
Your post was difficult to follow. I don't agree with you on a lot of your points (especially that you would not have a sitter if you worked from home - clearly you must not have a demanding professional job if this is what you think)...But I digress... If it isn't a fit, quit. I believe you indicated it is only one day a week for a few hours for $5/hour. Should be pretty easy to find something else that is a better fit for you.
Thank all of you ladies and I'm sorry if anything I said was taken rudely. I definitely don't want to make anyone upset here.
I am going to tell Jesse tomorrow after I watch her son that I can't continue babysitting for her, but I would still like to be friends. I was also confused because at the interview when I met her she said that she wanted to be professional with me, but friendly too. And then she has asked me to work-out with her and added me on Facebook and calls me friend too so I guess I was confused there too. Anyway she is a very nice person we are just not meant for what we have going.
Thank you all again.