When I was in college I paid my bills by nannying and babysitting.
One of the families I was a sitter for was made up of 6 kids ages 7 to 14. They were super self sufficient and really smart, thoughtful kids. I was always so impressed with them. I would get to the house early morning and say goodbye to the kids' parents, help the kids finish getting ready, and get them all to school. Overall it was only a quick couple of hours each morning before I had class myself, but could some days be very hectic. For example if it were raining, and we couldn't walk to school, it actually took 3 trips in my small SUV to get all of the kids where they needed to be. Anyway, one of the things I remember most is the way they would sit at the table for breakfast. Some days the older siblings would make toast, or ask me to fry up an egg. Some days they would throw a waffle in the toaster and fight over the last of the syrup. But most days they would all sit down with 6 bowls, 6 spoons, a gallon of milk, and one of the older, taller siblings would bring over several boxes of cereal from the top of the fridge. My favorite part was how they would argue over who got to finish the end of the box of cereal. Half of them dressed in school clothes, the other half still in PJs and unbrushed hair, I was just an innocent bystander as they decided who would get the little crumbs and sugar from the bottom of the bag... "the salt" they called it. "No I should get the salt, you got it last time!" "I was about to eat that cereal anway, I should get the salt!" "I'm the oldest, give me the salt!" So I couldn't help but laugh as I sat on the couch tonight and heard my husband say, as he finished his Sour Patch Kids, "Wow, lot of salt at the bottom this time!" He's heard all of my stories.
4 Comments
Diane Anderson (newtreemom)
3/30/2017 08:26:06 pm
You told it well. I laughed when I got to the end.
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3/30/2017 09:21:24 pm
Terrific story, and bringing the memory around to your life now is great. I admire you for the nannying of such a large family. They must have been very together kids! Thanks for sharing.
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3/31/2017 07:33:01 am
Love this little memory...:) Every family has their little nuances, don't they?
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Author5th grade teacher, wife, mama to my 3 magical babies, ally, advocate, doggy foster mom... just stumbling on. Archives
March 2022
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