The horrors of baby sitting...

Today I had the pleasure of babysitting my 9 yrs old brother, Ryan, and his new best friend Dakota.
It's funny how a little boys mind may think. He thinks "well my friend is over today so maybe, just maybe I can get away with a little more than usual. I mean at least this way I don't have to take all the blame. I can easily sift a little over to my good friend here."
And so we went on with the day with this kind of mentality. Pushing a little here and there. Trying to find out exactly how much big sis was going to let go without discipline.

It may seem small, but I find this kind of thing challenging sometimes. I mean I am not either one of their mothers, and I know to them that means I don't have as much credit. At least with my brother. I found out today that my opinions or requests do not matter as much as they would if I had the mom pin stuck to me. But what can you do about that? Nothing. And so you have to figure out how to not over step your boundries without being to much like a doormat. I probably spent some time doing both things today, but that what happens when a 9 year old figures out that he has grounds to test you limits. They are smarter than you think, those little boys. Well I payed for not being prepared, and spent good and long 15 minutes looking for the two critters after they had obviously put on a disappearing act just for me. And believe me...when you can't find a child your looking for in 2 minutes every minute after seems like an eternity.

They said they would only be playing at the house across the street, but when I looked a little later there were no critters to be found. It was time to get the bike and start tracking. I Looked every where before I remebered, my mom told me about a girl Ryan developed a crush on that lived about two blocks away...and wouldn't you know the critters were in site. Not even that lasted, since they saw me coming and dodged behind the cute girl. I'm sure there heads were spinning to figure out who to blame this time. KNowing they were both in trouble they were in "good boy" mode all the way home, which was very pleasent for me actually. For the first time my position as the babysitter mattered. We got home, had a good chat about letting me know where they are at all times, picked a punishment together (although I only gave them two options), and on we went with our day, but not before both boys wanted to call their little girlfriend to tell her she was still being crushed on, and that their getting in trouble was definately not her fault...
It's funny how even at that age boys will try to protect the cute girl, and sacrifice themselves.

All in all it turned out to be a pretty interesting day. One that I wouldn't want to do again, but none the less learned from. Days like today keep me in check about what it may be like to be a parent, and how much credit the deserve for putting up with not days but years of this kind of stuff. Well heres to you mom. Good job. Thanks for giving me an example of what a mother can be proud of. As for me... I know having kids are in my future...but after today I'm glad we aren't rushing into anything Joel and I are still learning about.

Anyway toodles!! It's good to be back.