Can you stand babysitting?

[ShadowTiger]

On Tuesday, I had to babysit for an autistic child. He speaks, (a little bit, but nothing comprehensible.) and when it was time for him to eat, he was seen ripping up the plate that held the food, rather than eating the salmon bits on the plate. When I gave him another plate to rip up, he pushed the plate away, and would only rip up the salmon plate. And he listens to barney. All the time. Even barney rap. I had to keep an MP3 running for him at all times.

But he's about 8 or something like that. It's just.. difficult. I suppose babysitting for someone younger must be fairly difficult too. I just hope your kid can understand English. :shakeno:

[*b*]

I used to babysit for some friends of my mom's. they were so freaking hyper, the only thing that would keep them still is my N64 or GCN, which was ok by me

I also had to babysit my little brother a few years ago when my parents went on vacation, but that's about it

but I would like to babysit again sometime, especially if I get paid :p

[ShadowTiger]

I didn't get paid enough for that Autistic job. (Although, truth be told, it was -I- who said that I get paid $5 an hour, when I actually get paid two dollars more. I think.)

If only I could have gotten him on a controller. Or arm wrestled him. Or spun him around or something. Anything to get him away from the Barney MP3. .. Anything. :shakeno:

[Dracula]

I love babysitting my two nieces... They're adorable. :heart:
There's nothing cuter than seeing a short little two year-old girl playing SMB and laughing every time Mario jumps to his death

[ShadowTiger]

It's great seeing them battle for the first time. :p I have a friend who's REALLY good at SSB, and his sister is also very good. She's almost as good as his brother. :p Seems rather odd for a 2-year old, but say that to her face.

[Lilith]

Can I stand babysitting? In a word, no. The last time I babysat this 6-month old hellspawn shrieked for 15 minutes straight until I finally gave in and called my mom to come over (it was right across the street). She just wanted someone who knew what they were doing to hold her Oh yeah, she had a cold too.

[TheGeepster]

From my understanding, autistic children are probably harder to babysit than the typical hyper child. Because of their limited development in certain areas, you end up having to be more flexible and invest more time.

[Mitsukara]

Mmm... well, the only times I've ever actually "babysat", I was just taking care of my niece for an hour or so (she's about 1 5/6 years old right now). It was okay, I guess... she never really got into anything, or did anything really bad, and there were no disasters... heck, I've only even had to change her diaper once, and I wasn't alone that time. Really, it was very easy. I'm just always afraid I'm not paying enough attention to her or doing things right... and I never really know exactly what she's allowed to do, either.

Now, if I were doing what I'm sure most people would consider real babysitting (as opposed to what I just described)... that might get very frustrating. I don't know how I would do in terms of mood, but I'd try to remain nice to them unless they were intentionally being little shits and then I would be forced to kill them... well, okay, I would refrain in the interests of not hurting them or their parents, and, uh... oh yeah, not getting imprisoned.

In any situation I would probably be afraid I was doing things wrong. Children need lots of attention and care, and there are always several dangerous possibilities of what might happen to them. I would probably follow them around and try to watch them at least 98% of the time, if not more... which is pretty much what I do now Yeah, I know, 8-year-olds would be like "WTF! Stop following me!"... I'd probably be laxer depending on the situation, where it was, and hold old they were. And, of course, their personality. I mean, even if you're in a house composed entirely of rubber rooms, if the kid wants to blow stuff up, it's going to happen.

So I don't know... I wouldn't want to do it especially (for the above reasons, and I would feel better if the child were being taken care of by their actual parents if possible... unless those parents were assholes... but if they're nice people and they just can't right then, I can understand that too, I guess...), but I might be able to deal with it okay if I had to...

[Petoe]

I love babies, so do I like babysitting? Well, it depends. My little syster is so cute and adorable and... :heart:

But some kids are just horrible. They don't obey you no matter what, and they cry and shout and... oh well.

So I have good and bad experiences.

[~cydlet~]

sure! i've been babysitting for last 20 years, as the opportunity arrises. Even went so far as to work as a nanny to three kids when i was 21.

it's fun to do. i get to watch cartoons and play with legos and matchbox cars and dolls and play-doh and be silly, and i get PAID to do it! What's not to love?