Need advice
Dec 4th, 2008 by Kim
OK. Here’s the entire story. Now I need some advice from all you kind readers.
About a month ago my husband’s boss and his family moved into our trailer park. They have a little girl the same age as my girl and they get along fine. Here lies the problem. A couple of weeks ago the mother asked me if I would be interested in watching her child on the days that the kids don’t have school. I said yes as I should have been only once in a while. The times were supposed to be from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Well that last one day. The next day I had her she arrived at 8:00 am and didn’t leave until after 5:00 pm. But I figured since it was only once in a while I wouldn’t say anything.
Well then I got an e-mail asking me to watch her after school. I really didn’t want to as she is a very loud and noisy kid and when she’s here all I listen to is smashing, yelling and fighting. And none of the kids listen to me. Not even my own. But because of who it is, I had to say yes. Well the past two days have been brutal and I really don’t want to do this any more. I DON’T LIKE THE WAY MY KIDS ARE ACTING NOW THAT THEY ARE PLAYING WITH HER.
Now the question. How in heck do I get out of any other future babysitting days?? I don’t want to cause my husband a problem at his work, but I really don’t know how much longer I will be able to tolerate this situation. Any suggestions?? Anyone??
Wow, it appears you are between a rock and a hard place. My only suggestion would be to run away–I mean, just go somewhere so you can honestly say you won’t be home and can’t watch her. That’s all I can think of to do without just coming right out and saying you can’t do it anymore. I thought you had a job anyway, no?
well, i suppose that you already know the answer. reject! learn to reject and it will make your life better.
but first of all, i do not know the relationship between your husband and his boss. sometimes it would be better for the guys to talk. you might want to talk to your husband to see if he could talk to his boss regarding the matter.
otherwise, pretend that you will be out, or meeting with friends, facial appointment, go to gym. well, the idea is not to be at home.
my mom faced the similar problem before and it was almost a 6days X 12hours job and extending. because they are relatives, my mom bear with it and i was there to help her. when they had another child, they hinted but my father told them that they will not be at home that often because i went to another city to continue my studies while my brothers also working at another city.
anyway, takes things openly and have a great day.
Karen,
I do have a regular job but it’s only on weekends. So she knows I’m available after school.
Perhaps you can tell her that, while you are willing to still watch her on the occasional day when there is no school, it is not working out ever day after school as this is when you need to accomplish personal activities (banking, etc.) and it is just becoming too much. This way, you’re not completely dumping her, but I think she’s sort of taking advantage of you.
have you ever tried talking to the little girl? why not discipline her along with your children? that way it will be much more pleasant to have her around. i have a cousin who’s a year younger than my daughter and i used to baby sit for them a lot before, and he was just such a little devil, he’d hit my daughter and make her cry often, i straightened him out and my uncle and aunt thanked me for it because they couldn’t discipline him just because they can’t say no to him and pretty much lets him do what he wants. anyway, if you can’t discipline her then talk to the mother and tell her you can’t take care of her daughter everyday because you do have a life and that watching her kid is not your job. best to keep your husband and his boss out of this, it’s between you and the mom… well, good luck, let me know how it turns out…