At the ripe
age of 13, I came upon the root of all evil in the world: money, or my personal
lack thereof. With little inclination to partake in a “normal” part time job, I
opted for child care. I even attended a program at the library in hopes of
becoming the best babysitter in all of Chagrin Falls. As my business expanded,
I realized my customer base mainly contained males. This did not surprise me,
for these children seemed the easiest to entertain. Simply feed, bribe, and pit
them against each other in order to lure them into sleep. I believed I had
developed a fool proof method for the care of tiny men, but unfortunately my
unparalleled babysitting skills had to meet their match. Let me introduce “Larry”
and “Evan,” two boys aged six and five respectively. Not only do these boys
scream, cry, fight, and talk back, but Evan has yet to learn how to use a toilet.
He does not, however, wear a diaper. Needless to say, my frustration often hits
its limits. Tonight, I found myself yet again babysitting these two tiny fiends.
As I walked them upstairs, I realized that Evan had yet again wet his pants as
a result of his inability to step away from a video game. After letting the
child sit on my lap all night, I felt irate. But as I watched the boys fall
into the humble clutches of sleep, I thought back to my AP English class’s
discussion of happiness. Many espoused that a person can only find true
happiness when he or she finds pleasure in the simplistic elements of life,
such as surrounding oneself with family and friends, reading a good book, or
listening to a good song. Who, I thought, could find anything simpler than a
child? The world has not yet blinded a child from finding happiness in playing
a computer game all night or reading Curious George to his or her heart’s
content, making it easy to find joy. As a result of society’s image of
happiness as a straightforward concept, I think we all constantly try to
regress to the purity and innocence of youth. We can never really succeed, but
the bliss we find in happiness brings us back to our effortless childhood. Although
I often want to sprint from Larry and Evan’s house at full speed, I look fondly
on their naïveté. One day they will discover the woes of the world, and they
too will start on the road of regression that we all continually walk down.
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ReplyDeleteI agree, I remember countless times when people told me that I needed to enjoy my childhood, something I did not fully understand at the time. As children, despite our happiness I think we always seek to grow old. On the other hand, as adults we wish to regress to our youthful years. Thus, I think all should balance living in present day, while still fondly remembering their pasts.
ReplyDeleteI too completed the library's babysitting course and now regularly babysit and teach Sunday School. I remember one of the first Sundays after I volunteered as a Sunday School teacher- it was last year on the anniversary of 9/11 and one of the four year olds in the class explained to another kid why American flags flew everywhere, saying that a long time ago bad people attacked America, but we did not need to worry because our soldiers chased them away forever. The boy's simple, naive answer reminded me, like you also noted, of the innocent and trusting nature of children, who have yet to understand that life never appears only black and white with "good" and "bad" guys.
ReplyDeleteI also completed a similar babysitting course in the hopes of becoming a superstar babysitter. However, throughout my years in child care, I have experienced a few unfortunate experiences. Last fall, I had a little boy come down with the stomach flu. Not so fun. Regardless, I could not escape the innocence of his adorable laugh and super hero imitations. The kids I babysit continually remind me to never forget the joyful years of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteAs I have also opted to babysit to earn money before college, I understand many of the situations you have experienced. I laugh every time the second grader goes wide eyed upon seeing the annotations in my AP English book. It makes me remember the simplicity and worry-free nature of my childhood, and I remind myself not to take things to seriously but rather to enjoy life’s simple moments.
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