14. 'Running a cold, so they can't go to the zoo.': One day Narcey texted me that she would send her kids to her mom's house unless I agreed to move my zoo day to a different day. I had already hired my assistant/friend to come and help me take the 6 kids I sit for to the zoo. Narcey was concerned because her kids were running colds. What are you 80? Who even says that anymore? Um, all the kids had colds. Nothing drastic. I assured her that we would be parking and walking to two buildings very close to the parking lot. It was like 55 degrees out. One of our stops is an indoor, hands-on play zoo. She thought I was going to reschedule my entire day because her kids had slightly runny noses.
15. 'We're walking. We're walking.': Narcey's mantra when she tries to corral her her kids to walk to her car.
16. Unwilling to get to the bottom of the puking kid. : When I told Narcey that Zach probably needed to see a specialist, she just took him back to her pediatrician, who had already told her he was unsure what the issue was. They did blood-work. Then the problem persisted, I asked her if the blood-work ruled out reflux. She flipped out a little. 'No it didn't, but I am not doing an endoscopy. The blood-work was enough for me, Ernie. You have no idea how hard that was. They took so much blood.' She sort of implied that it was my fault that her kid was subjected to a blood draw. Even Mini was confused about why Narcey wouldn't try to solve his issue. 'But Mom, he's suffering.' Yep. Even my 14 year old gets it. This may come as a shock, but being a mom for the last 20 years, I have indeed had blood work done on my children. Not pleasant, but then again - only done when necessary.
17. no such thing as a short text message: Every time I saw that Narcey sent me a text, I cringed.
18. constantly alerting me that she is just so type A: This came up in conversation regularly. 'They should be good at cleaning up. It's all we do. We're just so type A.' I think she wanted an award for her personality type.
19. Nacrey could be heard screaming at her husband thru his Bluetooth by my kids while they were shooting hoops on the driveway at pickup: Narcey was taking Zach to the doctor after pick-up. She had Arrogant pick up the other kids from me after school, but Zach had to wait until Narcey got there. Arrogant was confused. I was pretty sure I knew the plan, and I told him to leave Zach with me. He went to his awesome Tesla and called Narcey. Narcey often complained about how her husband didn't know anything. My kids heard her thru his Bluetooth - she was berating him for not remembering the plan.
20. permissive parenting: 'Zach doesn't want to go to your house without his sister. He wants to come to the eye doctor with me'. Why not just tell Zach that he is going to my house regardless of what he wants? Who is in charge?
21. no warning: fails to tell me that her kid goes into the bathroom to throw up when he cries, so on his 2nd day here I think he has given himself a concussion because he bumps his head (slightly), cries about it and then goes into the bathroom and says, 'I am going to throw up now.' Then he does.
22. 'But I was sick!': After the door slam incident, Narcey describes what happened at her school while she was sick. While at a meeting that her principal attended, he called to her 'See you tomorrow,' and she was so surprised that he didn't tell her to stay home after witnessing how sick she was. She told me that she felt like saying to her principal: 'Don't you see this? Can't you see how sick I am?' Um. No. Usually if you are sick it is your responsibility to tell your boss. Right?
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| Inflatable crayon and baseball bat. Literally taller than Zach and Suzie. Who in their right mind shows up at a sitter's house with these in tow? Is it me? |
23. inflatable toys: the rule is that the kids need to keep their toys at their house. I do not want to be responsible for tracking their stuff in my house. One day Narcey showed up with Zach and Suzie carrying big-as-life inflatable toys. I assumed it was a preschool show and tell deal. Nope. When I realized that they just brought them so that they could keep them from the other kids, I just told them that the toys would have to stay in the garage until pick up. At pick-up I reminded Arrogant of my policy. He informed me: 'Oh, they wouldn't get in the car without them.' Was he confused? This was not my problem. So, leave the toys in the car - or better yet, pop the inflatables when your little darlings wouldn't listen to you about getting in the damn car and say, 'Oh, no more blow up toys.'
24. Who is sitting where?: Narcey always looked overwhelmed. She was always repeating the same phrases: 'No thank you, we're walking, we're walking'. One day at pick up her kids were all badgering her about where they were going to sit in the car. She explained to me that she let them switch which booster seat they sit in- like once a week. I was dumbfounded. 'Why?' She explained that otherwise it wouldn't be fair. I looked at her and said the words I am most proud of: 'You might want to tell them that life isn't fair.'
4 comments:
Where do you find these people and how can you stand it? Craziness!
Agreed. I found this woman on care.com. She lives like a stones throw from me - in my kids' school district. Today I met another mom who babysits for teachers during the school day. One of the first things she said to me is that she is so grateful that she hasn't had any crazy people yet. Apparently, that is because they are busy gravitating to me. After she told me that, I told her my Narcey story and she was appalled.
So we say running a fever around here but not running a cold. I've always said it and never thought a thing about it but it does sound ridiculous. But to me saying running a cold is even sillier! I find the switching of the car seats around the most ridiculous thing of all! I hated to move the car seats - it was such a pain and if the kids are going to fight about it - No Way!!!!!!!
The thing about the cold that was extra weird is that her kids weren't struggling that much with their colds - the other kids I sit for had colds. Why not get them out in the fresh air? They weren't down and out - like unable to go without a tissue for over 10 seconds. She thought I was going to change my whole master (and awesome) plan b/c her kids were running a cold? As far as the carseats, since she has triplets that are 4 and a 6 yr old they all sit in 5 point harness boosters. She didn't physically move the seats, but she allowed them to move. Like girls in the front, boys in the back. Weekly. And it drove her insane. What the Hell? Just tell them where to sit and change it on their birthday. Why is this hard for some people? And I thought i was going to write an Irish dancing book - this group needs my intervention and advice more. Clearly!
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