Saturday, May 14, 2011

Take some pity...

...on your child care providers.  Seriously, people.  If you put your child in someone's care, you obviously need to trust them.  But how many people pity them?  After all, they made a decision to go into child care and accept certain jobs, right?  Wrong.

I was at the supermarket Thursday night and decided to get my daughter some popsicles.  A nice treat to have once in a while, no?  I discovered popsicles a while back that are not only half the size of a regular one (you can get full size, too), but are slow melting due to gelatin being added to them.  I want to hug the genius that came up with that idea.

It was Thursday that I came across the poor girl (?) I am about to discuss.  She was holding 4 boxed of different popsicles and had 2 little girls with her, ages maybe 3 and 5.  They really could have cared less what was purchased by the time I rolled around.

She seemed REALLY confused and overwhelmed, so I said, "You know, I found these a while back and they are awesome.  Very little mess." She looked at me with the most desperate crazy eyes I have ever seen.  She then unloaded on me.

I don't know whose children they were, but apparently there is a 7 year old brother out there somewhere, too.  She started going on about a woman I presume is the mother.  The mother who sent this poor girl to the store to buy only natural organic products.

I COMPLETELY understand parents who choose to feed their children organic.  Every parent has the right to decide what to feed their children.  But riddle me this:  If you make that decision, shouldn't YOU be the one doing the grocery shopping instead of sending someone who has NO idea what the hell you are talking about?!

This girl was precisely what you would envision if someone said "frazzled".  Her hair was a mess, she was dropping things all over the place, she was completely and totally scattered.  Thankfully, the children with her were well behaved.

If you are going to assume your child care provider is also your servant, the least you can do is give them some direction.  Would it have killed the mother to suggest a supermarket with a wider variety of organic?  Or to write a list?!  With details??  It would seem the only instruction she gave was all natural organic.

Now, I am not an organic shopper.  I buy what I like and I buy what my daughter and husband like.  We eat fruit and vegetables, just like everyone else.  But I do not go all out and buy organic.  Occasionally, something I buy is organic by chance, but I do not seek it out.  It also helps that I heard a while back about a study that was looking into the benefits of organic diet.  Apparently, there is no significant difference in the long run.  Yippee!!  We're not going to die!!

Are there child care providers out there with similar experiences?  I have done my fair share of child care and have willingly helped out with laundry, cooking, dishes and groceries.  However, I feel there is a fine line between the sporadic help and the full on taking advantage. We ALL know that mother who has kids etc. because that is what you are "supposed" to do.  I think this is the same kind of mother who puts her career above all else.  There is NOTHING wrong with being a woman with a career, but when you have children, your priorities have to change somewhat.  I really feel like this mother, whoever she is, just dumps her entire load of personal responsibility on this girl.  I doubt she was at home with a handkerchief around her head scrubbing the floors while this girl did the grocery shopping for the week.

It was a brief but eye opening encounter.  If I am ever fortunate enough to have in home child care, I will not make my responsibility the responsibility of my child care provider.  I'll buy my own frozen chicken nuggets, thanks very much.

3 comments:

  1. How do you but a chicken nugget? Just so I know when I need to do that some time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have been a nanny for three different families at various times throughout my early childhood career. I was never once asked to do anything other than take care of their children. I bathed the kids, fed them, played with them, took them on walks, read stories, put them to bed, etc. But that was all for them, and to be expected in the job description. I also did dishes, vacuumed, did laundry, dusted, and probably cleaned more than I did at my own house, but I was never ASKED to. Or told to. I did it because it was there, and I was there, and I wanted to. Also because it gets pretty boring around nap time.

    I've never been asked to go grocery shopping though. The families did that themselves. Although I'm not surprised you came across a nanny doing grocery shopping for the family. I've heard horror stories. I realize I was very lucky to get great families to work for.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bite it, Nicole. :)

    Sara, my experiences have been the same. Occasionally, I would be asked to switch laundry over if it didn't get done, but usually, I willingly helped out not only out of boredom, but because I realized even then how hard it would be for a working parent to come home and do it all and still have time for their kid. Hm, I need me a nanny. :)

    ReplyDelete