I take care of three children. One is mostly on a bottle and the other two are young. The parents expect me to cook every night. And they want veggies and grilled steaks and stuff. I don't have time for that. Fortunately they don't ask for receipts for petty cash and they don't routinely go over the grocery receipts. So, here is today for example:I am busy all day. I know I have to cook. I have an hour to get the kids dinner made so I can get us all back out the door to an activity, leaving mom and dad to come home and enjoy another of my feasts uninterrupted. I go to the deli earlier this afternoon and I get some sesame chicken breasts. Three. She puts them in a large soup container and they stay in the backseat most of the afternoon while I am out. I get home, throw a bunch of lipton onion soup mix and a can of chicken broth on the chicken and throw it in a frying pan with hot oil to get it brown then I drop it in a casserole and throw it in the oven. I open a can of asparagus and dump it in a small frying pan with a massive glob of butter. I go in to the garage freezer for my secret stash of frozens and grab a bag of pre cut mashed potatoes. I throw them in the microwave, still stained with my lunch time nachos. I take the potatoes out of the micro and mash them up with some half and half, garlic and romano cheese. I throw some texas toast in the oven. None for mom. She doesn't like bread. I take everything out and slam half of a half of a chicken on each kids plate with a blob of mashed potatoes. I take more care to arrange both parents plate, (paprika on the potatoes, a squirt of lemon on the asparagus) and cover those. I slam the kids in front of the plates and tell them they have ten minutes to eat. They complain and don't eat. I give them fruit snacks and oreos. I get all the kids in the car to get our dinner out. I do a quick clean up on the kitchen, (the messier it looks, the more the parents feel like they are eating a gourmet meal) and I grab all of the trash which I drop in a neighbor's garbage can four doors down. By the time I get back tonight, the parents will have cleaned the kitchen and left me a thoughtful note. I appreciate that, but hey, I'm no cook and never said I was.
. But they are assured that they will get what they need/want in my next free moment. I "hold" them with words of comfort and encouragement while they are waiting. I feel it is twice the work no matter how you look at it. It is two jobs. Or three. And on top of that in the case of nanny share, there are not only two adults to make happy above and beyond the children, but four, sometimes more in the case of divorce. 
. It feels more like a situation of lack of respect for the position of childcare provider, but they'd never say that to me. I have tried to talk to them but they don't budge and I am left feeling horrible for asking. 
in nature. May even send you to school with him for a while so he can get the right homework to the right classes. Up for the challenge? He goes to Waterville MN highschool. He could come to your house or your could come to ours. Want to help????
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
for the twins. The dad came up behind me and said: You look very nice today, and then began rubbing my arm up and down. The next few days the same sort of things started happening, the compliments and always rubbing my arm and touching my shoulders. By this time, I was feeling very uncomfortable, and put in my two weeks notice. The next day, my dad called me, telling me that a man who identified himself as my employer kept calling his work, demanding to know where I was and begging my dad to convince me to stay. This freaked me out because I never told him about my family, and I haven't lived near my family for five years. There is no way he could have found out about them without doing some serious research. 
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