Can our elder help a babysitter who is constantly cleaning up after two naughty children?

Perhaps it’s time to find another job…

Dear EWC

I baby sit two children, Lucas and Sam. Lucas is five and Sam is eight. They do rude pranks to me whenever they get a chance. They put eggs on the fridge door and put Mentos into my soda. They always do messy pranks in which I have to clean. I tried to tell their parents and they didn’t believe me.

Granny-Nora replies

You may want to consider finding another babysitting job. I’m concerned that you have told the parents what is going on, and they don’t believe you. That’s a warning flag because in a more important circumstance, they probably wouldn’t believe you either. If one of the kids got hurt, for instance, would they believe you when you told them how it happened?

One of the first rules of parenthood is to accept the fact that your children aren’t perfect. Until a parent can do that, they cannot effectively parent. I’m concerned that you are responsible for children whose parents might blame you if one of their pranks eventually causes harm to them.

Try talking to the parents again about your concerns, but if you aren’t satisfied with the results of that conversation, I would seriously consider babysitting for someone else. Good luck!

If you have other questions or problems in the future, please be sure to write to Elder Wisdom Circle again. We’d love to help.

Letter #: 403744
Category: Children