Pretty much every family in my neighborhood had Mrs. Nielsen as their nanny at one point or another. Mrs. Nielsen was quite a control freak. She’d force the kids to take naps, although at least it was in their own home, but if they ever got up to get a drink of water or whatever they’d get yelled at with the fury of a thousand suns.
One kid down the street had been diagnosed with asthma, and so the mom instructed Mrs. Nielsen to not let him run around too much so he didn’t get an asthma attack. Her way of following that instruction was to TIE HIM TO THE CHAIR.
I had this one babysitter who would only let me play with the toys at her house for part of the day… I mean they were just regular toys, it didn’t make any sense. I couldn’t go outside and wasn’t supposed to make noise or watch children’s tv shows or talk to her very much… like I asked a lot of questions as a kid and she would become absolutely terrifying if I asked her too many questions. Every time I went to her house, she would threaten to tell my parents that I had misbehaved terribly (I hadn’t), and that my parents would be so angry that they would basically beat me senseless. She was utterly frightening and acted completely different when my mom was there. Of course, my mom thought I was just being a spoiled brat when I said I hated that woman… oh well, I guess. And yeah, she’d flip out and scream if I wasn’t asleep for an entire hour. She was totally insane.
I knew a couple of kids who had far worse experiences with abusive and neglectful babysitters, though, like terrible scarring things that they will never be able to forget. Internet parents, be careful who you leave your kids with and be aware of who else may be at their house, there are some real freaks out there. And at least give a shit if your kid tells you something is wrong.
After school I stayed at my neighbors place until my folks came home. The lady I stayed with was a local baker and I got cake and soda each day. I could also watch HBO. Watching Stripes by the age of 10 was cool. (I’m surprised I still have all my teeth and I’m not huge.)
Pretty much every family in my neighborhood had Mrs. Nielsen as their nanny at one point or another. Mrs. Nielsen was quite a control freak. She’d force the kids to take naps, although at least it was in their own home, but if they ever got up to get a drink of water or whatever they’d get yelled at with the fury of a thousand suns.
One kid down the street had been diagnosed with asthma, and so the mom instructed Mrs. Nielsen to not let him run around too much so he didn’t get an asthma attack. Her way of following that instruction was to TIE HIM TO THE CHAIR.
Mrs. Nielsen was a crazy lady.
My Mom pulled us out of one babysitter because she put my 1 year old brother on the dryer to change him.
I had this one babysitter who would only let me play with the toys at her house for part of the day… I mean they were just regular toys, it didn’t make any sense. I couldn’t go outside and wasn’t supposed to make noise or watch children’s tv shows or talk to her very much… like I asked a lot of questions as a kid and she would become absolutely terrifying if I asked her too many questions. Every time I went to her house, she would threaten to tell my parents that I had misbehaved terribly (I hadn’t), and that my parents would be so angry that they would basically beat me senseless. She was utterly frightening and acted completely different when my mom was there. Of course, my mom thought I was just being a spoiled brat when I said I hated that woman… oh well, I guess. And yeah, she’d flip out and scream if I wasn’t asleep for an entire hour. She was totally insane.
I knew a couple of kids who had far worse experiences with abusive and neglectful babysitters, though, like terrible scarring things that they will never be able to forget. Internet parents, be careful who you leave your kids with and be aware of who else may be at their house, there are some real freaks out there. And at least give a shit if your kid tells you something is wrong.
They a always against us, you just can’t win with babysitters!
After school I stayed at my neighbors place until my folks came home. The lady I stayed with was a local baker and I got cake and soda each day. I could also watch HBO. Watching Stripes by the age of 10 was cool. (I’m surprised I still have all my teeth and I’m not huge.)
Man, talk about lucky! We had nasty homemade Mac and Cheese or eggs and Mister Rogers that’s it.