Weekend Challenge

The Ultimate Test 

                  This past weekend, I had the pleasure of babysitting for one of my good family friend’s children. Out of three, only two were home. Crosby, who is ten years old, mainly stuck to herself and did her own thing. Her little brother, Max, was the main reason why I was there, he needed someone to keep an eye on him. Not to be biased about the other families I have babysat for, but Max is the cutest and best-behaved of them all. I wish that every babysitter could experience a Max. Sadly, more times than not you will get stuck with naughty kids that are not well-behaved. While binge-watching the Disney Car movies, we decided to tackle a firetruck Lego set. 

                  Don’t get me wrong, Lego sets are fun and somewhat easy but trying to complete one with a four-year-old is quite the ordeal.  We started strong by only opening one bag at a time. After doing so, Max ran into the kitchen to grab a plate to keep all the pieces on to stay organized but ended up coming back with a cup in the shape of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast which he had gotten from Disney on Ice. This did not work the best as you could not see the pieces very well, but I would give him an A plus for trying to stay organized. 

                  Once we started building, he was very engaged and focused. Every once in a while he would glare up at the television screen to watch a screen of the movie, but then he would return to the pieces in his hands. While he was putting the pieces together, I sat beside him and made sure he was following the directions.  We were cruising page through page getting this Lego set together. 

                  As time went on, Max started getting slower and slower. He became more distracted by the movie, and other things going on around him. He began misplacing and dropping pieces for me to then have to find. Then, he became hungry and seemed to never get unhungry. I had to get up multiple times to get him more yogurt and other snack items. At this point, he was no longer interested in the Legos. Only food and the movie. 

                  So, this is when I had to step up. He had become so distracted to the point that he told me to just finish it. With this set being for kids, I flew through it fast. However, I must say that I too got distracted by the movie as I had never seen it before. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, I recommend it. Soon enough I had completed the firetruck, and he immediately snatched it from my hands to start playing with it. 

                  What I learned from this experience is that children have very little attention spans, so do not get your hopes up that you will stick to one activity for the whole morning. Also, when you are trying to do something, be prepared that they need you to do everything for them. Be prepared to jump around, doing one thing after another. This is the price you must pay when babysitting. Overall, it’s all about keeping the kids happy because that is what your job is as a babysitter.