Personal Narrative: How Babysitting Changed My Life

Since I was a kid, I had a ton of responsibilities, cleaning up after myself, doing chores, managing to not fight with my brother, although we fought all day everyday, but you know, it happens. One thing that I didn't know wasn't normal was parenting your parent. I go to school do all my class work and during recess and lunch I listened to all the other kids talk about going to the park after school and eating dinner together with their parents. When I got home from school, I had to do my homework and then take care of my mother. Bring her things she needed such as food, water, help her with many other simple everyday activities. Of course I wasn't the only one who was her “little helper” as she put it, my dad helped her and my older brother by two years,

Little by little, children finish their meals and get ready for naptime. The children dump the remainder of their milk in the same sink where they wash their hands. Slowly children go lie down on their own. One of the TSS’s turns off the lights on that side of the room. Kayla puts on a rest time cd and goes to start cleaning up the kitchen. I ask what kind of music is playing but Kayla is not sure. Alyssa gets blankets for any children who need them. Kayla tells her the children only get their blanket if they are settled down. Seeing the children start to fall asleep I get ready to leave. Saying goodbye to Kayla and Alyssa, thanking them for their time.

A situation where I was extrinsically motivated was when I had to babysit my little siblings for a night. I was extrinsically motivated because I was going to get paid. Usually I do not get paid to babysit, so I was excited and I felt that I had to try my best. I babysit almost every weekend and this particular weekend my parents told me that I deserve to be rewarded for all the times that I babysat. They said, they were going to pay me fifty dollars when they get home, and they were going make sure I did the job I was supposed to do.

Life is crazy and unpredictable, in 10 years I would love to see myself owning my own daycare. Opening up my own daycare has always been a dream of mine. I will be married to who I am engaged to now, my fiancé Alexander Wiertzema and I hope we have at least three children. With having this many children, I plan on being a stay-at-home mother and owning my own daycare business. We will buy at building in downtown Little Rock, Iowa and name the daycare center Teyha’s Tots. I would love for my daycare business to grow and have people work under me. There is only one other daycare center in Little Rock, so I know I won’t have much competition, there is a high demand for daycare in that town.

“ Nat!” My father called from the other room. “Do you want a babysitting job?” I mulled it over for a moment. Fresh out of high school and planning on going to college, a babysitting job seemed perfect. I had been taking care of kids for the past six years and it is something I am honestly good at. But if I knew where this job would lead me, I don’t know if I would have taken it.

It was my first time babysitting for a new family with two young boys. They were both on the autism spectrum. They were both behind developmentally and were hard to communicate with. To me it was so new and interesting, as I had not had that much experience with children with special needs.

What was your ten year old experience like? Mine consisted of traveling alone to Mexico to visit my Grandfather throughout summer vacations. Traveling alone was something most of my relatives did at that age, it was an opportunity to visit the country their parents had grown up in. At first, my mom was skeptical. The thought of leaving me alone on a plane surrounded by strangers while being ten thousand feet in the air terrified her. It prompted her to call me every hour to see how I would be doing. Living as an isolated ten years old who stayed home all day playing video games, I would view this trip as a chance to get out of my comfort zone. At the same time it also terrified me, the thought of leaving the country I grew up living while experiencing a completely new atmosphere that is unfamiliar to me, had me shaking with excitement and anxiety. The morning of my flight I woke up anxious. As I stood up to walk towards the living room, I found my mom sitting on the couch with an anxious look on her face. Worried about making her feel worse I said: “Don’t worry mom, everything is ready for the flight.” She smiled, erasing her anxious look. Secretly, thoughts of getting lost at the airport or missing my flight had me terrified. I sat in my room contemplating thoughts of the new environment that I would be experiencing soon. I had never been good at stepping out of my comfort zone, but I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to do so. I knew that there was no going back,

Growing up as a kid, I noticed a reasonable difference in my life where my mind grew up faster than my physical body. Maybe it was the strict rules that matured me or the high expectations instilled in me that formed my personal character. Remembering those lonely walks on my way to elementary school through the heart of a developing Desoto neighborhood and those short friendships formed on the rusted playground detailed the beginnings of my childhood. The constant dreams of becoming a successful man in the footsteps of my father clouded my head as I laid in the bunk bed of my hopes that shadowed the doubts of my developing mind. Through the ticks of time, it truthfully told the struggle of confidence and purpose as I searched for a safe haven

I began my life conditioned to understand the meaning of various psychological disorders. My mom, whom is a therapist, turned herself over the AA recovery program when she was 22 years old – and naturally expressed her knowledge with me. My familiarity with conditions and their dysfunctions led to a catastrophic personal exhalation and the unmanageability of my life. A number of traumatic experiences toppled with insecurity and arrogance made me weak in this challenging world.

There are many subcultures that I consider myself a member of. Everything from Hip Hop culture, to regional, sports, and theater culture. However, there is one area that consists of countless members all over the world who share common phobias, beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes. That subculture is the world of parenting. When I became a parent my views on many things changed. Things like; television programming, to finances and time management. Someone speeding in my neighborhood did not have the same effect on me as it does now that I am a parent. Moreover, the mindset of a parent is one that is rarely understood by non-parents. For instance, when my son was born I felt a sense of overwhelming fear and an undying need to provide protection

Even before I was a counselor at Free Spirit Nature Camp, I was a camper, and now I’ve been there for a total of 14 years. That place and those people taught me the most important lessons to learn in life, and I’ve been overjoyed to be able to give back to a place that fosters curiosity and growth in young people in such wonderful way. After all, I want to use my education, my work, and my life as an opportunity to give back. We've been given so much since we were so young, and it's our responsibility to use our unique abilities and perspectives to ensure that the earth and society not only continue to provide, but to progress.

When I was born it was around lunchtime on October 27, 1998 in the Plainville hospital. All went well other than the fact that I would not eat and had to stay in the hospital a little longer along with a few check ups afterwards. I never attended a formal preschool but, I went to daycare where my babysitter taught me the same as a preschool would. I have always lived in Stockton and have lived in three different houses. One of those houses was the rental house we had to stay in until we finished building our new house. We moved into the same house I am living in now when I was almost in kindergarten right next door to my daycare friend Joel.

Picking up my daughter from daycare on the way home is a part of my daily routine; today, however, was different. I was tasked with buying a bottle of milk for my daughter before arriving to take custody of her. You see, like a chain smoker who needs his cigarette after a long flight, my daughter needs her bottle of milk after an exhausting day at the nursery. With my mind preoccupied with the sudden and unexpected loss of my phone and the hollow feeling this leaves me with, I walked out of the office and into an atypical crisp, fresh air of a December winter. As I walked past the uncharacteristically quiet downtown neighbourhood, the all-important task of picking up milk escaped my mind. As the good fortune of our train passengers would have

As a child I did not understand the candy-coated excuses I had been told about the world I lived in, I knew there was a larger situation I knew nothing about. I later learned why it was harder for my mother to do things, why it was harder for her to work all day then come home and play with me; I later learned my mother was bipolar. I had to understand that mom would retreat to her room with no warning and would not come out until the next day, had to understand that it was a normal thing. I can admit that I was blessed as a child, as long as you do not look too long, we lived a comfortable lifestyle while both of my parents were working and life was easy for me and my sister. But that was only when I was a small child, one day would be

I babysit four kids in a house deep in the woods. I’ve been doing this for about 5 years now and I love it. It is so quiet out there and we never have any problems. The kids bedtime is 9 o’clock, and tonight was different because their parents weren’t coming home until the morning. It’s about 9:30, the kids are finally sleep and I’m in the guest bathroom getting ready for bed. I just put the alarm to make myself just feel safer. I remember this night so clearly. I was washing my face then hear like someone hit the window and before I could even even think of it what it was, I hear the whole window from downstairs shatter. Then the alarm went off I knew for sure the kids would wake up so I run down the hall to the youngest kid’s, Jose, room.