Wednesday, February 23, 2011

My babysitter is driving me up the wall

First my son and now my babysitter. Isn't life great?! :-(

Every morning when I send my son to her or when we pick him up in the evening there will definitely be 'things' to hear. Sometimes it will be the same 'things' over and over and I am just so so bored. And for some reasons she only targets me, not papa.

My babysitter told me she has many years of experience being a babysitter and during her younger days she even worked in a playschool/kindergarten so she knows all about babies, kids and playschool. I honestly don't know what she knows. All I know is she likes to use all the 'old school' methods in bringing up kids. Some I am fine with, some I am not but similar to having a maid, I just have to close one eye, sometimes I close both eyes.

There are so many things that she do or say which drives me literally up the wall. You be my judge:
  1. likes to use powder on my kids, both my kids. Said lotion is bad for them. Go figure!
  2. thinks she's my breastfeeding guru. Suggests that my way of storing, warming and transporting milk could be the cause of Zac's constant throw up after feeds. To me it was nothing alarming as he's constantly growing, to her, it seems like the end of the world. She even suggests that Zac could be intolerant to breast milk!
  3. wants to give water to Zac who is 100% on breast milk. Said she is worried that he might not want water when he's on formula next time if we don't start the habit now (this is ok la, I can accept)
  4. prefers to let babies wear their mittens until 6 - 8 months old. Said she didn't want them to scratch their faces. When will Zac be able to learn how to grip? I also don't know.
  5. 3 years ago - your daughter got a lot of wind. 3 years later - your son got a lot of wind. Could it be the breast milk?, you didn't feed them properly?, you didn't burp them? Seems to be my fault all the time!
  6. prefers scheduled feeding. Said it will be better and easier for us (I wonder if it's easier for her or for us?!). She is trying to train my son to drink every 3 hours. Told her it's breast milk, some diluted some thick so follow his demand. She said can be trained. My poor boy.
  7. whine and whine. Everyday telling me I have a very difficult boy and I am going to suffer when he grow up. Said the same thing during Hayley's time and now she said my boy is worst than Hayley.
  8. against child specialist. She claimed that doctors doesn't know everything.
  9. change her opinion or facts very frequently. I asked her to give Hayley cheese, one a day will be ok. She said cheese is not good for kids, too salty and I should not give her everyday. But everyday when I pick Hayley up, she's eating cheese... and this is just one of the many incidences.
  10. spoil my kids - Hayley at age 3 is very choosy with food. I try to force her to eat everything at home and she will tell me not to force her. Asked me to be patient as she will change when she grow up. If she can advise me as such, I wonder what Hayley is eating when she's at her place? I don't dare to think.
The list can go on and on. I am sure some of you will be wondering why I am still sending my kids to her when I am so unhappy with her. Well there are several reasons:

  1. she is the only babysitter I know and she charged a very reasonable price
  2. although she isn't perfect, I know she love my daughter (will need to give her some more time to love my son). This is the most important factor to me.
  3. she is flexible and easy to deal with ie not calculative.
  4. my daughter seems to be happy going to her place indicating that she is well treated (you need to be worried if your kids refused to go to the babysitter's as something could be wrong)
I am feeling so much better after pouring these out.. thanks for reading :-)

5 comments:

Elaine said...

I feel for you. Same can happen if mil is the babysitter

Alice Law said...

Wow... I'm speechless... can't deny you have a pretty TOUGH nanny, I do find what she has implemented on your little ones sound absurd but a few I did carry out on my kids too! For instance I trained and spaced their feeding after 3 months old(3 hourly to be precise).

I reckon 'Give and Take' since you have no choice, and what's more important is Hayley has accommodate well at her place.

Cheers, keep well and take care!
p/s: I wish I can help you but I also 'Zhi San Nan Pou'!>_<

Leona said...

After reading ur post in detail...up to down...then read ur last sentence..i smiled. I know what u mean...sometimes we just want to rant out our frustrations...and of coz its great that there are mummies out there who share ur similar experiences. Sometimes we just want to 'let out' all the feelings!
I guess no choice but to listen one ear and go out d other ear. As u drawn out all ur bbsitters positive points at the end.
I have been sending Ryan and now Ally to 2 bbsitters since 3 mths old and I fully understand where or how they think. Basically they just want to show how much they know. And that is d frustrating part! When u wrote abt what ur bbsiter said abt her experiences etc...I just heard that same line from my sis bbsitter 2 days ago!
Hai... very very geram! I used to complain and complain abt Ryan's bbsitter last time too. But what to do...we need them...! I just told myself as long as the kid is happy and well taken care of..no marks etc... just tahan.

Leona said...

Any sign of ur maid??? Maybe in a few weeks time...we may see this title post..."My miad is driving me up the wall"! :P
Hope not tho!

Kiasu Mom said...

Elaine, thanks and yeah I do agree that some MILs are like that too... but at least MILs are people you can certainly trust so no choice but to close an eye lor..

Alice, she is indeed tough la.. I don't dare to offend her cause you know la.. (dunno what she will do to my kids if I upset her). I really give and take a lot jor.. sometimes until vomit blood...Thanks for offering to help but I know your life is already so tough being a fulltime mom with 2 kids. I spend 2 days jaga them also want to go cuckoo liao..

Leona, only people like us who have experiences with babysitters will understand what we feel. I always tell myself 'YAN YAN YAN'... as for maid, no sign yet la.. haiz.. another headache there.. and you are so right, I am so scared that one day I will have to write that post! hahaha