Nine Lessons I Learnt Whilst Babysitting

I was babysitting last night for my friends two kids (5 and 8) and despite tiring me out, I had such a great time. They are fabulous boys with boundless energy. I don’t have kids but I do think we can learn a lot from them and how they go through their day.

We started off playing with lego…..lots of fun and creative energy required. They were making space ships and space vehicles and I struggled, I had no idea what to make and ended up making a wee vehicle which had a guy in it with a laser blast on his head…. yes I know sounds cool (:-)) but my imagination was stifled, as I just had no idea so cobbled something together! But listening to the boys they had no limits, they could make a spaceship which had wheels that could come off to then go back on or rearrange themselves into a soft landing area for the spaceship. I’d never have thought about that! Not since I was a kid. Lesson 1 Strip away the boundaries of your creativity. Think anything is possible! So go on and grab some Lego and see what your imagination can do.

We then went outside to play football, not something I’m great at but I’m happy to run around and be silly and kick a ball. They were happy to take it easy on me especially when I was in goal! Watching them run around and show the skills they had was wonderful. Impressive that a child can be super talented at football so young. I was shown many techniques on how to make sure my opponent can’t get the ball from me. Lesson 2 Take the time to help someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. If you know more than them or have a skill they would like to command, then show them, be patient and go easy on them!

From there we had some dinner, we were going to sit outside but once the food was there, the boys deemed it a bit cold to sit out, so we came inside. We ate dinner and I listened to them chatter away, they ate with wonder and truth. ‘That’s cheesy’, ‘Is that a mini tree in the pasta’, ‘I don’t want the garlic bread’ and so on. They didn’t hold back with their comments, they ate and enjoyed it and planned what we were going to do after dinner and after taking the dog for a walk. Lesson 3 Eat your food and be truthful about it, is it flavoursome?, do you even like it?, is it too stodgey? if you are out, give feedback to the servers, why not, you’re paying for it. You don’t have to be nasty, just honest.

We had a lovely walk with dog, went to the park and the boys played on all the things, particularly the flying fox you sit on and go whizzing across! The younger one was happy to play on it, and even though he struggled to get on it each time (it was just a bit high) we got there. He went on, took it back to the start and said he couldn’t get up to the platform, so I lifted him onto it, after a while I realised there were steps up to it. More fool me! Haha 😂 Both boys had fun taking turns on it. Lesson 4 Be a chancer and ask! You don’t get if you don’t ask! And it’s up to the person responding to investigate before answering!

Back home, the boys made a den, blankets, cushions, soft toys, everything was in there. They loved it and wanted to barricade the door to stop the baddies coming in….I was quick to point out that maybe leaving the door open and using cushions to build up a wall would give them more of an advantage! They took the feedback on board and that cushion wall got built! Who doesn’t love a good den! Lesson 5 Build a den and chill out in it, play a game and make sure you can see any baddies approaching!

We watched a movie and the boys enjoyed it, moving around from one sofa to the other getting comfy, between me and the dog and then back to the other one. Eating a few cheeky sweeties, it is movie night afterall! All the while, chatting about the movie and who’s going to win when its hero v villain! You’ll be relieved to know it was the hero who won! Phew! It was touch and go for a while! Lesson 6 No matter how obvious the ending of a movie, try viewing it from a child’s perspective…they have no expectations that good will prevail over evil. They watch with anticipation, and jump up when the hero saves the day!

Bedtime story, well this was a chapter from one of the Harry Potter books. They got all ready for bed and listened to what Harry was getting up to! The youngest fell asleep when I was barely two pages in, but the oldest kept going until the end. I said goodnight and switched the light of. And left them to slumberland. Lesson 7 reading a chapter of a book before bed is a great habit to get into!

I was overnight babysitting so today, it was up and eat breakfast, watch some tv and then get back into Lego playing! Lesson 8 Get up early and start your day, you can achieve great things!

Whilst watching tv, they watched the exact same program as yesterday….I said ‘you saw this yesterday’ which was met with ‘yeah, but I’ve forgotten it!’ So watched it they did! I was surprised that they had genuine reactions to the same parts as yesterday! I realised that I do the same….I mean I’ve seen each episode of Friends and laugh at each one as if I’ve never seen it. Lesson 9 watch a tv show you have already seen, with fresh eyes and enjoy finding the newness in it.

Have a wonderful week! Look after you!

Love Emma 🤩

Xx