So, when I was growing up as the oldest of six children, parental dating and childhood babysitting looked a whole lot different than it does today. My parents began leaving me to watch over my younger siblings when I was the ripe old age of nine. At the time I thought I was mature enough to handle it and apparently my mom did too; in fact, her friend thought I was capable as well and she would hire me to babysit her children. I have a nine year old and I am pretty sure I wouldn't leave her to take care of just herself for more than a few minutes and I wouldn't go much farther than next door.
Over the years that I was left in charge of my siblings, my brother swallowed a penny, my sister got hit by a car (not as bad as it sounds), another brother fell in a swift flowing creek with his bike, my sister (same one) fell off of a bike and damaged a tooth and her gums so badly the tooth eventually had to be pulled out, the river brother also fell out of the back of a truck and landed on his back (luckily my mom arrived just after it happened and luckily he was not badly injured) and the diaper pail tipped over in the bathroom a handful of times. The term, "it takes a village," could not have been more relevant. Our next door neighbor, Dorothy, was called when the penny was swallowed and when the diaper pail tipped over.
Bless her heart, she said her son had swallowed a quarter and was just fine, so not to worry; bigger blessings to her heart, she cleaned up the smelly diaper sludge from the bathroom floor. My mom got to parent during the time of cloth diapers and we had a lidded bucket that we called a diaper pail stored in the bathroom. The wet diapers were dropped in as were the poopy ones after they had been rinsed out in the toilet first. There was water and some sort of cleaning solution that was added to the bucket to help keep it slightly fresher while waiting for laundry day. I am pretty sure the pail never tipped over when my mom was home--go figure. It doubled as a stool that we climbed on to get our toothbrushes and toothpaste out of the medicine cabinet each morning and night and occasionally, when my mom was not at home, it would tip over.
When Renee was a young bike-rider she paused at the edge of a driveway at the opposite end of our block because a car was backing out. Our neighbor paused enough for my sister to think that they were waiting for her to pass behind them, but in fact, they had not even seen her. She pedaled slowly behind them as they backed out, knocking her off her bike. Her guardian angels were with her that day because our neighbor stopped before driving over her and got out of the care to check behind them. They brought her and her bike home with a bleeding elbow and a bruised spirit. We all felt like her elbow needed stitches so, since my mom was not at home, they drove Renee and I to the doctor. There were no cell phones, obviously, and I don't remember where my mom was at the time, but we were able to contact her somehow and she met us at the pediatrician's office in Provo. I do remember reading books to a very upset little girl as her elbow was being stitched up.
Another set of guardian angels was with my brother, Kent, when he and his bike tumbled into Hobble Creek on a spring day with lots of swift water flowing. He and a friend were going over jumps on dirt hills conveniently located behind the city's police/fire station when he misjudged a jump and jumped right into the river. The banks were steep and the water was swift and deep. He was able to grab ahold of a root and pull himself out. His bike was never found. His friend ran to get his mom who happened to be a volunteer EMT. So she took Kent inside the station and wrapped him in a blanket and kept him safe until his family arrived.
When Renee was even younger than she was when she got tipped over by the car, Erika was giving her a ride on her bike when they hit a bump and crashed. Renee came into the house with blood streaming out of her mouth. My mom was not home, but she was only across the park. I ordered one of my other siblings to go and get her while I attempted to stop the bleeding. After a close inspection it was determined that she needed to visit the dentist. She did not lose the tooth that day, but it eventually died and had to be removed.
Thankfully, the babysitting mishaps I had with my siblings growing up were relatively minor, even the ones that could have been much worse. It seemed frustrating that my mom was not there and it took a little more effort to find her because of a lack of cell phones, not that we knew any differently, but my mom had the blessed opportunity to really be disconnected from her children for a while. She was gone and while I am sure she worried that we would all be in one piece when she returned, she didn't have the constant tattle texting and phone calling we get to endure today. Our most recent night represents perfectly the challenges faced by today's parents trying to slip away from home for a few hours.
Destry and I try to have a weekly date. Lately, we have been extra busy and have not been as regular. This past week was especially busy and we had seen very little of each other so we wanted to make sure we went even though we could have very easily checked something else off the never ending to-do lists. We left around 5:00 to go to dinner, we were finished in about an hour and we didn't want to go home, so we decided to see a movie. Four of our five children either called, or texted, or both in the few hours we were away from home.
Estelle was the first, and had she been the only interruption, all would have been well. In fact, we even chuckled a bit when I got off the phone with her while we were still at dinner.
When I picked up the phone I heard, "Hi Mom, this is Estelle. I have a few things I would like to talk to you about."
"Ok, what is it?"
"I was wondering if I could have the last granola bar."
"No."
"But it's the last one and I really like granola bars, can I please have it?"
"No, tell Taylor you're hungry and he will make dinner."
"But I really want the granola bar."
"I said no! Is that all you called about?"
"No, I was wondering if you and dad could go to Costco and get some more granola bars since this is the last one."
"Seriously?! You called me to ask if you could have a granola bar and tell me to go buy more granola bars while I am on a date? The answer is no. And don't call me ever again to ask about granola bars. You can only call if someone is bleeding or if Taylor is unconscious." (She knew that).
Destry was refilling beverage cups while I had this delightful conversation with her and he sat down just as I hung up. So really, no harm done. I told him about our discussion and we chuckled and he said, "That sounds like Estelle."
Well, it was still early when we finished dinner and neither of us wanted to go home. We almost never go to dinner and a movie, but we drove to the theater to see if there was something worth watching. The only thing starting within a half hour was "The Amazing Spiderman 2." So we bought tickets, walked outside around the theater then went in and found our seats. Then the buzzing of the silenced cell phones began.
Spencer wanted to know if Taylor was supposed to bring the girls in at 6 or 6:30? Because it looked to him like he was shirking his responsibilities in exchange for more computer time. Let me just mention the instructions that were given when we left. Spencer, who was very behind in school at the moment was left with just one responsibility--homework. That was it! Taylor was to bring the girls in at 6:00 and heat up the leftover bbq pork for sandwiches then have them take a bath or shower and get ready for bed. I usually either gather everyone up and have them go home, or touch base with each of them before I leave, but I didn't talk to the girls this time; they were scattered around the neighborhood and were supposed to have brought in within an hour of my leaving any way.
I then got the usual, "Spencer's being mean" texts from Emma and the "Spencer's being a jerk," from Taylor. In addition Emma sent me, "please come home" messages and called a couple of times, which I chose to ignore.
Well, I decided to go out into the hall and call home and chew everyone out and silence once and for all the buzzing that my phone was producing. Spencer answered and said that all of the girls were outside playing and that Taylor wasn't doing what he was supposed to do, he was playing a game on the computer, and the girls' friends had been running through the house and he was stressed and couldn't to his homework. Well, I told him to go get the girls since he wanted to be a part of everyone's business and not do his homework anyway then go to his room to do his homework and have Emma call me when she came back inside. I told Emma, who apparently had eaten dinner and taken a shower, as had the other girls, to go to bed and to stop calling/texting me!
Almost always, we choose the aisle seats at the movie theater, but this time we chose the middle. Of course the seats filled in around us. Not wanting to walk in front of about ten people again I sat across the isle in a seat on an empty side of the theater. I had gone about four rows higher than we were too because I couldn't see very well or remember exactly which row we were on. Well after about 20 minutes, Destry decided that since I hadn't come back that something terrible must have happened at home so he walked in front of the people and out of the theater faster than I could catch up to him. When I looked both ways down the hall, he was nowhere to be seen. I remembered the rule for when you get lost, you should stay put. That is what I decided to do. I figured that sooner or later he would come back and I figured that if I went looking for him in the large complex that we would zig and zag in different directions and probably never find each other. I was right! He came back a few minutes later, frantic. I assured him that everyone was indeed alive and told him that I didn't want to disturb the other movie goers so that is why I sat across the aisle. He frustratedly made his way to the center of the row we had been sitting in and I sat across the aisle. He wanted me to come and I wanted to sit with him, but I sat down where I wouldn't disturb anyone.
Taylor continued to text about loud music and his inability to sleep and Spencer continued to text about his stress and homework woes. I tried to send a few encouraging words, but in the end I told Spencer to turn off the music and not to text me again, I was trying to watch a movie, for heaven's sake! Spencer did stop texting and he must have turned off the music because Taylor stopped complaining to me about it.
I laughed most of the way home and mentioned to Destry that our parents never had to deal with this type of issue in the precell era. He agreed and proceeded to tell me that our kids were each going to pay him $5 to cover the cost of the wasted movie tickets. He asked if I had heard from Sarah. I actually had not, she doesn't really know how to make a phone call by herself so she was spared the 10:00 p.m. wake up call when we got home. The boys were not actually in bed and while he was getting Emma and Estelle up I quickly and quietly told them to just listen, don't explain or argue and when Dad was done to say, "Yes sir," and go directly to bed. They all pretty much did just that after they received a stern reminder of when they may or may not call us when we are on a date. I of course received more information (than I cared to hear) from the children the next day. The girls told me that when Destry went in to get them they thought there must have been a fire or something.
Destry took Spencer for a drive as he often does when Spencer is emotionally distraught as he was that night. I laid down by a couple of girls who were momentarily distraught by having been awakened and reprimanded. I am positive that this will be one of our more memorable dates for years to come. Life is good!
Over the years that I was left in charge of my siblings, my brother swallowed a penny, my sister got hit by a car (not as bad as it sounds), another brother fell in a swift flowing creek with his bike, my sister (same one) fell off of a bike and damaged a tooth and her gums so badly the tooth eventually had to be pulled out, the river brother also fell out of the back of a truck and landed on his back (luckily my mom arrived just after it happened and luckily he was not badly injured) and the diaper pail tipped over in the bathroom a handful of times. The term, "it takes a village," could not have been more relevant. Our next door neighbor, Dorothy, was called when the penny was swallowed and when the diaper pail tipped over.
Bless her heart, she said her son had swallowed a quarter and was just fine, so not to worry; bigger blessings to her heart, she cleaned up the smelly diaper sludge from the bathroom floor. My mom got to parent during the time of cloth diapers and we had a lidded bucket that we called a diaper pail stored in the bathroom. The wet diapers were dropped in as were the poopy ones after they had been rinsed out in the toilet first. There was water and some sort of cleaning solution that was added to the bucket to help keep it slightly fresher while waiting for laundry day. I am pretty sure the pail never tipped over when my mom was home--go figure. It doubled as a stool that we climbed on to get our toothbrushes and toothpaste out of the medicine cabinet each morning and night and occasionally, when my mom was not at home, it would tip over.
When Renee was a young bike-rider she paused at the edge of a driveway at the opposite end of our block because a car was backing out. Our neighbor paused enough for my sister to think that they were waiting for her to pass behind them, but in fact, they had not even seen her. She pedaled slowly behind them as they backed out, knocking her off her bike. Her guardian angels were with her that day because our neighbor stopped before driving over her and got out of the care to check behind them. They brought her and her bike home with a bleeding elbow and a bruised spirit. We all felt like her elbow needed stitches so, since my mom was not at home, they drove Renee and I to the doctor. There were no cell phones, obviously, and I don't remember where my mom was at the time, but we were able to contact her somehow and she met us at the pediatrician's office in Provo. I do remember reading books to a very upset little girl as her elbow was being stitched up.
Another set of guardian angels was with my brother, Kent, when he and his bike tumbled into Hobble Creek on a spring day with lots of swift water flowing. He and a friend were going over jumps on dirt hills conveniently located behind the city's police/fire station when he misjudged a jump and jumped right into the river. The banks were steep and the water was swift and deep. He was able to grab ahold of a root and pull himself out. His bike was never found. His friend ran to get his mom who happened to be a volunteer EMT. So she took Kent inside the station and wrapped him in a blanket and kept him safe until his family arrived.
When Renee was even younger than she was when she got tipped over by the car, Erika was giving her a ride on her bike when they hit a bump and crashed. Renee came into the house with blood streaming out of her mouth. My mom was not home, but she was only across the park. I ordered one of my other siblings to go and get her while I attempted to stop the bleeding. After a close inspection it was determined that she needed to visit the dentist. She did not lose the tooth that day, but it eventually died and had to be removed.
Thankfully, the babysitting mishaps I had with my siblings growing up were relatively minor, even the ones that could have been much worse. It seemed frustrating that my mom was not there and it took a little more effort to find her because of a lack of cell phones, not that we knew any differently, but my mom had the blessed opportunity to really be disconnected from her children for a while. She was gone and while I am sure she worried that we would all be in one piece when she returned, she didn't have the constant tattle texting and phone calling we get to endure today. Our most recent night represents perfectly the challenges faced by today's parents trying to slip away from home for a few hours.
Destry and I try to have a weekly date. Lately, we have been extra busy and have not been as regular. This past week was especially busy and we had seen very little of each other so we wanted to make sure we went even though we could have very easily checked something else off the never ending to-do lists. We left around 5:00 to go to dinner, we were finished in about an hour and we didn't want to go home, so we decided to see a movie. Four of our five children either called, or texted, or both in the few hours we were away from home.
Estelle was the first, and had she been the only interruption, all would have been well. In fact, we even chuckled a bit when I got off the phone with her while we were still at dinner.
When I picked up the phone I heard, "Hi Mom, this is Estelle. I have a few things I would like to talk to you about."
"Ok, what is it?"
"I was wondering if I could have the last granola bar."
"No."
"But it's the last one and I really like granola bars, can I please have it?"
"No, tell Taylor you're hungry and he will make dinner."
"But I really want the granola bar."
"I said no! Is that all you called about?"
"No, I was wondering if you and dad could go to Costco and get some more granola bars since this is the last one."
"Seriously?! You called me to ask if you could have a granola bar and tell me to go buy more granola bars while I am on a date? The answer is no. And don't call me ever again to ask about granola bars. You can only call if someone is bleeding or if Taylor is unconscious." (She knew that).
Destry was refilling beverage cups while I had this delightful conversation with her and he sat down just as I hung up. So really, no harm done. I told him about our discussion and we chuckled and he said, "That sounds like Estelle."
Well, it was still early when we finished dinner and neither of us wanted to go home. We almost never go to dinner and a movie, but we drove to the theater to see if there was something worth watching. The only thing starting within a half hour was "The Amazing Spiderman 2." So we bought tickets, walked outside around the theater then went in and found our seats. Then the buzzing of the silenced cell phones began.
Spencer wanted to know if Taylor was supposed to bring the girls in at 6 or 6:30? Because it looked to him like he was shirking his responsibilities in exchange for more computer time. Let me just mention the instructions that were given when we left. Spencer, who was very behind in school at the moment was left with just one responsibility--homework. That was it! Taylor was to bring the girls in at 6:00 and heat up the leftover bbq pork for sandwiches then have them take a bath or shower and get ready for bed. I usually either gather everyone up and have them go home, or touch base with each of them before I leave, but I didn't talk to the girls this time; they were scattered around the neighborhood and were supposed to have brought in within an hour of my leaving any way.
I then got the usual, "Spencer's being mean" texts from Emma and the "Spencer's being a jerk," from Taylor. In addition Emma sent me, "please come home" messages and called a couple of times, which I chose to ignore.
Well, I decided to go out into the hall and call home and chew everyone out and silence once and for all the buzzing that my phone was producing. Spencer answered and said that all of the girls were outside playing and that Taylor wasn't doing what he was supposed to do, he was playing a game on the computer, and the girls' friends had been running through the house and he was stressed and couldn't to his homework. Well, I told him to go get the girls since he wanted to be a part of everyone's business and not do his homework anyway then go to his room to do his homework and have Emma call me when she came back inside. I told Emma, who apparently had eaten dinner and taken a shower, as had the other girls, to go to bed and to stop calling/texting me!
Almost always, we choose the aisle seats at the movie theater, but this time we chose the middle. Of course the seats filled in around us. Not wanting to walk in front of about ten people again I sat across the isle in a seat on an empty side of the theater. I had gone about four rows higher than we were too because I couldn't see very well or remember exactly which row we were on. Well after about 20 minutes, Destry decided that since I hadn't come back that something terrible must have happened at home so he walked in front of the people and out of the theater faster than I could catch up to him. When I looked both ways down the hall, he was nowhere to be seen. I remembered the rule for when you get lost, you should stay put. That is what I decided to do. I figured that sooner or later he would come back and I figured that if I went looking for him in the large complex that we would zig and zag in different directions and probably never find each other. I was right! He came back a few minutes later, frantic. I assured him that everyone was indeed alive and told him that I didn't want to disturb the other movie goers so that is why I sat across the aisle. He frustratedly made his way to the center of the row we had been sitting in and I sat across the aisle. He wanted me to come and I wanted to sit with him, but I sat down where I wouldn't disturb anyone.
Taylor continued to text about loud music and his inability to sleep and Spencer continued to text about his stress and homework woes. I tried to send a few encouraging words, but in the end I told Spencer to turn off the music and not to text me again, I was trying to watch a movie, for heaven's sake! Spencer did stop texting and he must have turned off the music because Taylor stopped complaining to me about it.
I laughed most of the way home and mentioned to Destry that our parents never had to deal with this type of issue in the precell era. He agreed and proceeded to tell me that our kids were each going to pay him $5 to cover the cost of the wasted movie tickets. He asked if I had heard from Sarah. I actually had not, she doesn't really know how to make a phone call by herself so she was spared the 10:00 p.m. wake up call when we got home. The boys were not actually in bed and while he was getting Emma and Estelle up I quickly and quietly told them to just listen, don't explain or argue and when Dad was done to say, "Yes sir," and go directly to bed. They all pretty much did just that after they received a stern reminder of when they may or may not call us when we are on a date. I of course received more information (than I cared to hear) from the children the next day. The girls told me that when Destry went in to get them they thought there must have been a fire or something.
Destry took Spencer for a drive as he often does when Spencer is emotionally distraught as he was that night. I laid down by a couple of girls who were momentarily distraught by having been awakened and reprimanded. I am positive that this will be one of our more memorable dates for years to come. Life is good!
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