Baby-sitting: A Blessing

   Knock, knock. Running feet. A four-year-old opening the door. "Hi, Lindsey" The three-year-old running up with a hug ready. "Hi Lindsey" Then the sound of the little just-turned-one feet coming around the corner with his arms held high. This is what greeted me yesterday, around 3 months after my first baby-sitting job. When I'm with these three, I see life through their eyes. The fun of the sandbox. The delicate balance between swinging high and being too far off the ground. And with this happiness, I firmly believe that every girl should baby-sit.

    Some girls say the don't have enough time. Some say they don't know how to watch a little kid but three? Forget it! A sad fact is that some girls even consider children a pain. What kind of Mothers will these girls be when they grow up? Will they know how to take care of a house or will they know how to cook? Babysitting is a good start.

    When baby-sitting, it prepares you to watch children. You might be a teacher someday, or a nurse, and you need to know how to take care of little children and know how to respond to their feelings. You also learn how to take care of a house with a baby on your hip and how to engage a toddler in a pick-up game. And then there's nap-time. You learn to prioritize during nap-time (or rest-time) and you will be amazed by how much you can get done!

    My favorite part of baby-sitting is bonding with the children you watch. It's so fun to walk into a room and see a little round face grinning at you through the bars of his crib. Just having the little ones hug you is cute. I love it when they're talking and then they glance up to make sure you're still listening. Yup. I'm still here. I love being accepted by children; they have such an innocent trust. 

    The blessings are so great when you baby-sit. You bless the mothers by giving them a bit of quiet in their otherwise-hectic days. You bless the children by giving them a new friend and by showing them you care. And you yourself are blessed, through blessing others. "It is more blessed to give then to receive"

    Mothers love to discover good Christian baby-sitters that they can trust and whom their precious children love. I adore my little 'children' and love being able to see them a lot. Don't you think you should give baby-sitting a try?

I wrote this for a school assignment at the end of March and thought I would share it with you all.

~Lindsey Marie