What happens when you mix a two year old and a 3 year old with a 22 year old babysitter at eight in the morning on a Saturday?  I’ll tell you what happens.  Absolute chaos.  I worked in a daycare for over a year and developed many relationships with the parents of the children in my classrooms. The parents of two of the children in my school especially enjoyed how well I worked with their children, and asked me to baby-sit after I left my job.  I have been babysitting these two girls for over a year now and every time I go over, it’s another adventure.  These girls are adorable, sweet, and have two of the biggest personalities I’ve ever seen at such a young age.  But they can definitely be a handful.  Good thing I know how to handle those two little buggers, but not this Saturday.

            I went over the house exhausted from putting in an 11-hour shift the night before at my waitressing job, and I did not want to get out of bed at 7 am.  I got to the house and the girls seemed calm and very distracted by the television.  I was excited that I’d be able to relax for a little while they were enthralled by Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper.  But as soon as mom left, the kids were up to their old tricks.  We played some games, I read them a couple of stories, and I tried to teach them some new things about shapes.  When they became restless, I suggested we play dance party.  That lasted about five minutes.  Then my worst fear happened.

 I took the two girls upstairs to get dressed and they teamed up to go against me!  A two and three year old discussed in secret how they could make me upset.  I thought they loved me!  The 3-year old told her younger sister to take all the clothes out of the closet and throw them on the floor.  When she started doing that, I told her to stop immediately.  The 3-year old told me that her sister “could do what she wants.  It’s our house.”  When I told them I was the adult and I made the rules and said making a mess was unacceptable, she told me she never wanted me to baby-sit again.  And you should’ve seen the dirty looks I got!  The two girls held hands and walked away from me.  They wouldn’t speak to me the rest of the day.  Talk about a major downer.  I felt discouraged and sad after I left the house.  

That incident taught me a lesson about my future in teaching.  Sometimes I may have a student who does not like me because I will be forced to scold them or simply because they don’t like an assignment I have given.  Some teachers don’t have respect from their students and therefore they have no control over them.  It is extremely important to maintain good classroom management skills and through my personal experiences, I have learned that at any age, children could change their attitudes at the drop of a hat.  It’s very important to maintain that you are the adult in charge and you have to gain control.  Show them you mean business without being too harsh.  It is the only way to gain your students trust and support; I’ve learned that the hard way.