Harry Potter Themed Party

Around Halloween, the 7 year old was invited to a birthday party. A Harry Potter themed party. A couple of years ago, I met the family that was hosting this birthday party for their youngest child and I knew that the party was going to be awesome. The mother tends to go all out when it comes to themed decorations and this Harry Potter party was going to be insane. I'm still sad I wasn't able to see it, but the mom I work for told me the house looked amazing when she went to drop her son off. Two hours later, after she had picked him up from the party, he had brought back only the coolest looking goody bag I had ever seen. It was in the shape of the sorting hat and in it was a wand, Bertie Bott's jelly beans, and a few other things. I was so anxious to hear all about the party but he acted like it was no big deal. He didn't seem as excited as I would have thought, but he did tell me, "Everything looked just like in the movie!" That had been what his mother had told, so I wanted to hear more about it and so I asked him which one of the Harry Potter movies was his favorite. His response was, "I don't know. I've only seen the first five minutes of the first movie." I just kind of looked at him, not knowing what to say, because I didn't understand how he could say that everything looked just like the movie if he had never seen any of them. I kind of just had to shack my head at him for this and tell him that he needs to watch all of them before going to another Harry Potter themed party.

Pretend Pinky Promise

I will never forget the day I was told that the reason behind the 7 year old breaking a Pinky Promise was because it was a "Pretend Pinky Promise."

Back in, I think, December, I was trying to get the 7 year old to do his homework fast so he could get ready for swim practice. Keyword: Trying! It was probably around 4pm and I had to get him to swimming by 6pm, and he had yet to begin his homework because he kept on wasting time eating his snack and watching TV. He was being difficult and I had no idea how to handle this, so I told him that if he pinky promised to behave, listen to me and be nice, I'd give him a mystery "price". Boy was I wrong to believe a pinky promise would have the same meaning it had back in the '90s. After he got his homework done, with barely time to spare, he didn't feel he needed to listen to me when I told him he was going to be late to swimming. His response, "I don't like swimming anyway. If I'm late, it's no big deal. My parents let me do this." Riiiight, because trusting a child when they tell you that their parents let them do things all the time is probably the worst thing a babysitter or nanny can do. So, I ignored his comment and got him to hurry into the car. After swimming, he was the last one of the boys out of the locker room and later when we got back home, he wouldn't turn the TV off when I was trying to get him to go to bed so I could read him a bedtime story. Then, after about an hour of having his sisters and I tell him what to do, he finally listend to me.

Once in his room and having his teeth brushed, I asked him, "Dude! What happened to our Pinky Promise? If you break a Pinky Promise, bad things happen. Do you want bad things to happen?"
Him: "No.." Me: "Then don't break a Pinky Promise." Him: "But that was a Pretend Pinky Promise." Me: "....A what?!" Him: "Yeah. A Pretend Pinky Promise. It's like a Pinky Promise, except it's pretend." Me: "There's no such thing as a Pretend Pinky Promise. It's either real or a lie. And if you lie, your nose grows and bad things happen. Also, if you break a Pinky Promise, the person you broke the promise to is forced to break your pinky. I don't think you want that, do you?" Him: "No."

I'm pleased to say that ever since this conversation happened, there have been no more Pretend Pinky Promises, whatever those are.

Are you married?

Though I said I couldn't remember the specific order in which these events all happened, I distinctly remember a conversation I had with the 7 year old the day we met. After his mother introduced me to him and we began to get to know each other, he started asking me all those random questions little kids tend to ask. I had asked him his age, which at the time was 6, and then I told him that I was 13 years older than him because I wanted to see if he could add the two numbers together to find out how old I was. He gave me the answer and then told me, "I know what 13+6 is because I'm already in 2nd grade math even though I'm in 1st grade." (Five months later, I've realized that 1st grade is no longer the same from when I was back there. He's currently learning how to multiply.) After he told me that I was 19, he then said, "So that means you're married, right?" When I heard him ask me this, I was kind of confused so I told him that just because I'm 19, it doesn't mean I'm married. His response was, "But when you're 18 years old, you're an adult. You get married when you're an adult. So since you're 19, that means you have to be married." I had no idea how to respond to his reasoning, so I simply told him that just because I'm an adult, it doesn't necessarily mean that I have to be married.

The next day, while I was helping him with his homework, it was as if the conversation we'd had the day before never happened. He asked me all the same question, including "Are you married?" Not wanting to get into that explanation again, I later asked him mom why it was that the 7 year old thought that because someone is 18 or older that it means that they automatically have to be married. She then told me that because kids in elementary school tend to do those "playground marriages", that she told him that he was not allowed to get married until he was 18 because that's when people start getting married. I guess he understood that because you're 18 you should be married within that year. I have no idea, but I'm so glad I haven't had to explain this to him again because he didn't understand it the first time around.

Wandering to the TV

• "I think we're going to have to put a seatbelt on you to strap you to the couch because you're eyes are going to melt out of your face if you keep standing so close to the TV."

When I first began working with the family, I noticed that whenever I'd sit to watch TV with the 7 year old, he would wander out of the couch and stand right infront of the TV blocking my view. Being as I wear glasses and as a child I was always told that it was because I watched too much TV, I took advantage of all the ridiculous things my parents and other adults would tell me when it came to behaving as a child. Though this has yet to be solved, the 7 year old will randomly get up while watching a tv show and stand directly infront of the TV, about 2 feet away from the screen. I have told him so many times that he needs to back away from the TV and sit down. At first, I would tell him that his eyes would get messed up if he didn't do this. Since this didn't work, I started telling him that his brain would fry and that he would no longer be able to enjoy watching TV if he kept on standing so close to it. This also did not work. I later began telling him that if he didn't back away, his eyes would start to melt out of his face and he would never be able to see again. This probably worked for a solid week, then he started ignoring me whenever I'd say it.
Recently, I have used my own eyes as an example as to why he should not stand infront of the TV while trying to watch it. About a month ago, I went to the eye doctor and got my new prescription for my glasses and finally got confirmation that I am in fact legally blind (20/400 Vision). Just last week, I picked up my new glasses and because they were a different prescription from my old ones, I've been wearing them daily for my eyes to adjust to the new prescription. The day I picked them up, I had to work and when I got to the house, the 7 year old saw my glasses and I instantly showed him how thick they were; lenses that are 1 cm thick. He started laughing because he had always thought I was joking when I told him how bad my eyes were and he still didn't believe me, so I proved it to him. I put my glasses on him and he instantly realized I wasn't lying. He was completely shocked and as he took them off, I told him, "This is what happens if you don't listen to people telling you to back away from the TV. You're eyes will slowly start getting worse and worse, and then before you know it, you can't see a single thing unless it's a foot away from your face. Do you enjoy waking up in the morning and being able to see everything without having to find your glasses before knowing what time it is? [He shook his head and walked over to the couch.] Good choice." So far, this technique has worked well, but then again, I've only used it last week and this week, and it's only Tuesday.

Five Months Ago

I wish I had started this blog the minute I began working as a nanny, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The family I work for has a 7 year old son who is, simply put, all over the place; energy wise and sometimes a bit emotional. My job has consisted of having to make sure he does his homework, take him to either swim practice or karate, getting him to eat his dinner and not watch too much TV, making sure he takes a shower, brushes his teeth, and having me read him a book right before going to bed. Within these past five months, I have been forced to have motherly instincts, become responsible and, for the first time, be organized. Being as I am often forgetful and spacey, this has made me work at being the opposite. And thus far, I think I have done alright at managing this. The main reason for this blog is because every single night when I come home from nannying, there is something that went on during the day that I've had to share with my friends and family. Because of this, I wish I had started writing these things down back when I started working because now I can only remember just a few of the things that have happened. Also, I cannot remember specifically in which order these events occurred or when they were and because of this, each entree will be a different anecdote. Regardless, they are quite entertaining.