No one could have prepared me mentally, or physically, for the seemingly simple job of being an Au Pair for this specific almost-4-year old.
Yes, my job is amazingly easy. A breakdown of my normal weekday:
I wake up at 7:15am
Am downstairs by 7:30am.
Wake up the older boy.
Make breakfast/coffee.
Eat // clean dishes.
Take the kids to the bakery and to school.
Pick up the older one at 1pm.
Prepare // eat lunch // clean dishes.
Teach English from 2-3pm.
Pick up the younger one at 3:45PM
Hang around // play // help with dinner // clean up after dinner.
Done.
Easy, right? I thought so too.
Who would have know that between picking up the younger boy at 3:45 and hanging around, A LOT can happen. Today was one of those days.
Carlo wanted a snack after school. He gets one every day. Sometimes chocolate, sometimes candy, today it was chips. Never anything good for him, but his parents say to do it, so I do. Inside said bag of chips is a little toy, a sort of catapulting mini Frisbee. We catapulted the mini Frisbee and guess what, it flew away! That's what happens to things that catapult. Unfortunately this little toy decided to land behind a locked gate where we couldn't retrieve it. Although he was speaking in Italian, it was obvious that he really wanted to get another bag of chips and a toy.
I say NO. He already got his snack and his toy, and now it's gone. A great way to learn and deal with disappointment. It's not like he's short on toys, these kids have an entire basement filled with things I'm even in awe of. Not to mention, he doesn't need to be eating another bag of chips. Carlo does not take well to "NO," and is accustomed to getting his way.
I start to walk home and he begins crying/screaming at me (in Italian) to go get another toy. I just keep walking home. He follows me for a while until he decides to wrap himself around my legs so I can't walk. I pick him up and he is screaming for someone to help him & I look like a child napper. We finally cross the street and I put him down in the bike/pedestrian lane to see if he feels like walking for himself, he's also pretty heavy so my arms are getting tired... Not a good idea. He's trying to run away and I find myself on the ground, trying to claw onto him so he doesn't run into the street, he's practically ripped my shirt off by now and his nose is starting to bleed. Good God. I don't know what to do, so I call his mother. 5 minutes later she comes by on her bike, he's freaking out at her, demanding the toy. I take her bike so she can try and calm him down, then he runs away from her! She dashes down the street after him, and after a while catches up with him. I offer to take her purse off her hands so she can be hands free. She agrees, but takes her wallet so she can buy him another toy and meet me at home.
Wow. Really? That's ridiculous.
This kid gets everything he wants. If it doesn't come easily, he'll cry and scream until he gets his way.
He's going to grow up and get slapped in the face by reality if he doesn't start to figure some things out now. Apparently Italians are stereotyped for spoiling their children - it's prevalent in this household, that's for sure. He's not my child so I don't have any right to "parent" him, but I wish they would say no and make him deal with it sometimes.
I feel for the parents, I really do. Parenting must be so difficult, the mom talks about how tired she is all the time, I didn't really understand why but today has made it much clearer. Children are physically and mentally exhausting, they cry and scream and fight, give you major physical work outs and ruin your clothes. Despite all of that, the bond between child and parent is so strong, so innate and overcome with love that it makes all of that shitty stuff worth it. Too bad for me, I'm just the Au Pair... ;)
He is actually quite sweet, a lot of the time. Kids are cool, I definitely want to have them (2 at least), but not for a long long time.
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