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| Going out on a date! WOO HOO! |
Our sitter, my nephew’s girlfriend, is growing up. She got herself a full-time job. Do you know what that means? Yup, we have to start training a new sitter. 🙁
We started with the neighbor. She’s a great kid and spends a good amount of time with my family. It was nice having her and her brothers spend time here in the summer playing with my boys. I had her come over a couple of times to be a helper while I did things around the house.
The first time I left her with the kids, my husband was working from home (he has an office in the basement). I wanted to ease both her and myself into getting comfortable and gaining confidence while watching both boys, but especially our son with allergies.
The next time she watched the boys we were going to our older son’s open house at school and were only gone for an hour. Just this past week, my husband and I went out on a date and left the boys with the sitter. It was her first time having to feed them and put them to bed. I took what I felt were the proper precautions ahead of time. I fed them dinner, put an allergy free dessert out on the counter, moved the cow’s milk into the basement fridge, and went over the EpiPen and Benadryl emergency fact sheet, left our numbers and reassured her that I would never be upset if anything were to happen. That last part I think is important. I think it’s crucial for any caregiver to know the importance of using the EpiPen and that in no way would I ever be angry because they had to use it.
I know from personal experience that accidents happen. There’s only so much I can do to prevent a reaction. However, you never really can tell how people are going to react in an emergency. Some people freeze, some freak out, and others are perfectly calm. Of course it’s one of the many things that will run through my head each and every time I leave our youngest with someone. I can’t help but wonder if I’ll ever stop thinking about the “what if’s”. I do know that the older he gets, the more I’m able to relax.
Is there anything you do when you leave your child with a sitter? Do you have older children with severe food allergies? Does the stress get better for the parent as the child grows older?
-Elizbaeth
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