Time Travel Tuesday~First Job

Time to share your first job experience...
What was your first job experience?
Do you remember the first paycheck, starting salary?
Do you remember your first boss, coworkers?
What was your favorite task/least favorite task?
How did that job end?

Hmmmmm....I suppose I will take this opportunity to discuss my first job even though it wasn't in a work environment, and had no coworkers.

When I was in the sixth grade....at age 11, I began babysitting. Not just babysitting, but babysitting at the child's home by myself. My first babysitting job was a permanent one for the next five years. I was the sole babysitter for my pastor's children. When I started they had only one child, Micah, and he was only a year old. I watched him for several hours each Sunday afternoon, and many Friday nights. A year later, along came Joshua. I watched both him and his brother for several hours when the baby was only one WEEK old. Ummm....I was 12. Along came little Sarah, a few years later. I watched all three children when Sarah was 4 days old. Ummmmm....I was 14. This job ended for me, when Sarah was nearly 2 years old, and they moved away.

I saved every dime I made for college. I was an extremely responsible child, and knew I needed my money for my education. I was a natural saver. The parents treated me well, and were wonderful people. I loved spending time with them, and their children. We never had any disagreements, and their children loved me, as I did them. It is an experience I cherish.

I loved playing with the kids, and changing diapers wasn't a big deal to me. I suppose the task I least liked was cleaning up the dishes after we ate. I never liked housework. I loved to read to the kids, and I always enjoyed my alone time after the kids were in bed. They had a video game system, and I got pretty hooked on Tetris, Super Mario and...ummmmm...oh dang I can't remember the name....Man I hate my swiss cheese mommy brain. It will come to me in the middle of the night. I kep thinking of the word "link"...but I just can't get it to make sense. Help!!!!

Anyhow, now as a mother, I have wondered...."what on earth were they thinking?" I was 11 and home alone with a one year old. I was a 12 year old, and home alone with a two year old and a one week old child. Who on earth leaves their 4 day old baby with a teenager? Seriously, I admire these people, and have always felt that they are good caring parents, but I would NEVER leave my child with someone so young. I look at a child of 11 now, and think....how could I ever put that much responsibility on a young person. What if there was an emergency? I know that I tend to be pretty neurotic, but am I alone in thinking that I was given way too much responsibility at a young age?

I do, however, believe that I might have been a better babysitter when I was 11, than I was at 16. When I was 11, I still wanted to play with toys, and so I spent the whole time playing with the babies. When I was 16, I was more interesting in raiding the fridge, and talking on the phone. Regardless of this fact, I still feel that they are VERY lucky nothing happened on my watch. NOT because I was careless, but I am not certain I would have been able to respond correctly in the event of an accident.

Be sure to click on the logo at the top of this post to read about more "first jobs!"