fastened my two-year-old in the car seat and drove to the babysitter. When I tried to drop him off so I could go to work at my then telemarketing job he had a major tantrum. . He always seemed to like it at that sitter but he put up a fight. I barley get him out of the car and when I tried to carry him to the house he bit me. His behavior was so unusual for him. It was terribly wrong. I knew I would never forgive myself if I left him there and something happened.

The Single Parent Memoirs (The Babysitter)

By Cornelia Amiri

I fastened my two-year-old in the car seat and drove to the babysitter. When I tried to drop him off so I could go to work at my then telemarketing job he had a major tantrum. . He always seemed to like it at that sitter but he put up a fight. I barley get him out of the car and when I tried to carry him to the house he bit me.  His behavior was so unusual for him. It was terribly wrong. I knew I would never forgive myself if I left him there and something happened.

So I drove home and called in to work sick. They didn’t fire me in fact I was surprised how nice they were about it. But what would I do the next day. I had to work. I didn’t have the cash to take him to a nursery because they charged pay per hour for children who weren’t enrolled and you had to pay when you picked your child up. What was I going to do? I lay on the bed with him by my side. Both of us seemed depressed. There was a knock on the door. 

It was one of the ladies that lived in the apartment downstairs with her son and her nephew both two years old and the exact size of my son. She wanted to know if my son could come over and play because the two cousins fought with each other when he wasn’t there. I asked him, do you want to play with Joey and Robert. He nodded yes and he walked down the staircase with the other boys.

I used this free time to make dinner and was starting to feel happy about having this unexpected day off. Then a thought hit me. The grandmother lived downstairs with one of her daughters who had Joey and the other daughter dropped off Robert every day before she went to work. The grandmother watched both of the boys while their mothers worked. She was keeping two boys now would one more make that much difference.   It would be the perfect solution.  If only she would do it.

I went downstairs and the grandmother immediacy assumed I was getting my son.  I told her no he can stay and play awhile if it was all right, but I wanted to ask her something. I told the grandmother about my situation. And asked if she could baby-sit my son beginning the next day.  I offered to pay her $40 at the end of each week as I got paid each Friday. She agreed.  I felt a tear come to my eyes. A terrible problem had been solved in the best possible way.  Like magic. She was my son’s childcare provider for about two years. He was never happier at any other nursery or babysitter than he was with her and her two grandsons.