How Charmin
Back when I was in high school, I would babysit to earn a bit of extra spending money. One Saturday night, I was looking after a little boy I’ll call Trevor. All was going well at first. He seemed like a nice kid and we were having fun playing a board game when he said he had to go to the bathroom. He was in there for about ten minutes and he started yelling my name. I came to the door to ask him what was wrong, and he said he needed help wiping. I was confused, because he was almost six. It seemed pretty old to need help in the bathroom, but he started crying and insisted, so in I went to help him wipe. He went twice more during the night, and both times demanded assistance. When the parents came home, I told them I was concerned about Trevor’s bathroom issues. They both laughed and told me he’d been able to wipe himself since he was three, but had been recently been demanding help in the bathroom as part of a “I don’t wanna grow up” phase. I just stared in shock as they didn’t even apologize for not telling me, and gave me a lousy ten bucks for the whole night. I never babysat for them again.
That whole situation is pretty shitty. Har har har…….
That’s why you always state an hourly rate up front. And make sure they know anything poop-related costs extra.
I once had to wipe a five year old kid while babysitting. I have no idea about basic child development – I mean really no clue – so this is the first time I’ve ever considered the possibilty that she may have been able to do it herself…
I think parents become immune to the grossness of this kind of thing; that’s probably why they didn’t tell you. It’s no wonder you were annoyed with them.
Sophie,
Its not really unheard of. That’s why for kindergarten (must turn 5 by December to start in September) one of the “rules” is that you have to be potty trained, and even then if you hang out on any parenting board you’ll get parents asking for advice on how to encourage their kindergartener to do it properly because they are sick of skid marks or yeast infections.
It is true you kinda grow numb to it after awhile. I never thought I’d do the “when you turn X then” thing but my son is really hyped to turn 4 and he has been capable of wiping his butt for at least 6 months (which was made clear when I found out he never asks my hubby or anyone else for help). So 2 more days (actually I haven’t done it in about a month =)) )