Today is the babysitter’s last day to take care of the little one. All the days leading up to today, I’ve been wondering whether I should be telling my little boy of the impending change. We didn’t really talk this fact into him though. He’s only coming to a year and a half, and you would think he wouldn’t know better even if we try to prepare him with the change by talking beforehand. That’s true, but part of me wish that I had done that now. I think to some extent, he may be able to understand it although he may not understand the impact of it.
This morning when I handed him over to the babysitter, I just casually said that today will be the last day that she’ll care for him since we won’t be sending him over in the last week of the month. She looked quite sad. Actually, I think I sounded sad too. She’s been taking such good care of him for over a year now and I think she too feels some attachment towards him. He may not be the most precious child to her, but I’ve got to say that the little boy does have his charms and can be really sweet to her. I’ve seen it myself. So I suppose it’s natural for her to feel a little sad although she’s the one who is quitting on us.
So to make things a little brighter, I told her that when we return to town next week, we’ll bring him over for Chinese New Year visit and she readily nodded and agreed we should drop by. With this said, I felt slightly better that today won’t be the absolute last day that my boy gets to see his babysitter.
I’m still trying to shake off this feeling of sadness. I’m sad because I think the little one will miss her and the other 2 kids he’s enjoyed playing with. I feel sad because at the new babysitter’s place, he won’t have other kids to play with as he will be the only kid there. I can only hope that he finds the same kind of joy and fun playing with adults alike.
I read some articles that came in rather handy at a time like this about how to help kids adjust to change. It takes patience and understanding of the child’s emotions, thus parents need to be more nurturing but not to the extent of spoiling the child whenever the child throws tantrums or behaves badly during the period of change. These simple tips sometimes serve as great reminders to us, who may have overlooked the small things. Thankfully I joined a parenting group in Facebook from which this tip was shared. It has many other useful resources at times, I remember reading about how families deal with illnesses like Mesothelioma, getting through ordeals like crimes committed upon them and growing as a family in times of disasters. I think all these situations are very real to us.
Anyway, I’ve digressed. The new year is just around the corner and we should all be in celebratory moods to welcome in the Year of the Ox. I know I will be, I just need to shake myself out of this gloom. I know things will work out fine with the new babysitter. I just can’t help but feel a little sad. Which is okay, right?
