Back in my olden days, only really rich people had employees that they called Nannies. The rest of us who took care of other people's children were called babysitters. During the summers of my high school years, I had a job as a babysitter.
My mother had an adult, married cousin with two children, who lived in the area. The first summer that I worked for the family, they lived close enough to us that I was dropped off at their house every day and came back home when the parents got home from work. The next summer, however, the family had moved a little further away and travel time was a factor. So I lived with them from Sunday evening until Friday evening.
My duties were pretty simple....take care of the two elementary school age children during the day, fix them lunch, and keep things in order around the house. For this I got paid $25 a week. When they moved further away, I also had the perk of taking the kids to the local swimming pool when ever they wanted to go. Occasionally, I did a little extra housework and got paid another $5 or $10 a week.
$25 a week doesn't sound like a lot of money today. But I thought I was really raking it in. Today, I wouldn't be surprised if parents pay a babysitter $25 for just a few hours of babysitting in the evening.
I don't remember you being gone during the summers. I guess I was having too much fun in my own world.
ReplyDeleteWhat about summer playground at the school when we were in elementary school? Those days are some of my favorite summer memories.
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