Sunday Haiku: Labor Supply

How do parents who
don't go to church meet teen-age
girls who babysit?

Thoughtful neighbors plus creative boys plus awesome babysitter =

Starship Filebox

Christmas Plane

\When some neighbors/church friends bought a big file cabinet, they found themselves with a box they thought had lots of potential.  They called us and delivered it to our house!  We talked to the boys and their marvy babysitter for the evening about what the box could become, and they saw raw material for a space ship.

We came home to find this winged vehicle that they'd created with packing tape, duct tape, markers, a utility knife (babysitter only!) and a heavy plastic bag that came in the box.  Some of the windows are actually covered with plastic.  There's a top hatch that this picture doesn't show very well.  The back end of the ship has little rocket boosters cut in it.  It has magic marker buttons for slow drive, fast drive and hyper speed.  Such a cool way to spend their time! 

Our boys had been primed to turn the blank canvas of a box into something fun by their creative and capable uncle Steven.  He (amazingly quickly) converted a box we'd used to transport Christmas presents to the grandparents' house into this little plane.  The boys have continued to play with it for the past two months, occasionally adding more markings, decorations or cardboard bits.  The wrapping paper roll on the back is the latest addition.

Chart: Babysitter Effort-to-Value Ratio

If you like this, click on the chart to "Vote my LOL" at GraphJam

The B Word

This post has been knocking around in my head, and I had to finally write it because I saw a similarly themed post on the Rimbosity blog. He was pointing out the prevalence of comments about "daddy day care" that people make when a dad is out and about with kids. That's on my list of annoying reactions people have when they witness actual fatherhood.

At the top of my list, though, is the B word, babysitting. I mostly hear it from women. They probably mean no harm, but when they talk about their husband watching their kids without them around, they call it babysitting. And it's not. It's parenting. When I think about what I want from a babysitter, the bar is relatively low. I want

• the kids to be breathing at the end of the night
• the kids to be in bed if (s)he is watching them through bedtime
• the house to not be a total and complete wreck
• no evidence that any visitors I did not know about have been there

When I say parenting, I mean

• engaging with the child in activities
• enforcing the rules and a general moral order
• caring for their needs in a way that prepares them and me for the future (e.g. demanding politeness when they request more food or help with something)

Calling a father's time with his children babysitting diminishes both his efforts and his responsibilities. This is a semantic danger that we should avoid.

Now, about the "Mr. Mom" comments...