by Leslie Morgan Steiner (Two Cents on Working Motherhood)
But there was one family I never forgot. I’d never met them before that night, but the mom got my number from a neighbor. They lived in a little house directly across from our small red brick elementary school. Three kids ages 4, 8 and 10. The mom was harried, the house messy. Mom looked at her wristwatch and left for an evening meeting almost as soon as I walked in the door, without giving instructions or showing me around the house.
Three hours of complete and utter chaos and high decibel panic followed.
The children were insane. They screamed and ran around the house. Pulled my hair. Hid. Farted in my face. Threw toys at me. Worst of all, the four-year-old repeatedly unlocked the front door and ran out into the night, shrieking and laughing. When I got angry and tried to discipline them, the two older kids laughed at my fear and frustration.
At first I felt like crying. Then I felt like calling the police. I never got them in pajamas, much less in bed. I was in pure lockdown survival mode the entire time. By the time Mom came home, I felt as harried as she looked. Then I did something I’ve never done before or since: I quit. I refused her money and told her I would never babysit for her children again. Ever. They were too much for me.
I now have that family.
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Leslie Morgan Steiner authors Two Cents on Working Motherhood on MommyTracked. She is the editor of the best-selling anthology Mommy Wars and the memoir Crazy Love. Steiner is a frequent guest on the Today Show, MSNBC, and regularly contributes to The New York Times, Newsweek and Vanity Fair. She lives with her husband and 3 kids in Washington, DC.
