Question of the day...

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
.25 hourly. For money, began at 13. Saved almost all. Bought a car at 17 years old. $1200 for a 1963 plymouth valiant. Long time ago. Loved that car.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
I didnt babysit, but can address drunk driving today. The days are not over. I work at a restaurant with mostly millenials. Cant count how many have gotten DUIs. Two have been to jail and had to drive back to jail after work. One young girl had the police looking for her at work. She stole a bottle of liquor and I heard she is now in jail too, although for stealing, not for drunk driving.

Wisconsin is pathetically soft on drunk driving. Drinking is a way
of life here. It isnt just kids.

I can check in on diapers and spanking for my own kids, with my first kid forty years ago. Paper diapers. I do not spank my own or other kids. I was yelled at and called humiliating names by my mother, but not spanked as a child and tried very hard not to yell at my kids nor namecall.When one of my very prosperous sons, Goneboy, started babysitting at 12 he demanded $5.00 an hour on Saturday nights and often got more. He was very mature and the kids loved him. He was in great demand.He saved his money starting very young. He is now a millionaire with his own company.

I think when I was a teen friends who did babysit got a quarter or so an hour. Times change.
Being the stay-at-home mom I always was, I was adamant on using cloth diapers, that, and the fact I had changed cloth diapers on baby siblings and when babysitting, so that, too, played a big part when it came to me using cloth.

So proud of you for raising great kids!
 

Littleboylost

Long road but the path ahead holds hope.
Yes, I, too, have read and heard about the spankings that took place in Catholic Schools. Beatings, more exactly.
Yup our catholic school of you got the strap at school you were sent home with a note and you parents were encourage to repeat the corporal punishment at home. The Nina and the sharp wack with a pointer were pretty nasty also.
 

musiclady

New Member
SomeWhereOutThere, got me thinking about this one thanks to her Guilty Pleasures post! Thank you, SWOT! :)

- Did you babysit when they were younger?

- Remember how much you got paid (per hour)?

- Did you babysit during the day or evening (or both)?

- Remember how cribs used to have the railing that lowered?

- What kind of diapers did you have to change when you babysat? Cloth or disposable (or both)?

- Did you spank?

- How old were you when you started babysitting?

- How old were you when you quit babysitting?

- What sorts of things did you buy with your babysitting money?
Lets just say i never wished I could go to Catholic school. I was a pretty nervous kid.
You and me both, SOT! Sad.

I've never done that.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I was a stay at home mom too, but used paper diapers only. In my neck of the woods, everyone used paper diapers. I felt they kept the kids dryer. Dont know if its true. I had no interest in cloth diapers.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady

  1. - Did you babysit when they were younger?
    Yes. Hated every minute of it.
    Old-hand, Yesterday at 10:09 AM

  2. - Remember how much you got paid (per hour)?
    25 cents
    - Did you babysit during the day or evening (or both)?
    Evenings mostly
    - Remember how cribs used to have the railing that lowered?
    Yes
    - What kind of diapers did you have to change when you babysat? Cloth or disposable (or both)?
    Mostly cloth with-rubber pants. The very first disposables were awful.
    -
    - How old were you when you started babysitting?
    12
    - How old were you when you quit babysitting?
    14, got a real job through a special program working at Arby's...also started getting paid for horsey stuff
  3. - Did you spank? Parents gave me permission; even told me what implement to use (spoon, hairbrush, etc. I never did because I couldn't bring myself to hit a little kid or baby.

    -

    What sort of things did you buy with-babysitting money? BOOKSBOOKSBOOKS...and music.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
1. Did you babysit? Yes. For most of the College of Business at OK State U (profs and some grad students) when I was a teen. My mom taught there and I knew most of the profs from various functions. So when they needed a sitter, I got called. I was the kid who never got into trouble. Until I got a job that paid more. I loved babysitting, but I loved books more. And I got a job at a used bookstore that gave me all the free books I wanted as long as I brought them back eventually. I babysat less after I got my job, but I still babysat some, just not all day every day all summer type jobs. I had those offers quite often though.

2. 2-4 dollars an hour, depending on the kids and what all was involved. If I just had to play with them, I charged less. If I was going to be making dinner, helping with homework, or dealing with bratty kids, I charged more. If the parents had not come back until much later the time before, or had come home drunk, I charged a LOT more. Unless they had some excellent reason for being late. Drunk was never okay because they were usually my ride home. I didn't do drunk drivers, not even at 13 when I started babysitting. And it happened.

3. In the summers I sat all day until I got my job. On weekends during school I would sit during the day. Otherwise, only in the evenings.

4. I thought all cribs had rails that lowered. They don't now?

5. I only had one family that asked me to do cloth diapers. I had no clue how. I used them, but left the messy diaper for the mom to deal with when she got home because I had no clue what to do with it. They didn't show me what to do and they knew their kid had the runs. I only sat for them once. Their were other problems.

6. I only spanked if the parents had made it clear it was what they did AND it was a very clear problem that would result in the child being seriously harmed, like running out into the street in front of a car. I think I only spanked one child in all the years of babysitting. Mostly I never needed to, and I dealt with some very strong willed children. I will be surprised if one of them is not our first female black president. If not, she will set the world on fire in another way. She is amazing, but wow was she a challenge.

All I ever had to do was use her name and inform her she was NOT going to do something. She lived next door and was one of my favorite people in the world. The funniest thing was the day I heard her 4 year old voice using my words to tell my dog he was NOT going to do whatever he was doing. It totally cracked me up as I was walking home from school. I had to stop and talk to her mom (they were out playing in the yard) and explain where the phrase came from. Her mom had wondered because they had heard it a few times from her. I had used it when she went to hit their dog. "FirstName LastName, You Will NOT Hit That Dog!" said in a very firm, commanding voice. It just stopped her in her tracks. I sounded absolutely appalled that she would even THINK of doing that. The kid was a quick study and was using it on her family and my dog just a few days later.

I started babysitting when I was 12.

I tapered off when I was 16 or 17. I was so busy with school and work and then my best families all moved to a new subdivision on the other side of town. It wasn't far, maybe 10 minutes, but there were a lot of sitters who lived closer to that area.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
I was a stay at home mom too, but used paper diapers only. In my neck of the woods, everyone used paper diapers. I felt they kept the kids dryer. Dont know if its true. I had no interest in cloth diapers.
We always called them plastic diapers, but hardly anyone I knew used them. Cloth diapers were still king right up until the late 80's in our neck of the woods.

I remember babysitting for a single mother that used cloth diapers, and she used to tout (all the time) how uncomfortable her kids were wearing them, but I think it all depends on the kid. I have a nephew that used to happily play and sit in drenched diapers (cloth with rubber pants) until he got a rash, so my sister had to check him often, because he never complained about wet pants.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
Never babysat!

Started working at 14 at a drive in theater. $1.25 per hour. My two older best friends (16) got me the job. We had an absolute blast.

By the way my parents were drinkers so never worried about me. It was a block away from our house and we all walked home together at like 2am on weekends. I was a very sensible kid - lucky them - I was more sensible than them actually!

Spent my money on clothes if I recall. Going out to eat with friends too. We took the bus everywhere. To the Cermak Plaza where we'd eat grilled cheese and fries at Walgreens.

Never used cloth diapers. My older sister had 3 boys in diapers at once (set of twins) and I remember going to the bathroom and there'd be a poopy diaper IN the toilet, sink etc. She was a bit overwhelmed with poop I think!
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member

  1. - Did you babysit when they were younger?
    Yes. Hated every minute of it.
    Old-hand, Yesterday at 10:09 AM

  2. - Remember how much you got paid (per hour)?
    25 cents
    - Did you babysit during the day or evening (or both)?
    Evenings mostly
    - Remember how cribs used to have the railing that lowered?
    Yes
    - What kind of diapers did you have to change when you babysat? Cloth or disposable (or both)?
    Mostly cloth with-rubber pants. The very first disposables were awful.
    -
    - How old were you when you started babysitting?
    12
    - How old were you when you quit babysitting?
    14, got a real job through a special program working at Arby's...also started getting paid for horsey stuff
  3. - Did you spank? Parents gave me permission; even told me what implement to use (spoon, hairbrush, etc. I never did because I couldn't bring myself to hit a little kid or baby.

    -

    What sort of things did you buy with-babysitting money? BOOKSBOOKSBOOKS...and music.
I never spanked a child younger than about age 2, though most of the spankings I delivered as a sitter were administered to older ones. I don't agree (at all) spanking babies. I had a friend do it in front of me once, and you should have seen the ruckus I raised. Was I ever upset with her that day.

Yep, 99% of all the kids I babysat wore cloth diapers and rubber pants. And I'm talking a lot of kids. I can only guess how many households I babysat at when I was younger, but for surely 25-30 families, and not a single one of those families had less than two children, with some families having 3, 4, even 5 and 6 kids, and often there were two in diapers at a time.

I always used two diapers when changing a child before bed or in the middle of the night. Double diapers (always) at nighttime (for added absorbency).

And yes, I, too, remember how awful the old plastic diapers used to be! Yucky!

I also remember making homemade baby formula and baby food at some homes, too!
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
1. Did you babysit? Yes. For most of the College of Business at OK State U (profs and some grad students) when I was a teen. My mom taught there and I knew most of the profs from various functions. So when they needed a sitter, I got called. I was the kid who never got into trouble. Until I got a job that paid more. I loved babysitting, but I loved books more. And I got a job at a used bookstore that gave me all the free books I wanted as long as I brought them back eventually. I babysat less after I got my job, but I still babysat some, just not all day every day all summer type jobs. I had those offers quite often though.

2. 2-4 dollars an hour, depending on the kids and what all was involved. If I just had to play with them, I charged less. If I was going to be making dinner, helping with homework, or dealing with bratty kids, I charged more. If the parents had not come back until much later the time before, or had come home drunk, I charged a LOT more. Unless they had some excellent reason for being late. Drunk was never okay because they were usually my ride home. I didn't do drunk drivers, not even at 13 when I started babysitting. And it happened.

3. In the summers I sat all day until I got my job. On weekends during school I would sit during the day. Otherwise, only in the evenings.

4. I thought all cribs had rails that lowered. They don't now?

5. I only had one family that asked me to do cloth diapers. I had no clue how. I used them, but left the messy diaper for the mom to deal with when she got home because I had no clue what to do with it. They didn't show me what to do and they knew their kid had the runs. I only sat for them once. Their were other problems.

6. I only spanked if the parents had made it clear it was what they did AND it was a very clear problem that would result in the child being seriously harmed, like running out into the street in front of a car. I think I only spanked one child in all the years of babysitting. Mostly I never needed to, and I dealt with some very strong willed children. I will be surprised if one of them is not our first female black president. If not, she will set the world on fire in another way. She is amazing, but wow was she a challenge.

All I ever had to do was use her name and inform her she was NOT going to do something. She lived next door and was one of my favorite people in the world. The funniest thing was the day I heard her 4 year old voice using my words to tell my dog he was NOT going to do whatever he was doing. It totally cracked me up as I was walking home from school. I had to stop and talk to her mom (they were out playing in the yard) and explain where the phrase came from. Her mom had wondered because they had heard it a few times from her. I had used it when she went to hit their dog. "FirstName LastName, You Will NOT Hit That Dog!" said in a very firm, commanding voice. It just stopped her in her tracks. I sounded absolutely appalled that she would even THINK of doing that. The kid was a quick study and was using it on her family and my dog just a few days later.

I started babysitting when I was 12.

I tapered off when I was 16 or 17. I was so busy with school and work and then my best families all moved to a new subdivision on the other side of town. It wasn't far, maybe 10 minutes, but there were a lot of sitters who lived closer to that area.
Your babysitting experience sounds a lot like mine, babysitting everyday over the course of my summer holidays.

I loved babysitting, too, and got to be good friends with two super fun moms! They treated me like their own daughter and always talked to me like I was their age.

Yeah, so many rules now regarding baby cribs. Apparently, they don't make the old-fashioned style of cribs anymore with drop-down railings. Boy, being able to lower a railing when lifting a kid in and out of their crib made things so much easier. Safer, too. Now the railings are fixed (don't move). I can see a whole lot of mothers today having back injuries as a result.

Regarding your experience using cloth diapers, shame on the mother for not showing you how. I learned how to change cloth diapers on baby siblings, so by the time I started babysitting outside of the home, I could change a baby as efficiently as my mom, even used to hold the pins in my mouth like my mom always did when she'd change diapers.

I didn't spank many kids either, but do remember spanking a few. One of my tricks was to report to the moms at the end of the night (or day) as to how well behaved the children were, and If I mentioned that so and so was being bad or naughty, they got a spanking after I left, so most of the kids were fairly well mannered that I cared for.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Never babysat!

Started working at 14 at a drive in theater. $1.25 per hour. My two older best friends (16) got me the job. We had an absolute blast.

By the way my parents were drinkers so never worried about me. It was a block away from our house and we all walked home together at like 2am on weekends. I was a very sensible kid - lucky them - I was more sensible than them actually!

Spent my money on clothes if I recall. Going out to eat with friends too. We took the bus everywhere. To the Cermak Plaza where we'd eat grilled cheese and fries at Walgreens.

Never used cloth diapers. My older sister had 3 boys in diapers at once (set of twins) and I remember going to the bathroom and there'd be a poopy diaper IN the toilet, sink etc. She was a bit overwhelmed with poop I think!
What a fun job! Like yourself, I was always miles ahead in the maturity department. Head and shoulders above many of my counterparts.

LOL! I used to soak diapers in the toilet, too! And hanging diapers on the clothesline told the world that you used cloth diapers on your kids! :)
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
My mother had a clamp arrangement that held onto the diaper while you were soaking it in the toilet. It would even hold it through flushing.

It's one of the few things I remember from when my little sister came. (I was 3)
 
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