I am not sure if this is sexist or what. But, sometimes, my 16.5 yr old son babysits for us, sometimes my 15 yr old daughter does, usually, it is both together if dh and I do something. My 16 yr old son does just fine. He is a good guy.
In the course of talking to my neighbor today, I said something about my 16 yr old babysitting the 22 month old while we go to something for one of the other children. My neighbor got quiet and then informed me she did not think that was a good idea. I said he is good with our toddler. She said but he dropped our toddler once. When our baby was a month old or so, he left our baby on a surface and the baby rolled off. That was over a year and a half old. That is it. That is the only incident. Meanwhile, our daughter, oddly, has done even less of a job with our toddler, in that she dropped him a few times when he was a baby. She was not supporting his back even though we told her to. This neighbor thinks our daughter is fine, but not our son. Obviously our daughter did a worse job than our son. And the incidents I have described were not when they were babysitter as we never left the baby when he was little little. But he is almost 2 now.
I am quite put off that she would say that about my son, while still thinking my daughter is great and fine. Frankly, I am tired of people who show obvious preferences between my children in general. Why do people even open their mouths when they are being like this? It seems as if with a lot of people, they are open about which child they prefer, and preferring one over the other like that, openly, should not even be a part of their thought process.
In the course of talking to my neighbor today, I said something about my 16 yr old babysitting the 22 month old while we go to something for one of the other children. My neighbor got quiet and then informed me she did not think that was a good idea. I said he is good with our toddler. She said but he dropped our toddler once. When our baby was a month old or so, he left our baby on a surface and the baby rolled off. That was over a year and a half old. That is it. That is the only incident. Meanwhile, our daughter, oddly, has done even less of a job with our toddler, in that she dropped him a few times when he was a baby. She was not supporting his back even though we told her to. This neighbor thinks our daughter is fine, but not our son. Obviously our daughter did a worse job than our son. And the incidents I have described were not when they were babysitter as we never left the baby when he was little little. But he is almost 2 now.
I am quite put off that she would say that about my son, while still thinking my daughter is great and fine. Frankly, I am tired of people who show obvious preferences between my children in general. Why do people even open their mouths when they are being like this? It seems as if with a lot of people, they are open about which child they prefer, and preferring one over the other like that, openly, should not even be a part of their thought process.
