My friend CC is currently "babysitting" a kid for nearly two weeks while his parents are out of town.
By "kid" I mean 17-year-old high schooler, and by "babysitting" I mean she's making sure he keeps a normal routine and doesn't throw any raves, stay up all night playing Guitar Hero or eat McDonald's for every meal.
Or maybe just the part about the rave-prevention.
I'll be honest, it sounded at first like a super-easy gig. First of all, the kid has a car and can drive himself everywhere, and secondly, I would much rather look after a teenage boy than deal with all the crazy that comes with a teenage girl. CC is getting paid to live in someone's lovely Park Cities home and make sure Sam (we'll call him Sam) stays in one piece. The kid's family and CC's family are good friends, so for all intents and purposes, it's in his best interest to behave. CC is not a mom, but she's one of those people who you just know will be a great parent one day. Completely ideal for this situation.
My family and I flew back from Austin on Sunday morning and CC and I decided to meet for church and go to dinner Sunday evening. KS joined us, and we ended up back at our house with CC, discussing the "sex talk" sermon we had received at church. We had rolled our eyes a little bit at the beginning, but of course if someone mentions sex in church, people listen. (I'm sure you can find it online or on iTunes. If anyone is interested I'll send you more information... it was actually pretty good.)
So while CC and I were discussing some high points of the sermon with KS, CC's phone was going off every few minutes with a new text. She attributed this popularity to Sam, saying that she quickly learned Sam was non-responsive to phone calls, but that texts she sent would be answered promptly.
Sam, she said, was asking permission to see a late showing of District 9. She hesitated because she knew that his friends had recently gotten in trouble while under the guise of going to a movie, though he had not been involved. While she was debating, I checked the times for the movie on my phone and confirmed that there was indeed a showing for that movie at the time he claimed. It was one of those "he hasn't given me a reason not to trust him" moments.
We then checked the length of the film to get an idea of what time he would be arriving home. Parents have to be so thorough these days, you know.
She already had other funny stories from the weekend; she had the inside scoop that he had already asked a girl to Homecoming (the end-all be-all social event for Texas high-schoolers), but was going to play dumb so that she could ask him about it. Such a Mom move. CC, KS and I all have younger brothers, so we are familiar with such tactics.
CC, being a very planny-person, said she had texted Sam to let him know her plans for the day around lunch time, and asked what he would be doing for the remainder of the day. She said that asking a teenage boy his plans beyond the hour was akin to requesting an outline of his five-year plan.
It's almost unbelievable what you can learn about being a mother in a single weekend, and it's probably more entertaining when you haven't had to deal with their antics for 17 years.
And who has a five-year plan these days, anyway?
My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
-Mark Twain
By "kid" I mean 17-year-old high schooler, and by "babysitting" I mean she's making sure he keeps a normal routine and doesn't throw any raves, stay up all night playing Guitar Hero or eat McDonald's for every meal.
Or maybe just the part about the rave-prevention.
I'll be honest, it sounded at first like a super-easy gig. First of all, the kid has a car and can drive himself everywhere, and secondly, I would much rather look after a teenage boy than deal with all the crazy that comes with a teenage girl. CC is getting paid to live in someone's lovely Park Cities home and make sure Sam (we'll call him Sam) stays in one piece. The kid's family and CC's family are good friends, so for all intents and purposes, it's in his best interest to behave. CC is not a mom, but she's one of those people who you just know will be a great parent one day. Completely ideal for this situation.
My family and I flew back from Austin on Sunday morning and CC and I decided to meet for church and go to dinner Sunday evening. KS joined us, and we ended up back at our house with CC, discussing the "sex talk" sermon we had received at church. We had rolled our eyes a little bit at the beginning, but of course if someone mentions sex in church, people listen. (I'm sure you can find it online or on iTunes. If anyone is interested I'll send you more information... it was actually pretty good.)
So while CC and I were discussing some high points of the sermon with KS, CC's phone was going off every few minutes with a new text. She attributed this popularity to Sam, saying that she quickly learned Sam was non-responsive to phone calls, but that texts she sent would be answered promptly.
Sam, she said, was asking permission to see a late showing of District 9. She hesitated because she knew that his friends had recently gotten in trouble while under the guise of going to a movie, though he had not been involved. While she was debating, I checked the times for the movie on my phone and confirmed that there was indeed a showing for that movie at the time he claimed. It was one of those "he hasn't given me a reason not to trust him" moments.
We then checked the length of the film to get an idea of what time he would be arriving home. Parents have to be so thorough these days, you know.
She already had other funny stories from the weekend; she had the inside scoop that he had already asked a girl to Homecoming (the end-all be-all social event for Texas high-schoolers), but was going to play dumb so that she could ask him about it. Such a Mom move. CC, KS and I all have younger brothers, so we are familiar with such tactics.
CC, being a very planny-person, said she had texted Sam to let him know her plans for the day around lunch time, and asked what he would be doing for the remainder of the day. She said that asking a teenage boy his plans beyond the hour was akin to requesting an outline of his five-year plan.
It's almost unbelievable what you can learn about being a mother in a single weekend, and it's probably more entertaining when you haven't had to deal with their antics for 17 years.
And who has a five-year plan these days, anyway?
My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
-Mark Twain
3 comments:
hahaha, sounds like your friend has it pretty nice.
and 17 year olds are crazy, as i now spend my days with them trying to teach them!
Oh to be 17 again! I don't envy your friend.....they're not unlike 2 years...you can't reason with them! (I know my parents couldn't reason with me!)
Seeing how me and my brother behave when we're 17 ( actually he is 17 now ), I'm so not looking forward to baby sit one. Your friend is a trooper :)
I mean they grow up so fast these days it makes me flinch. And the way they just rebel and lie all the time if they can get away with it :p
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