Sunday, February 03, 2008

Raising Children Is Two Full Time Jobs

The week of January 28, 2008 my sister-in-law visited New York for a family emergency. My brother and his 16 month old son stayed at my house for the week for help in watching my nephew. My brother telecommuted to his workplace and my Mom watched my nephew.

My brother was prepared for the week visit. He brought clothing, baby supplies, and food. Someone watched my nephew everywhere and every time. Full attention must be given to my nephew including talking, feeding food, staying away from the cleaning chemicals, and reading. In addition, the extra house work. For example, the dishes. I live with my Mom and Dad. With three people in the house, and my Dad and I work five days a week, dishwashing is minimal. We washed dishes every two to three days. With my brother and nephew, dishes needed to be washed everyday. Another example was walking around the house. My nephew’s toys were everywhere. It was hard walking around and finding table space to eat. And my nephew’s potty training and bathroom bare necessities were all in the bathroom.

The last example was grocery shopping. My Mom and Dad were sick and I had to buy groceries two consecutive days. I spent $80.00 in groceries in the two days. Unbelievable. The grocery bill was higher if my brother has two children. $80.00 was one aspect. The second aspect was finding time after work to go shopping.

Last week gave me experience and knowledge about raising children. Raising children requires knowledge, wisdom, financial resources, and time. I’m not a father. I say for the record at the moment I’m not ready to raise children. I know when a person becomes a parent, life changes permanently.

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