• teft@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    and the life experience they bring.

    Preach. Some of us took care of our younger siblings when we were teenagers and that opened our eyes to how shit kids can be.

    • BubbleMonkey@slrpnk.net
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      3 months ago

      I babysat my cousin’s 3 kids under 5 for the year I lived in their basement (free rent trade)

      And above all the noise and hassle and all, the day I knew kids definitely weren’t for me… was the day the parents went out for one of their “be home tomorrow, probably” nights, knowing full well at least one of the kids had the flu.

      It ended up being all three of them. All I did all night was give baths, sooth crying, change bedding, and clean up vomit.

      I managed to keep them alive and relatively comfortable, but I don’t ever want to do anything even close to that ever again.

      • teft@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        For me it was opening a door finding my sister, her crib, and every surface in her room covered in shit. I cleaned her up but closed the door to her room and left the rest to the parental units and said ‘never again’.

        • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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          3 months ago

          I’ve had 3x nephews over for several days in a row, more than once. Oh god no thanks I won’t have children of my own. Was sure of it already as a teen long before that, have not changed my mind since.

    • Aviandelight @mander.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Shout out to all my fellow latchkey/free babysitter folks out there. I still resent that I never had a “real” summer vacation growing up.