Managing Boys

Managing Boys (26)

“Hilary! Please calm down!”

The six-year-old didn’t listen to me as she continued to run around her house with a diaper on her head. An empty one, thankfully.

“You can’t make me! You can’t make me!” she squealed, continuing to scream as she ran. This upset the dogs, who were chasing after her. She, of course, thought that this was the most hilarious thing ever. “You gotta catch me, Aria! You gotta catch me!”

Why was this so difficult? It used to be so easy for me to get children to do what I asked, but now... everything was different. I was now a pro when it came to teenage boys, not children. That was a really scary thought.

If she got too loud, she’d wake her younger brother up from his nap, and that was the last thing I wanted. It took forever to put Peter to sleep and I was not about to go through that again.

I chased after her into the kitchen, but stopped dead in my tracks when she was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t help but feel nervous. It was too quiet...

“Hi, Aria!” she called out when she suddenly popped out with her twelve-year-old brother’s catapult that he had built for a science project. He was out with his friends, so he wasn’t here to help me get it away from his little sister. “Look what I got!”

It was filled with mashed potatoes. This wasn’t going to end well.

“Hilary, put the catapult down,” I ordered, taking a dangerous step forward. “Put it down.”

But I knew that it was no good. She wasn’t about to listen to me.

“Geronimo!”

And I was pelted by mashed potatoes. I tried my hardest not to scream; I didn’t want to wake up Peter. Hilary was going to kill me if I didn’t calm her down!

I was getting desperate. I would have given her ice cream or candy, but I knew that would only make her worse. I tried sitting her in front of the television, but she wasn’t interested in any of the shows that were on. She just wanted to run around with a diaper on her head with all the dogs and cover me with mashed potatoes.

I couldn’t handle this. Would it have been wrong to call someone for help? That would sure show people how I was definitely the best babysitter in town...

I wasn’t anymore. I wasn’t the best. I was so busy dealing with the boys and my own problem that I barely had time to babysit anymore. Sure, I missed it, but not when the kids were acting like complete brats.

When I lost track of Hilary, I started to panic a little. Who knew what she could have gotten into when she was out of my sight?

But when I ran into the living room, I saw the little girl laying on the couch, her eyes drooping. I let out a sigh of relief.

The three dogs were all beside her, fast asleep. I couldn’t believe this change had happened so quickly.

“I’m tired,” Hilary cooed, curling up into a ball and falling asleep almost immediately. I sure envied her for that.

I let out a sigh and gently pulled the diaper from her head. Thank goodness she was finally asleep. I didn’t think I’d be able to chase her around for that much longer.

Finally, some time to relax.

When my phone started to ring, I jumped for it. The last thing I wanted was to wake Hilary up and have her running all over the place again. “Hello?” I answered, not even checking the caller ID.

“Hi, Aria!” Ben greeted so loudly from the other line that I had to pull my phone away from my ear. “Did you notice that I didn’t say hello, Aria? Did you notice?”