when i was twelve, i joined the work force. i put a classifed ad in the local newspaper, advertising my services as a babysitter. our junior high school had offered a baby first aid course that i took and from which i receved an official "babysitting certification." i mentioned this proudly in the ad, and it worked. within a few days, the calls started coming in.
all summer long and after school many nights a week, i watched children and babies, giving them bottles, making french toast for breakfast and feeding pureed food out of little jars. i helped kids take their baths, read to them, played outside on the swingset and, in the summer, sandboxes and plastic wading pools. i changed diapers, did laundry and helped them fall asleep. once i babysat a neighbour boy who was only two years younger than i was. his parents said they didn't trust him with his younger siblings, and wanted someone responsible to keep an eye on them.
i babysat for years, before graduating to other jobs. i moved on, and left babysitting behind. i worked as a soda jerk at an antique soda fountain, making ice cream delicacies and deli sandwiches. i checked papers for my high school english teacher. i cleaned a campground during a summer holiday. i worked in a grocery store, stocking shelves and ringing up sales. from there i went on to working in the mailroom of a bank, then the bookkeeping department. i taught english to foreign students. i wrote and edited for international magazines, worked in marketing, led a development organization, and product managed, then program managed, software products.
this year, i am taking a full twelve months of maternity leave, setting aside my job managing an international product planning team, and going back to bathing, changing, feeding and teaching. and this time it is all with my own child.
i started this thinking i would be writing about what it was like to leave the work force for a year after two decades of employment. but as i wrote, i realized that it was less about leaving work than changing jobs. i am thrilled to have the chance to spend this time with madeline, but there is no question that it is work, a true full time job, and a really important one.
i am returning to my roots and becoming a babysitter once again.
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