I'm holding thumbs and praying that my gorgeous twin nephews will be lights out by kick-off of the Germany vs?Uruguay game. Chances are slim, but a girl can dream. ?That should be the end of my babysitting duties for the day, but they didn't begin with my nephews, they began way before with children I met in the most unexpected of ways.
Today was my recovery day in bed after dragging myself through the week and faking?being?healthier than I really am. No reason to get up and nowhere to have to go. No one to speak to and no one needing me. You think?
My day got totally charming from about midday on ... actually just in time for me to need a reason to smile after a not so hot start to the Tri Nations for the Springboks. But that's a whole other tale and if you get me started I am only going to rant and rave about the comments thrown around by unbelievably annoying couch potato fans who have no idea what it means to support their team ... you see ... you got me started. So after flinging a few comments to couch potato supporters on twitter and the Springboks fan page ... the charm began.
I chat to a lot of guy on Facebook ... I'm single ... I'm allowed! Some guys I make friends with and we never chat but I don't delete them because they are harmless. One of those harmless guys popped up and said 'Hi' ... well, thats what I thought. Thank heaven's for intuition and facebook status's. The answers seemed a little one wordy and it was idle chit chat about where we were born and kept on referring to 'his dad'. Until ... 'his dad' posted a status announcing that his little girl had gotten hold of his facebook. So I double checked and the chat was all?squeaky?clean and then the next minute here it was again ... the chat.
What a charming little girl ... it took me a few?minutes?to figure out that I had been scammed by a pre-teenager but it also took me just as quick to kick into the only mode I know how when it comes to children and the rest of the world ... yep, teacher with a dash of mother or is that mother with a smudge of teacher?
Ok, so if dad posted a status then he's gotto know she's online ... right? But I checked anyway. Remembering that I'm creating a children's website and one of my major concerns is showing parents that there are safe spaces for children to play on the internet where parents don't have to worry about them and can leave them to run free ... Facebook is NOT that place. My nephews are on Facebook and they are pre-teen too. It's one of my 'freak-out' things and is only perpetuated because of my own personal blogging that my nephews seem to be reading. But I'm not the mom ... and in this case, I wasn't the dad either. I was, however, the adult that this little girl was chatting to and so protection mode kicked in.
After making sure that she had told everyone else that it was daddy's little girl and giving her just a smidgen of a lecture about making sure she knew who she was talking to ... we got to chatting. It was a bit of a sneaky chat while I lured her into getting her dad to say 'Hi' to me. The giggles and blush is that I haven't ever actually spoken to him until that very moment .... hmmm!
He was chilled ... happy that his little girl was on his Facebook and that he trusted all his friends with her ... we had a quick chat and he handed me back to her ... for 3 hours. Yep ... I chatted to a little girl for three hours. We spoke about Nancy Drew and Disney movies and her cool dad and her siblings. In the end I had two little girls and the cutest time. Got sweet descriptions of dad sleeping with baby brother and even sweeter descriptions of the yummy lunch dad made after screaming at the oven.
The next second another friend of mine's little boy pops online. He's got his own Facebook account and the teacher slash responsible mother in me has a mini freak out but we chat anyway! He's going to play golf with my nephews.
Are there any adults online today?
Not too bad for an online babysitter!
It's now the real deal and the serious babysitting has begun with real children ... it's aunty duty. Did I mention I have flu through all of this? But babysitting aunty Jo has a plan 😉 ... watch my favourite Disney's. So we are watching what I wanna starting with Finding Nemo and I haven't seen Up yet and if they are still awake ... well then they are getting their soccer education 😉
I love Dory ... but who doesn't ... Just keep swimming, just keep swimming! That's actually all I got for 'project me' today ... Dory reminding me to 'just keep swimming' ... don't forget it either.
Such a well written post.. Thnkx for sharing this post!
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment.
Great read ... thank you!
Thank you! I hope you come back and read some more ...
Dory is my best! I'm sure everyone says that. That is the best movie by a long shot. It sounds like you are taking it easy and I hope you are very proud of yourself for that. I know I am proud of you!
Feel better.
Thanks Jess, I'm feeling a little prouder of myself every day. Bu then I'm also very weary that any act of pride or boldness sends Miss Universe on her way to throw more stuff my way ... lol!
But as Dory always says: "Just keep swimming ..."
Thanks again for an interesting read
Loads of adults online all the time... though I doubt few grownups.
And remember, fish are friends. 😀
My recent post Dance of Death
LOL ... I wouldn't want to be a grown-up 😉
My best friend's son who is only 4 is on FB, something I won't do for Bailey, but they watch him and only let him play the games. I think its ok ONLY if the parents are there watching every time they log on.
Sounds like you had fun!
My recent post Manic Mondayeesh
I'm going to do a blog about this for the very reason that parent's want to allow their kids to explore this world ... it's not fair that they are left out of it ... so how do we keep them safe in it??
Guidance. Teach best practices... a classic case of do as I say... not as I do 😉
Besides, lets face it, the younger ones will find a way to make use of the outside world. The best you can do is try to prepare them for it.
My recent post Everytime
I totally agree with you. I'm glad that I've decided to do my bit and create the blog where I try support both children and guardians as they explore the huge outside world 😉
This is the first time I have come across your blog, but it seems that there are many people out there who have a lot of respect for you. I am intrigued to learn more about the person who would have such a high caliber of actresses represent her.
Thank you so much for the very special comment Travis.
I'm so humbled by the followers that I do have and the love and encouragement I received to be very honest. I'm hoping I have a new follower in you ... it would so great to see you around and share my story with you.