Recovery, Week One

Between my return at midnight Tuesday I had two days until our annual Fezziwig Ball on Friday. The Ball went great despite my jetlagged fog and accompanying head cold. I'm finally catching up on rest and unpacking and everything else. I'm so enjoying the comforts of home(Privacy! Quiet! Control over my life!).

So, how was Russia?

Russia was great. It was a wonderful opportunity to see new places and meet different people. After all the trouble we went through with the visa resulting in extra cost but a three year multiple entry visa, I feel like I should definitely consider going back to Russia. Though not, perhaps, as a nanny.

The more I do childcare the harder it seems to become. Taking care of other people's children is always challenging, and long-term it wears away my patience and takes a while to recover. I find that right now I want to either spank or avoid all children. Being a nanny is essentially being a domestic servant, even under like-minded Christians, because you're never quite in charge. Especially as I've grown older I've struggled with the constant tension or effort for balance of nanny/parent authority, especially when the parents are present. For example, the Ds, while excellent disciplinarians, were very busy speaking and traveling and not as able to intervene over discipline issues. I used to be more understanding of parents not allowing babysitters to discipline their children, but I've slowly changed to the view that if you're leaving your child in the care of another person, you should trust that person enough to discipline your children. If a parent is leaving their child's well-being in the hands of the babysitter, shouldn't that include discipline? Being exposed to so many different styles of child discipline over the years has been both educational(good) and frustrating(sanctifying).

Disclaimer: Reflections of the trip probably look rather black right now as I decompress from such an exhausting trip, a big dance event and my twenty-fifth birthday all in one week. I feel a mid-life crisis in the works!