At the babysitter

At the babysitter, funny things happen…
The other night when I went to fetch Yiu Yiu from the babysitter, she was just settling into an episode of Barney. As she saw me walked into the house, she said, “Mummy, I finish watching Barney first. You sit down first la” making herself completely at home.

At the babysitter, unpleasant things can also happen…
Yiu Yiu is totally pampered at the babysitter since she’s the youngest and everyone in the babysitter’s family and the two elder boys give in to her. After I persuaded her to switch off the Barney VCD to go home, she put the CD back into the casing and wanted to put it back on the TV cabinet. However, as the babysitter was standing in her way, she shouted at the babysitter to move away. I reprimanded her straight away and since she knows she’s wrong (and therefore felt that she’s lost face), she started throwing tantrums. Sigh! Such bad behaviours.

At the babysitter, she also picks up bad behaviours…
Incident 1
The two boys’ mum (let’s call her Mrs C) always has some sweets in her purse which she sometimes offers to Yiu Yiu as a treat. Yesterday evening when Mrs C went to pick up her boys, Yiu Yiu as usual asked for her treats but when Mrs C said she had none, Yiu Yiu stuck her tongue out at Mrs C, followed by showing Mrs C her butt.

Incident 2
While the babysitter’s daughter (let’s call her PY) was doing her homework, Yiu Yiu went to disturb. When PY reprimanded her, Yiu Yiu taunted PY by calling her “Fatty Bom Bom” repeatedly. I don’t think Yiu Yiu actually understood what it meant as PY is rather skinny but she probably just said it for fun.

I felt bad when the babysitter related these two incidents to me. I know she definitely didn’t pick them up at home, since neither hubby nor I do or say these things. And since the only other place she’s at is at the babysitter, I suspect the two boys picked these up from school and she simply imitates them. Sigh! This is the kind of guilt I have to deal with for not being able to devote my time to bring her up on my own terms.