The other day as I was talking to the mothers of former students, I realized how much a part of my life children were. I always loved children. I am talking about children that I interacted with on many levels.

As I was growing up, I did a lot of babysitting. My first job was for my one of my mother’s bosses. When I first started there, they only had one daughter, but there was soon to be another. Linda was a challenge. She had a very strong personality, but she and I got along well. She would do things for me that she would not even do for her mother.

To give her mom a breath of fresh air I began going over afternoons to take her for a walk. We did not go far, but at least her mother got time to rest. I babysat evenings as well. Soon they welcomed a new baby sister. Betsy and Linda were very different, but I got along with her too. In fact, I was the babysitter of choice. A couple times when I had an obligation that took me past the time they wanted me, my mother filled in.

Thank goodness Linda did most of her deviltry when I was not there. One day when I arrived to take the girls out her mother was frantic. Linda had sucked the red part off a book of matches. I stayed with Betsy while Linda and her mother went to the emergency room. They treated her and she was released. I stayed a while to take care of Betsy.

While I did not get paid for these little outings, I was well paid for my time of babysitting.

The parents were going on a trip. The dad asked my mother about me coming to babysit while they were gone. My mom thought that I was too young for that kind of responsibility. They hired a nurse, but I was to go over every day to give her some relief. I was to take the girls for a walk.

One day when I arrived the nurse was very upset. It seems her shoelaces were missing from her shoes. I called Linda over to me and asked if she knew anything about that. She confessed that she removed the shoelaces while the nurse was resting. She promised me that she would not do it again.

Another day when I arrived Linda had just tipped over her dresser on her and her sister. Luckily, they both ended up under a drawer. She pulled the drawers part way out to create stairs to get to the top.

One night when I was babysitting, I turned on the kitchen spigot and it would not shut off. I gathered both girls and went across the street. Although I did not really know the people who lived there, I had been waving to them for quite a while. I knew they knew the girls. The man came over to the house and shut the water off for me.

Linda’s shenanigans were not finished. One day she took the jar of petroleum jelly and rubbed it into her hair as well as her sisters. It was along time before the effects of that were gone. I arrived shortly after it happened.

I could not have loved those girls more if they were my own children. Soon a baby brother came along. At that point I was asked to spend Saturday nights after I babysat. That meant that in the morning when the children got up, they came to my room. I usually fixed them breakfast. Linda was not a fan of fried eggs – the way her mother fixed them, but she ate all of them when I cooked. That was a little embarrassing for me.

I moved away and have no idea whatever happened to those children. I recently thought of Linda since her birthday was April 15.

I had many other babysitting jobs. Once I ran a free ad in the newspaper looking for work. One of the teachers at my high school was looking for help for his wife. They had five small children. While I loved the kids, the mother was not so congenial. When she put me to work polishing her furniture, I gave up that job.

Finally, I graduated from college. Now I was a teacher. My first job took me to Kenmore, New York. I was one of the first hired since my student teaching was done in the fall. I got my third choice of grade level. In those days they were begging for teachers. You could pick your grade level. After one semester, I left for a job in Jamestown. I got called to central office and questioned about leaving. I explained how early I was hired and my not so desired placement. They told me I got that level because they figured by my resume and references that I could do anything. All my hard work went against me.

I returned to teaching when my children were in school. In those days if you were pregnant, you left the classroom at five months. I spent twenty-nine plus years in the school system. My love for children is with me still.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell. Contact her at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.