Lots of people annoyed me when I was younger and less experienced — the mother who brought her baby with a dirty diaper every single day, and the ones who dropped off kids with contagious conditions. But now I have experience and know how to handle most of the stuff that comes up.
Sometimes there are kids who are clearly neglected at home, and I can’t do much about that, but I can love them when they’re in my house. It isn’t those mothers who push my buttons. I can usually tell that they grew up in dysfunctional homes themselves and don’t know how to be a good mother, or sometimes they just seem to be under an insane amount of stress.
But Mrs. Plonit was a whole new challenge. She’d walk in every day with her nose in the air, as if nobody in the room was worth looking at, and her mouth would pucker if there was any trace of an unpleasant smell. I keep things clean, but there were six babies and toddlers in the room, and sometimes one of them needed a diaper change! Her son Tuvya was sweet and sociable, though, so I was willing to put up with her.
Tuvya was just about in the middle of the group age-wise, and was everybody’s friend. The trouble began when everybody left. Mrs. Plonit was always late for pick up. The minute his last friend left, Tuvya began to howl. I was always so tired by the end of the morning, but didn’t have the heart to let him be. I would hold him, dance with him, offer him a treat or a special toy, but nothing helped.
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