adventures in teenager-sitting

Last night I "babysat" Nat's siblings which was a bit strange considering the oldest is 14 years old. They were no problem, of course; they're good kids and they like me. But it got me wondering about various children-related issues.

Taneshka is 7. When I put her to bed I read her three books - not so unusual for a 7 year old, I suppose, but the books seemed really young for her age. They were pleasant enough so perhaps it's a comforting bedtime thing, I don't know. But I know she can read at a much higher level.

She also falls asleep with a pacifier, which really surprised me. A pacifier at 7 years old? I remember thinking it odd when she carried it around at 4 and 5. I haven't seen her with it recently so it must just be another bedtime thing. Unless I am too harsh? I really have no idea about these things.

She's the youngest and definitely babied a lot. I understand that, being the youngest myself, but she seems awfully immature. When her mother checked in she asked, "Did the baby get to bed all right?" An affectionate title I'm sure...but I find the whole business bizarre.

Misha is 14, he's a great kid. I worry for him in the opposite direction; he's a little old for his grade and many of Nat's college-aged idiosyncrasies have rubbed off on him. He has a premature love for irony and hipster-like photos of himself, and he seems to be one of the most popular kids in his class. According to him he has 8 ex-girlfriends (in 8th grade!) and has kissed 12 girls. I told him not to be a player and today I discovered he ended his Facebook "marriage" with a girl who thought she was his girlfriend (although he disagreed). He asked me to tell him what high school was like and admitted he was worried about the amount of drugs that would be there. In some ways he's ahead of himself yet he still has very middle school-type attitudes towards a lot of things. We had a heart to heart that I think helped him out - he feels better about going to high school next year and perhaps understood a new perspective on the ways he gets attention from his classmates.

And the middle kid is pleasantly normal for a 12 year old boy, if a little eccentric. I had to send him away so I could have a stern talk with Misha when he declared himself a "swinger."