Childcare – #freewrite 33, Day 1080

in Freewriters3 years ago

I quit my summer job because of childcare. Not that I needed childcare for myself. I quit because I could not bear to be around my employers and the way they treated their 11-year-old daughter.

It’s unfortunate, because I was working on an organic, permaculture farm, and I think that sustainable farming is really important for the environment. I felt really good about being a part of that, and I loved the work.

My employers were really good to me. I would go so far as to say that they were among the best employers I’ve ever had. They were generous with advances, and bonuses, and they frequently praised my effort.

They were verbally abusive to their daughter though. It was pretty incredible how horribly they treated her, a child, while at the same time they were totally respectful and supportive of me, whom they barely knew.

In the end I just couldn’t stand to be around it. I think I made the right choice. I still wonder if I should have done more for her.

I still wonder if my being around could have helped in some way. Maybe my leaving did … I think it was clear why I quit, given that the abuse was going on pretty loudly my last week.

They never did ask why I left, so I think that they knew, and didn’t want to hear me say it.

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Guarding the babies while they snack along the Hoquiam River in Washington.