What Would You Do?

What would you do ...

• if you have been walking against the current with someone in your life
• who pops in and out of your days with an irregular sort of regularity
• when you do see them, you know they don't want to be with you
• they upset the flow of your day when they come to you on their own terms
• when they are embarrassed to be seen with you?
• they don't enjoy their time with you no matter what you do
• they have been put in a spot where they have no choice but to come to you
• they have relinquished on their part of a deal with you

What would you do ...

• if that person was six years old?
• but their parents are far older than that, and they are in a bind because they cannot afford daycare costs

There is nothing positive coming out of this relationship. When I look at all of the factors I listed, I feel like I am being taken advantage of. Little or no notice is being given to me in regards to their erratic scheduling. Every day this child is scheduled to come to daycare is a big question mark. Will he come? What time will he come? He appears at whatever time they can manage to get him here. No matter how I attempt to change up the day to make it more interesting for him, he doesn't want to do whatever it is that we are doing. It is more than a little bit exasperating.

Then there is the financial end of our partnership. It isn't working. There are many more details. But it is simply not working.

What would you do ...

• if someone who is not holding up their end of a working relationship comes to you and does not ask for a thing ... but in their silence, they are asking you to give even more than you already have given
• and all they have to give you in return, is a child who brings down the moral every time he walks through your door

I have maintained adult relationships in my life that have encompassed most of the points that I listed above going against them. I don't have those relationships in my life any more.

I have been running my daycare on my own terms this second time around. I value myself and those around me value what I have to offer. The kids are reaping the benefits of a positive environment. Except in this one case ...

I did nothing ...

• I empathized with the parent and offered as many options as possible (not one of them included changing our original daycare arrangement)
• I suggested that perhaps this was for the best since her child does not want to be here
• I offered my sympathies
• but I did nothing.

It feels wrong. Yet it feels right. Relationships have to work two ways. Any relationship. If I felt valued in any capacity, I would want to do more. But I don't.

I did nothing.