Making a bottle

Everybody has asked a stupid question at some point of their lives. One stupid question of mine that came to mind when asked to write about it was this one; It was about a month after I started my new job at a daycare and the question I asked was “How do I make a bottle here?”

I was working with my boss who had her hands full so she asked me if I could make a bottle. This is something I have done countless times for my family members and I knew how, but at the daycare some things were done differently and that made me extremly nervous. The minute the words came out of my mouth I instantly felt stupid. And the reaction I got from her assured me that it was in fact a stupid question, she just stared at me in confusion. After a long pause, she finally replied with, “4 ounces of water and two scoops of formula”. That, I already knew. The actual part of the process I was questioning, was how to warm it up. The daycare has one of those fancy little bottle warmers and I had never used one before. I explained that to her and she stopped what she was doing and showed me how to use it. It was pretty simple after all. All I had to do was put a little bit of water in the bottom of it and turn it on. The fact that this was such a simple task left me feeling even more stupid for asking. I was thinking about how much of a fool I must have looked like to my boss. I remember thinking, who works at a daycare and doesn’t know how to make a bottle, me that’s who. I worried that she might question my capabilities or wonder if there were other simple tasks I would need help with.

To this day, she hasn’t said anything about that moment, but I still think about it every time I go to make a bottle. In retrospect, I am glad that I asked it though. If I hadn’t asked that ‘stupid’ question, I would be five months into my job still not knowing the proper way to make a bottle with the available equipment at this daycare.