As a teenager, I had a few families that I regularly tended for. I remember one who had an index card for each child so I knew what to expect. I knew the house rules so the kids couldn't say, "but my mom lets me......" I have been thinking about putting together a small information packet for my sitters. I want them to know what I expect and in return what they can expect out of me. (A good paycheck!)
First it's good to know what they want out of us. I have tried to remember what I wanted when I was a teenager and after pregnancy brain and a lot of years, I have failed. On a blog, Chatting at the Sky, she interviewed several babysitting girls and asked them several questions. I found it very enlightening and often it was, yes I totally remember that now. I felt the same way! It's a 4 part series so check it out.
So for my end of the deal, I am filling out my babysitter instructions. Just a simple book (like 4 pages) filled with the basics like our address, phone numbers and who to reach in case of an emergency. Then I have detailed areas with when nap time is and what our routine is. I hope that our sitters won't think of me as some crazy over-protective mother. I want them to know that I expect them to change poopy diapers (a past problem) and that I have a crazy dog that should remain locked up.
I am facing a few challenges with this project like our phone situation. We do not have a land line phone but rather cell phones. What if my sitter doesn't have a personal phone? My first thought was to get a prepaid cell phone but that might be extreme. Well perhaps it would be reasonable if we went out a lot. So the most logical solution is for us to take one phone and leave the other for her use.
Have you created something like this for your sitters? What valuable information do you want your sitter to know?
3 Classy Comments:
I keep thinking I should do something like this. Then I wouldn't be so stressed right before we go trying to remember if I've forgotten anything.
We have cell phones too. Sometimes our sitter has a phone and sometimes we just leave one. We just tell her not to worry about answering unless it's us or someone she knows.
I have a word document that I update for each sitter with bedtime routine, contact info, dinner/snack options, etc. I also tell them if the boys can watch TV, which rooms they aren't allowed in, etc.
I wish the families I babysat for had done the same.
I think you are really on to something. I baby-sat a lot as a teenager and college student and the more instructions that are left... the better! I think that you get better results with everything in life when you make your expectations clear. A friend of mine kept a word document that she would update occasionally and keep in a plastic sheet protector in a binder. I also babysat for a lady who paid $10 an hour (this was eight to ten years ago) and she expected you to entertain her child. Her theory was that if she paid her sitters more, they wouldn't put her child in front of the television. Boy was that true. Girls would clear their schedule to sit for her daughter and they interacted with her daughter the entire time.
Post a Comment