Tag Archives: babysitting

Does Your Teenager Baby-sit?

Does your teenager baby-sit? We recently hired a sixteen-year-old babysitter. Our first experience with babysitters in general, meeting her brought back memories of when I used to baby-sit. I remember going to houses and watching one or more children, and leaving with a few dollars in my hand. We never discussed the money, certainly never negotiated it. But let me tell you, things have changed! Depending on where you live, the “going” rate for babysitters may differ. I live in Southern California and you’d be hard pressed to find a babysitter for under $10 an hour. If you try to … Continue reading →

Finding a Babysitter

I recently hired a babysitter. This may sound like nothing extraordinary to you, but it’s the first time anyone has ever watched my children (ages 2 and 5) except my sister. Let me tell you, finding someone to watch your children, even for just a few hours every other week, can be frightening. The mere thought of a stranger watching my “babies” nearly sent me into a panic attack. Would they be dependable? Would they steal my children, or harm them? Sounds ridiculous? Perhaps, but there have been too many news stories recently for me not to be overly cautious. … Continue reading →

Babysitting at Six?????

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Apparently there have been some problems in the lunch room at my daughter’s school. Bullying, her teacher told us. So now, there are assigned seats in the cafeteria. That seems reasonable. But then our daughter told us that she has to “babysit” one of her classmates, reporting whatever he does that he’s not supposed to do. Excuse me? How old is she? She just turned six. Now, my daughter is a very good student and pretty responsible, as six-year-olds come, but to ask her to report on one of her classmates’ activities is simply absurd. Children do learn to police … Continue reading →

Babysitting Co-op

One great way to save money, and still allow you and your spouse some time together is to form a babysitting co-op. The way this would work is that you find several families with children, and then you rotate through babysitting each other’s children so that the other couples can go out, and not worry about Paying for a babysitter. For a co-op to work successfully, you should set up some ground rules. 1) You should agree on a time that you drop off and pick up children. It can be hard on the family who is babysitting to have … Continue reading →

Staying Home Alone

As my oldest son approaches twelve the subject of staying home alone is one that we revisit frequently. How do you know when your child is ready to stay home alone? Knowing your child well is the key to judging his or her ability to stay home alone. One of the biggest mistakes parents make is using an arbitrary age to determine their child’s ability to stay home alone. Some states set age minimum that a child must reach before they are allowed, by law, to stay home by themselves. Some parents misinterpret this to mean that their child is … Continue reading →