Hi All,
Babysitting - ah yes...time to get away from the children and take some time for yourself. That's good stuff - and necessary when you take care of an infant or toddler or pre-schooler. You needs some time for yourself - and that's where todays' blog entry comes in.
The topic: babysitting. And we'll discuss how to find a babysitter, the going rates for babysitters and some books on how to interview potential babysitters.
Click on this link from the FarmingdalePatch for an article entitled 'What's the Going Rate For Babysitting?' Just to save you some time and reading - but it is still worthwhile to click on the link and read the article! - the 'average' rate for babysitting is currently $10/hour...
The above mentioned article from Farmingdale Patch mentions a very useful website called Care.com. Essentially Care.com acts as a conduit for caregivers and for parents. In other words, parents can find babysitters that are located near there home AND babysitters can upload a profile and search for babysitting jobs. What a site! And just as a heads up, users can look for 'care' for children, for parents, for pets and - believe it or not - for your home...
Furthermore, the type of care can be identified - babysitters and nannies, child care centers, special needs and tutoring and lessons can all be found very easily.
This next link comes from Kidshealth.org and is very useful for the teenager in your life who wants to start babysitting. With topics like 'Having a Business Plan', 'Thinking About the Kids You Want to Care For', 'Safety of the Children While Babysitting', 'Preparation in Babysitting', and 'How to Behave With the Children While You are Babysitting' the article is comprehensive, well-worded and an easy read for the future babysitter in your life.
So now that you have a list of potential babysitters, what are you going to ask them when you meet them for the first time? Think no further and surf no further - the following links will be helpful when the time comes to interview prospective babysitters.
From MamaOT.com comes this link filled with "22 Questions to Always Ask a Potential Babysitter". From About.com's section on Child Care comes this link for 'Questions To Ask a Potential Babysitter'. Finally, from a source that comes with 'street credentials' comes this link from Boston.com/Moms - article is called '15 Questions To Ask A New Babysitter'.
The American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) is one of the foremost organizations in the world that concerns itself with Children's health and well-being issues. They have a very user friendly website called HealthyChildren.org which can be accessed by clicking on this link. In addition, users can click on this link which goes to a page filled with 'Babysitting Reminders'. Note that the whole darn site is chock filled with informative, current, modern parenting advice and suggstions. Don't miss it!
And finally, the Farmingdale Public Library has books on 'How to Babysit?'. Click on this link to go to the library card catalog and see the titles we own.
Hope the links are useful and the topic was interesting.
Regards,
Stu
