Babysitters

[Lanolin]

Just wondering for the families here how often do you use babysitters? Or do you make your eldest children act as babysitters, or call on a neighbour, or perhaps aunts and uncles?
Would you go out and leave your children (who aren't technically babies) alone at what age?
Have you had any bad experiences with babysitters?

Are you a helicopter parent, or how do you keep tabs on your kids? Do you let them know they can always call you in an emergency? How do you ensure your children are safe when you are not there to look after them?

I just have a few questions.... Maybe I read too many Babysitters Club books when I was younger. I found that when I worked in primary schools, I was pretty much the babysitter when the teachers weren't there. lol.

I only remember a couple of times when I was babysat myself, by my neighbours, or my grandma, as we went everywhere with our parents when younger, or at least one of them was home. When I got older my sister who was 2 years older was in charge. Otherwise, yea, my parents never went out without us. They never had 'date nights' ...if you'd ask them, they'd go whats a date night?!

 

[blueluna5]

It's a very different world today than when I was a kid. We don't personally use babysitters, but a lot of people do. One thing is that it's much more expensive 100 to 150 for an evening out. I do remember babysitting as a kid, 50 bucks if I was lucky. Daycare is even worse. I know people that spend 1800 a month on daycare for 1 kid.

My husband and I both work from home to watch our kids. It was very difficult when they were toddlers. I was very close many times to getting a babysitter and was willing to pay just about anything.

They're pretty much the perfect age now. Old enough to be a bit independent, but young enough to still want to hang out with us. They're not old enough to stay alone. My oldest is 8. But as an 8 year old I was a latchkey kid and definitely on my own for a bit.

Its a much different world out there. Or maybe we're just more aware of it. I definitely had some close calls as a child and I don't trust many people with my greatest treasure (my kids). Even though I know God is watching over them like he did me as a kid. I have a lot of anxiety with other people watching my kids if I don't know them well. I was babysat by someone who was later a convicted child predator. I have family where the one babysitter was shaking her baby and another family member babysitter who tried suffocating his baby.

 

[Lanolin]

Yea daycare is basically babysitting.

You can't really sit with a toddler, they will want to climb and explore everything, and put stuff in their mouths. Babies you can just carry or sit on your lap and hold them, toddlers want their independence.

I never forgot what happened to Madeleine Mccann, and how negligent the parents were. The baby twins were relatively fine, sleeping tucked up in their cots, but Madeleine who was 3 years old at the time, would have wanted to explore or wonder where her parents had gone, and anything could have happened, kidnapping or otherwise...she could have wandered off and because you are little you can drown in 2 inches of water.

Swimming pools, even those ones plastic ones that stand up need fences or some kind of child-proof barrier around them. Toddlers can choke on a piece of plastic, or suffocate in a plastic bag. You have to be so careful and watch them all the time. Louis Braille, was blinded when he was a toddler because he poked himself with an awl.

 

[Lanolin]

Most childcare workers are police vetted, you cannot work in a school or volunteer in one without being vetted by the police, to check you have no criminal convictions.

Problem is, those in the past when this wasn't in place were not, and some still work in schools today. Children cannot speak up about abuse, they are too traumatised to do so. Also they are told by their bigger, more powerful adults to keep quiet.

It used to be very common for parents and teachers to discipline their children by basically beating them up, whether hitting or smacking. The point was to physically hurt a child, so they would stop the behaviour, and instill fear, so they would be frightened into being good, but that just made some children more sneaky and hide away, for fear of being caught.

 

[Lanolin]

Babysitters aren't paid very much. I asked the going rate and it's $7 per hour per child.
Babysitters go into people's homes, but there are some childcare places where you drop the child off at the sitter's home, and they look after them for you. I'd consider it if I had a safe home, but, I don't think it would work with other people who aren't into sitting, or a home that needs a lot of work done to make it livable and child proof. eg, not things around that could hurt a child that liked to explore, or things that break or things you don't want them to touch or get into.

Also changing nappies, I suppose you get used to it, esp if you're a nurse.
Anyway, I have gone off the idea, it only appeals to me if it's less than 4 children, any more, and I'd have to have eyes on the back of my head. And toilet trained and weaned. If you going to do babysitting for a living, you might as well train to be a nanny, and do it for rich clients/parents who can afford your services.

Otherwise, it' s only the grandparents who will do it for free.