Date Night: How to Hire a Sitter and Enjoy Your Night Out
Posted by Amanda on March 04, 2009
Most of the advice out there is for how to choose a sitter. But this article is more for the sitter you've chosen. From my own experience baby-sitting, here are some things that are really helpful for your sitter!
1: Leave him or her contact info where you can be reached AT ALL TIMES. Even if you're out on a date, take a pager or cell phone. Your sitter needs to be able to reach you in case of emergency. You should also provide contact information such as your family doctor, a back-up friend or family member in case you can't be reached, and any information that might be needed in an emergency (a list of allergies for each child, for example). This will enable your sitter to be prepared and effective in any situation.
2: Set expectations with your kids. A baby-sitter is a baby-sitter, and is there to keep an eye on your kids while you get a break. Talk to your kids before the sitter arrives to explain what the expectations are for good behavior, and consequences. Make it clear to your kids that the sitter is in charge, and they should respect that.
3: Set out boundaries for your sitter! If it's ok to put the kids on time-out if they act up, tell the sitter that. When you're watching someone else's kids, it's often hard to know what kinds of discipline are ok for you to use. Sometimes kids act out - it's what they do - and it really helps to know what the parents will be comfortable with you doing in the event of misbehavior (including if they'd rather you called them than tried to discipline, or if time-outs or similar are ok tools for you to use).
4: Pay fairly! If you know your kids are a handful, or if they did something that was particularly rough on the sitter, pay accordingly. Kids can be a challenge, and your sitter is probably working hard. Don't be shy about giving a bonus if Timmy got in a fight with his brother and the sitter had to break it up and bandage the little ones, or Sally threw a tantrum about bedtime.
5: Inform your sitter! Tell your sitter what items he or she should and shouldn't use, what rooms of the house you'd like to keep private, or if one of your toilets always clogs. If one of the kids has a peanut allergy, special dietary restrictions, whatever; say so. Also, be clear about expectations about things like bedtimes, acceptable snack foods, time limits on video games, rules about taking turns on the computer, and other sort of normal things in your house. Otherwise, kids will try to push the envelope and get away with things while you're not there, and it's often confusing and stressful to the sitter not to know what the real "right" answer is in a situation.
Hope this helps you have a successful babysitter experience! Enjoy your evening out!
1: Leave him or her contact info where you can be reached AT ALL TIMES. Even if you're out on a date, take a pager or cell phone. Your sitter needs to be able to reach you in case of emergency. You should also provide contact information such as your family doctor, a back-up friend or family member in case you can't be reached, and any information that might be needed in an emergency (a list of allergies for each child, for example). This will enable your sitter to be prepared and effective in any situation.
2: Set expectations with your kids. A baby-sitter is a baby-sitter, and is there to keep an eye on your kids while you get a break. Talk to your kids before the sitter arrives to explain what the expectations are for good behavior, and consequences. Make it clear to your kids that the sitter is in charge, and they should respect that.
3: Set out boundaries for your sitter! If it's ok to put the kids on time-out if they act up, tell the sitter that. When you're watching someone else's kids, it's often hard to know what kinds of discipline are ok for you to use. Sometimes kids act out - it's what they do - and it really helps to know what the parents will be comfortable with you doing in the event of misbehavior (including if they'd rather you called them than tried to discipline, or if time-outs or similar are ok tools for you to use).
4: Pay fairly! If you know your kids are a handful, or if they did something that was particularly rough on the sitter, pay accordingly. Kids can be a challenge, and your sitter is probably working hard. Don't be shy about giving a bonus if Timmy got in a fight with his brother and the sitter had to break it up and bandage the little ones, or Sally threw a tantrum about bedtime.
5: Inform your sitter! Tell your sitter what items he or she should and shouldn't use, what rooms of the house you'd like to keep private, or if one of your toilets always clogs. If one of the kids has a peanut allergy, special dietary restrictions, whatever; say so. Also, be clear about expectations about things like bedtimes, acceptable snack foods, time limits on video games, rules about taking turns on the computer, and other sort of normal things in your house. Otherwise, kids will try to push the envelope and get away with things while you're not there, and it's often confusing and stressful to the sitter not to know what the real "right" answer is in a situation.
Hope this helps you have a successful babysitter experience! Enjoy your evening out!
Related Article
Date Night: How to Hire a Sitter and Enjoy Your Night Out
Amanda – March 04, 2009
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Most of the advice out there is for how to choose a sitter. But this article is more for the sitter you've chosen. From my own experience baby-sitting, here are some things that are really helpful...
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