Every parent is happy to see the new babysitter at their door, because it means that they are getting a (probably much-needed) night out! However, in your excitement, don’t forget to give your babysitter much-needed information.

Here are some instructions that you should go over before leaving a new babysitter with your kids:

• Explain your children’s normal routine and schedule. This includes mealtimes, bedtimes, snack times, etc…

• Explain each child’s limits. Instruct the sitter as to whether or not the children can use the TV, go on the computer or watch movies and which ones that you feel are appropriate.

• Leave a number where you can be reached. If you will be unreachable, leave the number of a neighbor or another responsible adult that the sitter can call in the case of emergency.

• Provide an emergency phone list. Your list should include your doctor’s number, and numbers of neighbors, friends, and relatives. Be sure your own phone number and address are on the list, so that in the event of an emergency, the babysitter will have that information to give to police or paramedics.

• Point out to the sitter where first-aid items are kept.

• Explain any allergies or medications. Instruct the sitter on how to give the medications and which products or foods cause allergic reactions in your children.

• Explain your expectations. If you prefer that the sitter not have visitors, not leave the house or use the phone, this should be discussed up front.

By preparing your new babysitter for everything through good instructions ahead of time, you can relax and enjoy your night out without worry or interruption.

By: Beth Howland

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Retail Babysitters.

I almost laughed out loud. A clerk tried to explain the features and benefits of a hair dyer to a woman who had a small child with her. The clerk’s sales attempt was interrupted every 20 seconds with, “Mommy, look at this!”, followed by mommy’s horrified look as she foresaw three possible outcomes: 1) Junior was about to maim himself; 2) Junior was about to maim someone else; 3) Mommy was about to spend way more than she intended on something that she didn’t want — that was about to be broken into at least 5 pieces.

Since it wasn’t my kid, I found it hilarious. The salesperson was exasperated. And mommy? Well, mommy finally said, “heck with it”, took Devil Child by the arm and exited the store after a carefully stacked display of towels suddenly became un-stacked — because Junior wanted the towel on the bottom.

When children hinder the sales process, salespeople can’t effectively do their job and profits suffer. Smarter retailers know they MUST occupy the children if they want mommy and daddy’s attention. That’s where Retail Babysitters come in.

For a promotional item to serve as an effective Retail Babysitter it should meet the following criteria:

1) Be age appropriate;

2) Be clean and mess free;

3) Consume children’s time.

A fourth criteria that, while not mandatory to keep kids from sabotaging your sales efforts, is VITAL if you want to get the best R.O.I.:

4) Whenever possible, Retail Babysitters should contain a tangible component to aid in the continuing promotion of your business or service off-premise.

Logoed items that meet the above criteria include stickers, sticker sheets, waterless tattoos, coloring books, crayons, your letterhead and custom activity sheets.

Businesses such as flooring showrooms, vehicle dealerships and furniture stores where children remain visible, can create a children’s area with carpet, a table and chairs. Suggesting to small children that they make a card or picture for mommy and daddy can work wonders. You can provide your letterhead, 8 1.2″ x 11″ sheets of construction paper, logoed boxes of crayons and logoed stickers or sticker sheets.

Waterless temporary tattoos can also be used in this way as they transfer well to paper products as well as the skin. Themed coloring books with your imprint on them along with the crayons are another good option.

For older children, create custom activity sheets. For instance, the sheet for a flooring store could contain a word search where kids search for words such as flooring, carpet, vinyl, etc.; a word jumble; a maze and other activities.

If you can’t create a Kid’s Corner, placing a coloring book & crayons with some stickers and waterless tattoos in a logoed paper lunch bag can fill the bill. Many kids will sit on the floor next to the parents, look through the bag and begin to apply stickers, waterless tattoos, use the coloring books or decorate the paper bag.

To aid in off-premise promotion of your business, offer a monthly coloring contest. The kids either finish a coloring book picture while at the establishment or finish it at home. The parents can drop the finished picture off later. (This gets them back in the store). Pictures are displayed and once a month, one or more winners is chosen and goes up on the winner’s wall. Each child who turns in a drawing gets an entry prize of some sort with the monthly winners getting larger prizes. (Monthly winners must come in to claim their prize.)

To provide the most benefit to your establishment, all prizes (water bottles, plastic flyers, knit caps) carry your logo and contact information. You can also get lot’s of play out of featuring selected children’s drawings in your monthly newspaper/print ads and on your website. You can also use the drawings to create a custom business calendar.

If you work with a competent promotional products consultant, they can be on the lookout for and bring select items to your attention that are on closeout or are seasonal specials. This will also serve to keep your prize selection fresh and seasonally appropriate.

Children can be a salesperson’s worst nightmare. But with a little thought and the right promotional products to serve as Retail Babysitters, children can actually become an asset as you use them to leverage favor — and sales with the parents.

By: Michael Merrick Crooks

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Today, videos have become a very popular means of entertainment among children of all ages. It isn’t uncommon for children to spend much of their free time watching their favorite movies or television shows. The invention of the portable DVD player has enhanced the already great role video entertainment can play in a child’s day, as it allows parents to take DVD videos wherever children go. This however, creates considerable concern about what today’s youngsters are watching. Some DVD and television entertainment is valuable to a child’s education, as well as entertaining. Others are not. For this reason, parents should choose their children’s videos with great care.

The first factor in choosing the right educational videos for children is to choose educational movies and shows that will match their interests. If you fail to keep a child’s interests in mind, the child will be less likely to watch the videos you choose, and may easily become bored and restless. However, if your child is interested in the chosen topic, he or she is much more likely to absorb the contents and remember them later. This way, educational videos will have a more positive and lasting effect on your child.

By choosing the right kinds of videos, you will be able to prevent your children from watching programs you, as the parent, deem undesirable or inappropriate. If you choose videos for your children, you will be able to better monitor the content and quality of each video. You will also be more in touch with what your child is learning, and by familiarizing yourself with the content, be able to discuss the videos with your children. This will also let them know that you are taking an interest in what they are watching and learning.

There are many different titles out there from which to choose, and you want to be sure that the ones you purchase are videos that your children will want to watch. You don’t want to invest in educational videos, just to have them sit on the shelf. Before choosing titles, start by getting feedback from your children. Show them the videos you are considering, and find out which videos and topics spark their interest.

When choosing educational videos for your children, it’s also important to keep their ages in mind. Purchasing highly educational videos for older children, for example, is often not the best use of time or money. Often, it will result in a lack of attention, leading to a library of videos that your children never watch.

Lastly, watch any videos that you purchase with your children. These videos are meant to be a learning tool, designed to help children have fun while they learn. Videos are not, however, designed to be babysitters. The more interest you take in the lives of your children, the more you will be able to monitor what they watch, and improve their education.

By: Amy Nutt

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Child care is in tremendous demand presently. More women are working outside of the home. Your work can begin as a small part-time project and boom into a large business. Day care is one of the most profitable opportunities for stay-at-home mothers in the twenty first century. Many parents want their children to be supervised after school. Working parents are prevalent especially in times of recession. Money may be tight in the community, however it can be your job to provide quality child care at a reasonable price. Be aware of any local laws that govern child care.

Essentially, there is very little overhead. The basics of child care is that you provide a place for children to be safe and happy for a while. You must have a decent living space free from anything harmful to children. Child care has been the first job for many teens traditionally going back to the industrial revolution and maybe further. They call it baby sitting. Traditionally a baby sitter goes to the child’s residence and merely oversees the child’s well being for a few hours. That’s not what I’m referring to in this article. Here I’m writing about creating a Day Care Center where you provide the children’s afternoon or temporary living quarters. Technically It can be an apartment or house. The main Idea is to have a decent healthy dwelling for children to stay for a few hours.

Parents can provide the food – refreshment or you can, depending upon what is agreed. Your credibility is a large issue when dealing with working parents. It would behoove you to have references. If you are a parent, naturally credibility is of highest concern. Aside from any licensing which may be required, it’s a piece of cake. You merely watch children and make sure they are safe and you get paid.

You can take this as far as providing transportation, entertainment and education. Start small. Gradually build and get just what you need.

By: Glen P Jon

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You may be thinking of having babysitters needed signs. Advertising helps. If you’re worried that no one would respond, you shouldn’t be. Many people would grab the opportunity to baby sit for the extra cash. Your real problem would be finding the right babysitter for your kids. Here are five things that can help you determine if someone can be trusted with your children.

Her Experience – Find out how long an applicant has been babysitting. If you have small kids, a lot of kids or children who are quite a handful, you would want to have an experienced sitter. On the other hand, you may settle for a neophyte sitter if you have a kid who is already past five years old.

You should also be interested in the age preference of a particular sitter. Not everyone for example would be comfortable and skilled enough with taking care of infants. It is important that the age of your kids fall within the level of experience and preference of your sitter.

Her References – If there are babysitters needed in your area, she may have already worked for others. In this case, she should at least be able to present you with some references. Give her references a call and find out how well she has baby sat for others. One thing you should remember though is that it is your sitter who is supplying the references. She would naturally forward the names of people who she thinks will give her a positive feedback. You shouldn’t rely entirely on references.

Background Information – You should look for background information on your applicants. You don’t want a sex offender, criminal or former drunk driver minding your kids. This may be a little tricky to look into. No one who wants to desperately have a job would volunteer damaging information about herself. You could ask your applicant to present some clearances or formal recommendations that would vouch for her clean personal background.

Method of Handling Kids – She may have a lot of experience handling kids of all ages. This doesn’t mean though that she has the exact same methods as yours when handling kids. She may not keep the same policies that you keep with your kids. Before you accept a sitter, make sure that you ask her about her methods. How would she handle kids in specific situations? What is her usual response when a child is being difficult? If she has different ways of handling kids, be sure to tell her how you would want things to be handled.

Her Rate – One crucial point that you shouldn’t miss is her rate. You can’t expect a sitter to accept your offer just because she wants to have a job. There are many other families looking for sitters. If your rate isn’t acceptable to her, she can look for other families to sit for. Many things can influence the rate such as sitter experience and amount of work to be done. Be sure to talk to your sitter and negotiate for an acceptable rate.

By: Rashel Dan

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From the first of December, and often earlier, the high street becomes transformed. We are not just talking about fairy lights and garish decorations here. In pursuit of the best Christmas Gifts, the stores bustle with frenzied shoppers, risking life and limb for that limited edition toy or the last pair of novelty Santa socks. All of this set to a persistent and grating soundtrack of ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. You part with your battered credit card and drag your newly acquired (and very heavy) Christmas Gifts through the doors, against a tide of shoppers out into the cold and the rain. Then, with a sudden realisation that you’ve forgotten to get Christmas Gifts for your great-aunt’s next door neighbour’s sister’s children, you hastily dive back in, grab the nearest hideous soft toys, little caring that they’re bound to despise them. Finally you join the mammoth queues for Christmas Gifts snaking around the shop. Sound familiar?

The benefits of online shopping are ever more apparent. Sitting in your comfortable desk chair in your pyjamas if you so desire and sipping your coffee, your mouse hovers over potential Christmas Gifts, warm and relaxed in your own home. This could be midday or midnight and the service available will still be the same. All a far cry from the sullen shop assistants forced against their will into Santa hats, sulkily pointing out the Christmas Gifts aisles and silently taking your money and handing you back very little change.

Christmas Gifts can even be bought in a lunch hour; so finding an entire day to devote to Christmas shopping and getting a babysitter to watch the kids (or even worse taking them with you) is no longer an issue. Even if you do forget your great-aunt’s next door neighbour’s sister’s children, the internet can be switched on within five minutes, but with none of the unnecessary stress.

So apart from the fact that you can now buy Christmas gifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week via the internet, the costs are likely to be lower too. Shoppers can easily compare websites and prices to get the best deal and, therefore, save time and money buying Christmas Gifts. With services offered such as tracking an order to see when it has been despatched, and direct phone numbers if you need any help and advice, internet shopping is easy and stress free for anyone.

The internet also offers a variety of Christmas Gifts that may simply not be available or may be more difficult to find on the high street. These include everything from cheeky stocking fillers to larger, more extravagant presents. Personalised Gifts can be ordered weeks in advance of Christmas and so provide unique and individual Christmas Gifts. Experience Day Gifts (such as flying lessons or rally driving) are also easier to buy on the internet, as shoppers are able to tailor their packages and compare the different Christmas Gifts on the market, thus choosing the most appropriate experience for the intended recipient.

If you begin your Christmas shopping early to spread the cost, it can be difficult to find Christmas Gifts on the high street, as stores are still clearing their leftover Summer and Autumn stock. This is not an issue for online shoppers as Christmas Gifts websites and decoration sites operate all year round. So there’s no excuse to leave it to the last minute. Finishing your Christmas shopping early also brings the added bonus that you have more time to focus on the things that really matter during the festive season. Spending some quality time with your family and loved ones perhaps…

In an age where technology is constantly developing and pushing the boundaries, it makes sense that so many people are updating the way in which they shop to fit modern lifestyles. Ever more shoppers are now turning away from the traditional high street and choosing to browse the internet when they purchase their Christmas Gifts.

Bizarrely, some shoppers claim to miss the hectic snatching and fighting that comes with buying Christmas Gifts on the high street, but if that’s the case, you could calmly saunter into town and relax in a coffee shop, watching the chaos surrounding you as a dispassionate observer. You’re safe in the knowledge that your specially chosen purchases are in the post and will land on your doorstep tomorrow, as if delivered by Santa himself. It is little wonder that the high street is headed for the high road this Christmas.

By: Jonathan A Smith

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