Finding a babysitter can be tough, but sometimes keeping a sitter happy can be just as tricky. Here are five tips for keeping a good babysitter happy.

1. Explain Your Expectations before the Sitter Comes on the First Day

Once you’ve found a babysitter, go over the rules in your house and your expectations. If it is not possible to do this ahead of time, ask them to arrive early on the first day so that you can go over things. This will help to avoid any future misunderstandings.

2. Put Yourself in the Their Shoes

Make your home welcoming to the sitter. Make sure he or she knows how things work in your house. You may also want to consider special snacks or a movie that the sitter can enjoy after the kids are in bed.

3. Come Back on Time

Try to be home on time. If you say you will be home by a certain time…don’t be late. Your sitter may have other plans or other obligations. If you want them to babysit again, respect their time. If you must be late, always call to make sure that it is ok.

4. Set Boundaries for Your Children

Make sure your children do not take advantage of the babysitter. Set rules and boundaries for behavior that will keep peace while you are gone.

5. Show Some Respect

Finally, always treat your children’s babysitter with respect. Pay them according to the rate that you agreed upon and check with them regularly to make sure that they are happy.



By: Beth Howland

About the Author:
Beth Howland is a reviewer of parenting products like Sittercity.

If you need help finding the right sitter for your family, visit http://www.SittercityReview.com for more information.





Okay, so you did all you can to find a good babysitter. You asked around and received a good referral from a dependable source. But how can you be sure that the sitter you got is good for your child? This article will tell you how you can tell if your sitter is a keeper.

5 Signs Of A Good Babysitter

1. She is punctual. Punctuality is a matter of character. A person who is punctual, is usually reliable and conscientious about what she does. Your sitter being on time is a good sign.

2. She lets you know ahead of time if she cannot baby-sit at certain times. Emergencies do happen, but a good babysitter will let you know as soon as possible and will often try to help you find a sitter to take her place when she cannot do it.

3. You child learns things when he or she is with her. A good babysitter will not just stick a child in front of the TV and spend her time on her cell phone. If she is a good sitter, she will want to do things with your child, like teaching her new songs and telling or reading stories to her.

4. Your house, kitchen, and child are clean when you get home. A good babysitter will be conscientious of the condition of your house and child at all times. She is not there to do housecleaning for you, but you should not find your house and child in a mess when you get home.

5. Not too many booboos (accidents). Of course, things will happen while caring for any child. Your child falls and gets booboos when with you. However, a good babysitter will keep a very watchful eye on your child to keep these to a minimum. She will also be aware of anything around the child that can cause harm and correct those problems before the booboo happens. Yes, booboos will happen, but they will be few and far between with a good babysitter.



By: Claude J Anthony

About the Author:
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Want to take your honey out for Valentine’s Day but can’t find a sitter? Here are our top five tips for getting a Valentine’s Day babysitter.

1. Call ahead.

Don’t wait until your neighbors and friends have already called and booked the neighborhood sitters. Call now to mark his or her calendar for that special day!

2. Pay your Babysitter Well.

Your babysitter is giving up the night to watch your kids, so pay really well. Whatever the going rate is for babysitters in your area…offer a little bit more. You will need to make it well worth your babysitter’s time to mark you on the calendar when you call.

3. Consider a Swap.

If you have friends who also have small children, just ask them if they would like to swap. Friday night one set of parents goes out and then Saturday night the other couple takes a night off…and the kids get some great play dates.

4. Offer to Go Out and Get Back Early.

Let’s face it, your sitter may want to make plans for the night too. If you offer to take your sweetie out to an early dinner and return early, then your sitter may still have time to make later plans too. This way you both win.

5. Use the internet…to find a babysitter.

The internet is also a great tool to find local sitters. Online sites, like Sittercity, have great babysitters available and you can search your local area for free before you ever have to sign up.

By: Beth Howland

About the Author:
Beth Howland is a reviewer of parenting products like Sittercity. If you need help finding the right sitter for your family, visit http://www.SittercityReview.com for more information.





Every day you hear the nightmare on the evening news: “Another child abused by his babysitter” or “A child is abused at daycare.” It is so common that it has left many parents left to go to great lengths to protect their children from their very own babysitters.

A babysitter matchmaking service, called Sittercity, offers to help by offering background checks on their sitters. Will this help? Should you take advantage of this option?

Let’s be honest with ourselves. Not every person is as nice as they seem. While running a care companion company that focused on providing in-home care for the elderly, I received many good resumes from people who seemed extremely pleasant and were good candidates for employment. However, after running the mandatory background check, I found abuse allegations and one woman who even had assaulted her own mother! Do you think I now wanted to hire them to care for my elderly clients? No way!

You don’t want someone like that caring for your loved ones either. So go ahead and use Sittercity or other resources to find good candidates to fit your needs, but don’t skip the background check. That last step makes all the difference and, from my experience, it does make a difference. It will show everything from a traffic ticket to a felony.

Even if you are hiring a babysitter without a matchmaking service, there are online companies that specialize in the background checks for any type of employer. This would be well worth the investment as well.

So even if you meet a babysitting candidate for the first time and think that he or she is wonderful, make sure you spend time reading their online reviews and do not fail to take advantage of the background checks that they make available. This service is definitely worth your time. After all, you are protecting your most important things in life…your kids.

By: Sheryl Frey

About the Author:
Sheryl Frey is a mom dedicated to helping others by recommending good parenting sites like “Sittercity”. For more information, visit http://www.sittercityreview.com





Finding a babysitter can be tough, but sometimes keeping a sitter happy can be just as tricky. Here are five tips for keeping a good babysitter happy.

1. Explain Your Expectations before the Sitter Comes on the First Day

Once you’ve found a babysitter, go over the rules in your house and your expectations. If it is not possible to do this ahead of time, ask them to arrive early on the first day so that you can go over things. This will help to avoid any future misunderstandings.

2. Put Yourself in the Their Shoes

Make your home welcoming to the sitter. Make sure he or she knows how things work in your house. You may also want to consider special snacks or a movie that the sitter can enjoy after the kids are in bed.

3. Come Back on Time

Try to be home on time. If you say you will be home by a certain time…don’t be late. Your sitter may have other plans or other obligations. If you want them to babysit again, respect their time. If you must be late, always call to make sure that it is ok.

4. Set Boundaries for Your Children

Make sure your children do not take advantage of the babysitter. Set rules and boundaries for behavior that will keep peace while you are gone.

5. Show Some Respect

Finally, always treat your children’s babysitter with respect. Pay them according to the rate that you agreed upon and check with them regularly to make sure that they are happy.

By: Beth Howland

About the Author:
Beth Howland is a reviewer of parenting products like Sittercity.

If you need help finding the right sitter for your family, visit http://www.SittercityReview.com for more information.





I remember being thrilled as a young teenager to be earning $2.00-$3.00 an hour babysitting the local neighborhood children. How times have changed! I was in for quite a surprise when I could no longer depend on Grandma as by built-in babysitter for my three small children and had to “hire” a new babysitter. I had no idea what to expect in terms of what the going rate would be so I figured the best way to find out was to ask friends, other mothers at my gym and families in my neighborhood what they typically paid for their babysitters. From the different answers I got, I was able to determine that the hourly rate for babysitting ranged from $7.00-$15.00 (at least in my area) and is usually determined by several factors:
Location How far the sitter has to travel Number of children being watched The sitter’s experience Length of babysitting time

After I had a pretty good idea of the range I would be expected to pay, I became a member of SitterCity, an online babysitting matchmaking service and began looking for local sitters in my area. While reading the profiles of the sitters I was interested in, I noticed that most of them had posted the range of pay they expected along with their experience, references, etc. Before I spent time moving forward with checking references and setting up interviews, it was great to know what the sitter was looking for ahead of time and if it was an amount I was comfortable with. Of course price shouldn’t be the most important factor when choosing a babysitter, but it should be a reasonable rate that you are both happy with to ensure a great working relationship.

By: Joi Wengert

About the Author:
Joi Wengert is the mother of three small children and reviews innovative products and services that provide smart and easy solutions for today’s parents.

To help find the right sitter for your family, visit http://www.Top-7-Reviews.com/Babysitting [http://www.Top-7-Reviews.com/babysitting/index.htm] for more information.



Hello,
I have a 22 month old son who is very well-behaved. Until last month we had a great nanny who played with him all the time, but since we moved house we haven’t been able to find someone who would agree to our terms (I go to work very early in the morning, they prefer not to come that early and some don’t like cats in the house: we have two) Anyways, mom has been taking care of my kid lately and I know he is getting the best possible care ever, but this means we wake him up early and take him to her place, which is kind of inconvenient for us. But more importantly, there is a whole life ahead of my kid when he will have to wake up early go to school, go to work etc. Should he start now? He adores his grandma and enjoys his time there.
Should I keep looking for someone to come to our place? Am I being unfair to my kid when I wake him up early in the morning?
What would you do?

By: karamel

About the Author:





Finding a babysitter can be tough, but sometimes keeping a sitter happy can be just as tricky. Here are five tips for keeping a good babysitter happy.

1. Explain Your Expectations before the Sitter Comes on the First Day

Once you’ve found a babysitter, go over the rules in your house and your expectations. If it is not possible to do this ahead of time, ask them to arrive early on the first day so that you can go over things. This will help to avoid any future misunderstandings.

2. Put Yourself in the Their Shoes

Make your home welcoming to the sitter. Make sure he or she knows how things work in your house. You may also want to consider special snacks or a movie that the sitter can enjoy after the kids are in bed.

3. Come Back on Time

Try to be home on time. If you say you will be home by a certain time…don’t be late. Your sitter may have other plans or other obligations. If you want them to babysit again, respect their time. If you must be late, always call to make sure that it is ok.

4. Set Boundaries for Your Children

Make sure your children do not take advantage of the babysitter. Set rules and boundaries for behavior that will keep peace while you are gone.

5. Show Some Respect

Finally, always treat your children’s babysitter with respect. Pay them according to the rate that you agreed upon and check with them regularly to make sure that they are happy.

By: Beth Howland

About the Author:

Beth Howland is a reviewer of parenting products like Sittercity.

If you need help finding the right sitter for your family, visit http://www.SittercityReview.com for more information.