Parenting Advice - Babysitting

In our fast-paced world, it's common for both parents in a family to work, and while the parents are gone, someone needs to look after their children. This responsibility usually falls on a complete stranger, someone who is paid to watch your kids even though you may know nothing about them. Keep this in mind while looking into this crucial aspect of parenting.

Certification

Personally, I don't see the need for a babysitter to be certified if you know them well and trust their methods of care. However, my babysitter was not certified, and when inspectors came by to check how many kids she babysat in her house, she would make my brother and I hide behind couches and in dark closets for hours at a time.

Visit and Check-In
It's important to ensure that your child is in the best possible care, which you can do by making unexpected visits. I don't remember being a terrible kid, but my babysitter often made me sleep and take naps everyday in that same dark closet, 


crowded enough with boxes and an exercise machine to the point where I couldn't even lay down in full length. Sometimes I got to sleep in a bathtub, no pillows or blankets, just cold porcelain.

"...My son is...where?!"

Believe Your Kids

"Teddy wants ice cream for dinner,
or he's going to set your house on fire."

The most important point to stress is to believe your kids. My brother and I would go home everyday and tell our parents these stories, but they never believed us. My babysitter was in her 50's, but she had no problem stealing our toys and making every day miserable.
Oh well. A few years later her house burned down and she lost everything she ever had. Sometimes you have to appreciate the hilarious and cruel nature of life, I know I do :)


All images from Stock Free Images