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| |    Getting Ready for Babysitting: A Parent's Role by Susan E. Davis reviewed by Connie Harvey Babysitting teaches child-care skills that will last a lifetime. It also teaches professional skills that are invaluable for any chosen career, including the importance of punctuality, reliability, honesty, trustworthiness, and clear communication. Babysitting courses, such as those offered by the American Red Cross, Safe Sitter, or local schools, help familiarize fledging sitters with these concepts, but you can do much at home to prepare your preteen or teen for this challenging and rewarding job. Hands-on training Have your child help you take care of younger siblings, little cousins, or friends' babies and toddlers. Show her the fundamentals of diapering, preparing and giving a bottle, feeding solid foods, and putting a baby down to sleep. Teach her about safety concerns, appropriate play activities for different ages (including reading aloud), and how to take firm but affectionate charge of a young child. Don't forget to impart techniques for soothing a crying baby, distracting a toddler bent on destruction-either self or household!-and using a timeout is to calm down an angry or disobedient preschooler. You also might suggest that your child babysit in your home at first, so that you'll be on hand if any problems or questions arise. Once she's gotten a little experience, try to be home the first few times your child sits for a new family, so that you're available if the situation gets tough. Marketing strategies Especially when your child is a preteen or young teenager, you should make sure she doesn't cast too wide a net when it comes to advertising her services. Don't let her put up posters on neighborhood telephone poles or the supermarket or place an ad in the paper. Have her stick with families you know at first, either in the neighborhood or through your place of worship, children's schools, or other community groups to which you belong. It's probably also safe for her to ask for referrals from friends who have babysat-and liked-other families. For a professional touch, your child can use a home or school computer to print up business cards with her name, phone number, and any special qualifications that might set her apart (such as "safe driving record," "three years of babysitting experience," "Red Cross-certified in first aid and CPR"-even "older sister of twins" would be impressive.) Role-playing Parents who want to hire your child may ask a series of questions in the initial interview, including how often she has babysat before, what hours she is available, and what she likes to do with children. If your child tends to be shy, role-playing can help. Just pretend you're the potential employer and let your child work out answers to standard questions. Then let her take a turn at lobbing some of her own questions to you, the "prospective employer," such as "How much do you pay?," "Will I be cooking for the children or will they have already been fed before I get there?," "Would you like me to take the kids to the playground?," "Is it all right if I have one friend over?," and "Will you please call if you're going to be later than the time you expected?" Boundary setting Most parents who hire your child to babysit will be fair. Some, however, may ask your child to do too much work (e.g., to clean the house-not just do the dishes or tidy up after the kids--or go to the grocery store) or they may not treat your child well (e.g., habitually coming home much later than the agreed-upon time). Sometimes they just may have a very unpleasant or demanding child that your teen really doesn't want to take on again. Talk to her about she could handle such situations and supply her with some lines to use, such as: "I'm not comfortable cleaning your house because I won't be able to watch the children at the same time." Or "I'm sorry, I can't work for you anymore. The hours are just too late." Or, in the case of the unruly child, something along the lines of : "I'm sorry, but Johnny Death and I just don't get along very well. I think he'd be better off with another sitter." Professionalism Being on time, being courteous, and cleaning up after herself (and any messes the kids make under her care) are all important job requirements. So, too, is knowing what not to do. Remind your child that the phone should only be used for local (and brief!) telephone calls, that friends should visit only with the parents' prior permission, and that she shouldn't use headphones, just in case a child is calling for help. Testing the decibel capacity of an impressive stereo system, watching R-rated movies while the kids are awake, and sampling everything in the refrigerator without permission also are frowned upon by most clients. Money skills While your child may have learned about saving and wise spending through an allowance, babysitting usually brings with it a much bigger infusion of cash. Help your child learn to handle this newfound wealth by setting up a checking account and a savings plan. To help your teen learn to handle money wisely on her own, The Kid's Guide to Money: Earning It, Saving It, Spending It, Growing It, Sharing It, (Scholastic Trade, $5.35) by Steve Otfinoski, offers information on finding a job, dealing with consumerism, and making charitable contributions, as well as budgeting, saving, and investing. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Money For Teens by Susan Shelly (Alpha Books, $12.05) also covers most of what a teen needs to know about earning, saving, budgeting, investing, and establishing good credit.
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