A babysitter is a temporary phase in life for many teenagers (usually girls). It’s that phase when you’re old enough and capable enough to left in charge, but young enough to not have developed an active evening social life. By its very nature it’s a transitional phase towards the end of secondary school and before jobs or university.
The difficulty with this transitional phase is that every so often you need to find a new babysitter and invest some time in them getting to know you and them getting to know your children. There are lots of variables too. Generally an older babysitter might be seen as better, but on the other hand they will be with you less time. How old is old enough? A friend had a younger babysitter than she would otherwise have chosen because her sitter was the neighbour’s daughter who she knew well. Whenever she babysat it was arranged that her mother would be in, just next door, so there would always be someone to call on if there was a problem.
Does the babysitter need experience? Is it better to have a teenager who has younger siblings, maybe of a similar age to your children, or one that is very keen with less childcare experience. I used to babysit as a teenager and despite having younger siblings, I was rarely involved in their care (although I used to big it up when dealing with potential babysitting clients naturally).
It’s a difficult one especially if there isn’t a teenager that you know well nearby. Then there’s the distance thing. You’d want to walk or drive the teenager home or maybe put them in a taxi. By the same note you don’t want having to take the babysitter home to impinge on your night out.
I mostly ask my mum to babysit, but then I feel guilty if I am out much past 10.30 as my mother likes to go to bed fairly early.
What babysitting arrangements do you have? What are your concerns about finding a babysitter? Does the cost of a babysitter have an impact on how often you go out?
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