Tips for a young nanny?

Question

I am 13 year old girl, 7th grade, 3.8 - 4.0 GPA average. I was thinking of starting a babysitting service with one of my friends and to bike to my clients. Any tips, advice, warnings, sites for me? Thank you all so much! Also, how much should I charge?

Answer 1

Speaking from a parents point of view here is what I screen for in a babysitter.

1.  You are there to keep my child safe.  Emphasize that you are there for the benefit of the child.

2.  I do not expect you to clean my house or anything like that, but I do expect you to help the kids clean up after themselves and to keep them from destroying the house.

3.  Have a few ideas for entertaining the kids.  I do not want a babysitter to come and expect my kids to sit in front of the TV for 6 hours watching Dora.  You do not need to be the entertainment, but I expect that you will not ignore the kids either.

4.  Leave cell phone at home.  I will expect you to have my kids as your sole focus while you are taking care of them.  I do not want my child's safety competing with your text messaging with your friends.

5.  Ask the parents what is and is not OK for the kids to eat.  Snacks, lunches, dinner or whatever.  Ask if juice is OK or if water is preferred.

6.  Get the finance issue out of the way up front.  I have an

idea of what I am willing to pay a babysitter and I am sure you have an idea of what you are worth.  Those 2 numbers are probably not the same.  Get that issue taken care of quickly.  If you think its too low then mention that to the parents and be ready to back up your request with facts about why you are a good babysitter.

7.  Talk to and play with the kids.  I cannot tell you the number of times that I have come home and had the kids tell me that the babysitter sat there and wouldn't even interact with the kids.  Again, I don't need you to be the entertainment but at least be interested in what they are doing.

8.  Be willing to take a small payday the 1st few times in order to get in with a good family.  I have a regular neighborhood girl that comes over and every few times she babysits I just give her more money.  The kids like her and she does a super job and I trust her completely now.

Answer 2

http://www.babysitters.com is great. I just got a job from there.

My only advice? Make a list of q. to ask the parents when going for

an interview. You might want to pick up some sort of "degree" with American Red Cross, (don't have to) Have PATIENTS. LOL, and have fun with it!:)

Answer 3

As a parent, I would look for a sitter who is polite and articulate and introduced herself to me.  I would also want to have a casual meeting with them with the kids to see how everyone reacts to each other.  Maybe offer to schedule 30 minutes with the mom/kid and then really interact with the child.  It is more than just 'sitting'....

Great idea and I hope you have much success!

Answer 4

Oooh, this would be fun (biking and babysitting with your friend)!

I would advise you to take this class at the Red Cross that I did, where you learn basic safety precautions. That really helped me, and now I can tell my clients parents that I'm "Red Cross Certified" and they immediately like me! haha. Anyways, it's a couple hour, one day class, and it's not that bad. As for pay, I charge $5/hr, so, anywhere around that price range is good.