With my username, I just thought of a question. How many of you trusts a babysitter to take care of your children? How should you choose a babysitter right for the job? Do you take complete strangers to babysit?

If ever I would be a parent, I would never want to have a complete stranger babysit my children. I would rather have an aunt or an older cousin of my children to take care of them.

I have basically babysat my nephew for years. I used to watch him when my sister went out. I feel like a father to him.

When I started babysitting I took the Red Cross babysitting course, which gives you important safety skills and has a certificate if you pass the course. I used to babysit for neighbors all the time since I was one of the few girls most places I lived. I normally met the family first and got an idea of the house rules, but between word of mouth and being available I never had an issue getting jobs with people I'd never met. I know I'd definitely want a few references, and I wouldn't want to leave my kids with someone if they weren't toddlers yet. I think teens that babysit and are responsible are getting harder to find, even for well behaved children. My sister-in-law is always looking for babysitters since I've told her no unless she wants to meet or exceed my previous rates ($10 an hour for the best kids I've ever sat) and my mother-in-law ends up doing daycare/babysitting more often than not. But she'd honestly leave them with anyone who didn't seem bad if she really needed a babysitter.

I don't trust many people to start with, and I don't have any children (complex ovarian cysts), but I love them all. I know many people that will only allow close friends or family to watch over their children, and I know a couple that have found places from online, that will allow back-round checks and everything else a parent would need to decide if someone is right to watch their child or not.

I think the Red Cross babysitting course is a good idea as well. When I started years ago, you had to be able to know CPR and also swim (for the places that had pools, community pools and so on). There is alot more to knowing how to "watch a child" besides just watching them, I wish more people would realize that.

Of course I would prefer to have a family member babysit but that is not always possible. There is a girl down our street who recently finished the Red Cross babysitter training. We invited her and her mom over to get to know them a bit and to see how she interacted with my son. The first time she came to babysit I asked for her mom to come as well. She has worked out great and comes over for 1 hour each week to watch my son.

The only person who has ever babysat my daughter was a friend of two years, the mother of my daughter's best mate. I would not have it any other way-no stranger will ever stay with my child.

The only ones that have sat for my son are family or friends of the family. For my girl only family no close friends or anything like that. Research all sitters throughly, there are many websites now that help you do so.

My wife and I have used the services of unemployed relatives but as our kids grew older we have gone outside of family and employed strangers. Yes we did the background checks and references and either of us would make random checks at home. We never had a problem in that regard.

Hi,

I decided to write a series of reports (ebooks) on "How to give your child everything without spending money".

My first report's is: "5 Tips For How To Keep Your Baby Busy While You Cook ***At no expense***"

You can find it here on my tiny website: http://www.best-kids-tips.com

Please send me you reviews \ opinions... anything you like :?

to

Tim.Sheffer@best-kids-tips.com

Yours,

Tim Sheffer

We have a maid who was my nanny since I was 2 so I like to think we know her well (lol) and we leave the kids with her when we go out and after pre-school but she's not officially their one of us always tries to make it in time to pick them up or take them with us when we go out. Obviously when it's for a weekend or a full day they have a "sleepover" with my best friend who has two daughters one is 2 yrs older and the other is the same age.

I would never leave them with strangers because I can usually always find someone.