Need help coming up with a list of babysitter expectations

[LittleBlessings]

We just hired on two teen age baby sitters and need help coming up with a list of expectations

[HappyMommy2]

No friends or boyfriends. No texting or phone calling.

[mommajb]

I have a teenage son (and 4 other children). I remind him to engage with the youngers, to stay in the room with them, no cutting or cooking unless otherwise specified, answer the phone so I can contact them (think about how youwant your phone handled). I don't want him using his ears to watch them while he is otherwise engaged like I am doing right now.

[rightkindofme]

-Make sure my kid is fed and her diaper is changed when she needs it.
-Don't invite anyone over to my house I don't know. (We use two babysitters who are best friends and they are both my former students I don't mind in the slightest if the one who isn't working shows up to play.)
-Use your best judgment and try not to yell too much.

Mostly we are exceptionally liberal because we wouldn't use a young babysitter we didn't already know and have a high level of trust in.

[Subhuti]

The girls I've used have been very experienced so I didn't need to spell out the basics. I ask them to limit the video usage. Not to leave the kids alone. To keep the front and back door closed.

[LittleBlessings]

Thank you all the great advise

[BarnMomma]

Some requests I have for a babysitter:

-Engage with my child. do arts and crafts, play, read, DO something.

-Keep your calm always. I feel that I am paying you not to lose your temper.

-Encourage cleaning up with my child and try your best to stay on top of things so I don't come home to a disaster.

-No friends, bf's, phone, TV, or texting.

-Never ever answer the door or allow anyone in the house... I don't care WHO they say they are. You can always call and verify with me if I was expecting someone before you answer or let them in.

-Have a plan in mind in case of an emergency

-Give lots of love and cuddles

[phathui5]

What sort of time frame will they be watching them for? After school? All day? A couple hours?

My rules would depend on how long they were here.

[emilysmama]

My rules are a little different because I have my babysitter meet me on site and she and my child are in the same building, albeit out of my sight, for two hours. Sometimes my sitters have been as young as 12 years old, which is fine for me, because I am right there.

1. Stick to my child like glue. If my child roams all over the huge building, then get up and follow her.
2. No cell phone, except to her parents or to me.
3. No MP3 player/headphones (music)
4. No teenage friends.
5. No TV, use distraction strategies to entice child away from TV. (Hasn't been a problem for the babysitter.)
6. No texting.
7. Come get me if there is anything at all you are worried or uncertain about, and don't worry about interrupting me. (Hasn't happened yet.)

[mistymama]

I think it really depends on the age of the child, and how well you know the babysitter. I didn't use any for my son until he was old enough to talk (and report back to me!) .. so the main thing I stressed was that I'm paying her to have fun with him, I want him to look forward to her visits. Worked well - he begs for her to come "babysit" him.

[LittleBlessings]

Originally Posted by phathui5

What sort of time frame will they be watching them for? After school? All day? A couple hours?

My rules would depend on how long they were here.

2-4 hours

[peaceful_mama]

for 2-4 hours with my kids, I would ask that they not watch TV the ENTIRE time preferably. (with all day I'd put some sort of time-limit on it, with a rainy-day popcorn and movie exemption)

With mine...I think I'd limit the available arts and crafts with a sitter to their crayons and paper. *I* have a hard time playing with them and keeping 18 mo. old away from scissors and glue, I wouldn't put that job onto somebody else. Probably playdoh. Not paints. That always requires a bath with my 18 mo. old.

I would *not* expect the sitter to cook, clean other than basically pick up any mess they make, or bathe the kids. I'd be paying this person to interact with my children, and since i have 3 active kids 5 and under, again *I* have a hard enough time with cooking especially and keeping the baby away from me and the stove.

Oh and you go where the kids go, and all 3 kids go where you go---so, for example, if I had a sitter in the afternoon while DS2 was asleep, I would want the sitter and other 2 kids to stay occupied in the house, not outside. (it's not a fenced-in yard near a house where a baby monitor would work) No leaving DS1 in watching TV or playing computer while you take the other 2 out. Stuff like that.

oh and all the standard no friends (unless I know them too like somebody said previously) boyfriends, texting, phone calls, etc. you can live without phoning a friend for a few hours, and wouldn't be able to do that if you worked say in a daycare center instead of just for me.