Baby Safety Zone - Evaluating Babysitters

Evaluating Babysitters

Today's topic on Crib Talk is evaluating babysitters.

Who's Qualified?

Hi folks, Baby Carter here again with another episode of Crib Talk. Today we're going to talk about evaluating babysitters. Now, most of you think your parents are overprotective. That's good to a certain point, but boy will it ever get annoying when we're older! My parents are a prime example. Recently, my Aunt Julie was in town for the holidays. Her friend Lisa had to babysit her niece Morgan (who, incidentally, is only two months older than me) so she asked dad if she could pick me up from Lynn's (my regular babysitter) so she and Lisa could get caught up and Morgan and I could play. Aunt Julie had grandma's car, so she had a car seat for me, and she's got experience babysitting babies younger than me. But dad said no. Apparently he thinks that just because Aunt Julie doesn't have any kids of her own that she's incapable of taking care of me when grandma or him or mom aren't in the same house. Forget the fact that her friend Lisa was going to be there too. (Lisa has three kids of her own.) Aunt Julie has provided good child care in the past for babies younger than me. I don't know why dad had to freak out. Now Aunt Julie's feelings are hurt. Dad told grandma that he was just worried that Aunt Julie wouldn't know what to do if I choked on something. But I'm not really sure that dad would even know what to do then! Aunt Julie wouldn't let me put anything in my mouth that would make me choke anyway. All she needed to know is what I eat and when, and when I'm supposed to take a nap. (Between doing the show and basic growing, I get tired.) She knows how to handle everything else. Besides, it was only going to be for a few hours!

There's nothing wrong with making sure that whoever is watching you is taking good care of you. But I would bet that Aunt Julie would have done a better job than dad's friend's friend who was a babysitter. He didn't even know her! He just thought she was more qualified to watch me for a whole day than Aunt Julie (who loves me) was to watch me for a few hours. I guess that's just dad's way of evaluating day care. Oh well. Whatever dad! He even thinks grandma doesn't take good care of me. But she finally told dad, "I raised you and you're still alive!"

Okay, sorry. I was off on a tangent there. Anyway, some people place a hidden camera in their house to monitor a new babysitter. This way they know if their child is getting good care or not. If the tape reveals that the child isn't getting good care, that babysitter is never invited back. But if the tape reveals excellent child care, bingo! We have a winner!

Other than that, there are very few ways to identify a bad sitter. One time Aunt Julie had to pick up her other niece and nephew from a babysitter's house. Her nephew was 4, but her niece was only 6 months old, and she had to put the car seat in the back seat of her car (back then she had a sports car too--not an easy task). The babysitter didn't ask who she was, she just assumed that Aunt Julie was the aunt who was supposed to pick the kids up. And her niece smelled like she needed a diaper change, but the sitter didn't do it. It turned out that her niece was just gassy, but Aunt Julie changed her diaper anyway. It wasn't too long after that when there was yet another incident that prompted Aunt Julie's sister-in-law to stop taking the kids there. Usually the signs aren't anything tangible, it's just mother's intuition. That's usually the best indication that something's wrong. Trust it.

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