My life's dream has always been to be a mother with lots of children. When I was younger you often found me hanging out with the adults rather than playing with the kids as the babies were always with the adults and I LOVED to be with the babies. I am sure that my hanging around was completely annoying to the adults, but they were always kind and let me play and take care of their wee little ones. As I became a tween I started babysitting and I loved it! I mostly babysat for my Aunts when I first started, but I quickly found my entrepreneurial spirit and started putting flyer's into my neighbours mailboxes introducing my services as the
responsible neighbourhood babysitter. I did take a baby sitting course, but mostly being a babysitter came naturally to me. As I got older I babysat more and more...I actually had very few free weekends as I was a babysitting machine and I loved it. I loved the kids, I loved the parents and I loved the money! I took babysitting very seriously and perfected my job, no one told me to, I just did the very best I could. One of the things that always seemed "part of the job" was to leave the house cleaner when I left than when I got there. Dishes were always done, even if I did not dirty them and toys were picked up and put away. Yes, this often cut into my TV watching once kids had gone to bed, but the house was tidy. If a house was always a disaster whenever I came, I would just do the best I could, but I always cleaned up any messes I and the children would make. Now I always thought that this is what every babysitter did...so if you babysat please let me know if I am wrong about this.
Fast forward 20 years...I am now a Mother of 3 who has a need for a babysitter occasionally. We have had a quite a few sitters over the years and we definitely have our favourites. But one common trend that I have found is that very few of the sitters we have had, clean up after the children or themselves. I do not expect my house to be super clean especially since it is rarely sort of clean when I leave for the night or day. But just a common courtesy of just stacking the dishes, cleaning up toys, cleaning up major messes that the children make...might be nice. Now before I go on..I have a couple of sitters that we use often and I never have these issues when they baby sit..they are wonderful and my kids adore them. But occasionally my mighty reliable sitters are busy and I will call someone else and then we have a problem.
Am I expecting too much? Do I need to be specific and tell them what I expect? Is going the extra mile a thing of the past? All I know is that my daughter and son's will all know what it means to go the extra mile in any job and to give 110% rather than just what is simply required.
It makes me sad that people are so willing to just be mediocre and not go above and beyond as it is amazing to see what we can accomplish if we just give a little extra. So here is some advice from me... to girls who are starting to babysit...go the extra mile, take the time to tidy up even if you did not make the mess, get the kids involved and you will not only feel good, but so will the Mother of the children you babysat and you will get called back again. And to my mighty reliable sitters, thank you for going above and beyond and taking such good care of my little ones, I love you!!!!!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Going the extra mile.......
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10 comments:
I did the same as you when I was younger and I expect it from MY babysitters. Seriously, maybe it's just me, but nowadays I swear they've gotten more expensive and lazier!
BTW totally off topic.....is Cal's mom in White Rock ward? Some lady that I swear could be his mom and had the same last name was talking in Sunday School and I just found her so cute....and inspiring. If it was her, then you've got a great MIL.....if not, then at least someone in the world does!
I always cleaned up any mess the kids I made when I babysat. And if I had time, I would straighten up the rest of the house too. I had a couple of families that used me all the time. I didn't do too much babysitting though since I also did laundry and front desk at the motel.
I'm with you, Amanda. I always cleaned up after myself and the children I babysit in addition to general tidying. Often times I was expected to cook dinner and clean up and I just thought that was how it was. We have never had to hire a babysitter that wasn't family so I haven't had this experience as often they were left with my parents or sister and now with my sister-in-law.
I've noticed the attitude of this generation is very different...not just in babysitting...customer service type jobs as well. Maybe I just hold my children to a higher expectation just like my parents did. Austin babysits Kennedy now and he does a great job picking up before we get back. I would expect the same from her and would actually be disappointed if when she is old enough to babysit, she failed to do this.
I did the same as a babysitter and there is nothing worse than going out for a date and returning home to a completely destroyed house. Like I feel like doing the dishes in the middle of the night! At least rinse them off and put the food away, c'mon!
I totally did all of those things, too, but I agree - I feel like a lot of kids are lazier and just more expensive :) BUT, we've only ever hired a sitter once (one of my old piano students who I've known for years) and they cleaned the kitchen while we were gone, and so we got to come home to a clean kitchen, sleeping baby, and a babysitter actually doing homework. A nice surprise, since we totally didn't expect it :)
I just had this very same conversation a few days ago with a friend of mine! It was as though I was looking in a mirror reading your post!
Everyone's hit it on the head!
Babysitters nowadays for the most part are more expensive and are indeed lazier!
I remember having to make dinners, do homework, bath and do bedtime routines for the children I babysat, and you always left the house cleaner than it was when you arrived. That's just the way it was!...and I never questioned or asked for a certain amount of money! I just took what I got and went on my way!
Maybe, our wards YM/YW's activities need to have "a blast to the past" for an act. night!
Oh well, I guess we'll just have to stick with our fav. sitters and pray that they're always available for us!
I'm so glad everyone out there pretty much agrees. I never said how much I "charged"...EVER....cause there was no charge. I got whatever they gave me. I made the mistake of asking one babysitter how much she charged (cause it seems here they have a price) and she said 7 bucks! For my two kids, who were going to be in bed half the time. I made the mistake of asking her after I agreed to have her babysit. I made dinner and she didn't even put away the leftovers! I mean c'mon! My kids barely ate any of it and she didn't eat any, so the leftovers were a waste!
Ugh! Anyways this just stirred up memories and I had to vent. I hope I can find a great babysitter soon, cause this bad experience ruined it for me!
Oh how I wish it could be like it was back in the day! Ladies, make sure you teach your daughters well, so they won't be someone's worst nightmare, when they babysit in the future.
Hi Amanda,
Stopping by to say hi and was thinking of you.
gosh i miss jenna mattie...
good babysitters are hard to come by. you almost have to poach on the young and train them up to what you expect. not that i leave a dirty house for my babysitter, but tidy is good. we've only had a few problems and not since we've moved wards for sure! but before we did move i came home to the babysitter watching tv and mateo off playing with something. when i said i'd drive her home she asked if she could finish watching the movie (i hope it occured to her that meant she was off the clock...right?)
i totally remember cleaning...like overly cleaning to the point i would wipe down the fridge and reorganize messy kitchen drawers when i was babysitting (after the children were asleep of course). you'd never want them to not ask you back right?! i babysat for this one family from the time the girl was about 1.5 until we moved when she was 9. they usually didn't come home until after 1am...what else was i supposed to do besides clean!
i agree though - the expectations need to be reviewed. go for it amanda - be the mother we already use as an example and smarten the babysitters up!
ps. is it wrong to unplug your computer when you leave the house? i also wish i could take their cell phone with me. i should try that "uhm, sorry, my cell phone is broken (in the car...), can i borrow yours for the night? just in case we need to get ahold of each other?"
i knew we were the same! i did the same thing as a babysitter... it made me feel good to do that. not sure what is up with babysitters these days... maybe we pay too much and so they don't think of it as 'i need to a good job so i can babysit here again'...
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