Inexpensive Babysitting Ideas

When I was a teen, my major source of income was from babysitting. I had four families I sat for regularly. I loved spending time with the kids and they all treated me like I was a part of their family. When I had children of my own, I had hoped to find a young girl like myself to sit for the kids from time to time. I discovered there were higher paying options for teens and not much interest.

I believe it is healthy to teach children from an early age to trust others to care for them. It is necessary for parents to get away and work on their relationship apart from the kids, but in order to do that, they must also feel comfortable with who is caring from their children while they are away. Here are a few of the ideas I used when my children were young:

• Grandparents or other family members. If you have family near you, it is ideal to be able to take the kids to the grandparent's house. This is often will give a new Mom the most peace of mind. If your parents are like mine, they would be willing to pay you to watch the kids every now and then.
• Mother's day out. When my kids were young, my church offered a Mother's Day Out program. The Moms in the group would take turns babysitting while the rest of the group went for tea or lunch. If there were young teens available, they were recruited to assist with the younger children. Everyone in the group pitched in monetarily to cover snacks and the teen helper's time.
• Babysitting network. I was fortunate, many of my friends were having children at the same time I was. I lived in a military town so most of my friends did not have family to rely on when they wanted to go out. My friends and I would take turns having sleep overs so one night a month I would host the kids and one night a month I was able to have a date night with my husband. This arrangement not only did wonders for my marriage, it also built tight knit friendships for my kids.

When leaving kids with a sitter, it is important to leave proper instructions regarding bedtime, medications and allergies. Before departing review any rules or pertinent information with the sitter in front of the children so there is no misunderstanding of expectation while in the sitter's care.