| Babysitter Guidelines: |
 Safety
issues to consider when starting a babysitting service:
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You have just signed up with Phone
a Babysitter.com and you are starting to receive numerous
inquires from parents who are interested in your babysitting
services.
This is great!!! Your new business is
off to a terrific start. Now before accepting any of these
jobs, you should think about what you are capable of handling
and the type of services you would like to offer. Following
are some valuable tips to help you make this decision, while
keeping the safety of yourself and their children first in
mind. At the bottom of this page you will also have the opportunity
to print or download the first of four forms which we suggest
you incorporate into your babysitting business.
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Establishing your capabilities:
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| Who
will you babysit for? |
| As you can well
imagine, the challenges of babysitting a 6-month-old baby will
be quite different from babysitting a child who is 8 years old.
Your first step will be to determine what is the minimum age
child you are capable of babysitting. If you are new to babysitting,
or under the age of 18, we strongly suggest you speak with your
parents and make this decision together. Ideally, the younger
you are, the older the child must be. As you get older and gain
experience, you can always readjust this age. |
| How
many children can you babysit at one time? |
| You can only be
in one place at a time; the more children you are required to
baby-sit, the greater your responsibility becomes. While babysitting,
you always need to know exactly what the kids are up to to ensure
their safety. If the kids are older, you may be able to increase
this number, as they are likely more independent and require
a lower level of supervision. Watching a group of kids who won't
back away from playing a video game, presents fewer problems
than a child who has just learned to walk and won't sit down
for more than a few minutes. You also need to make it clear
to the parents, that you will not be responsible for any surprise
guests (such as the kids who live next door). This would add
to your workload and compromise the safety of the children you
have been hired to baby-sit for. |
| Your
transportation requirements: |
| For your safety,
you should always advise the parents your transportation requirements
before accepting a babysitting job. Unless other arrangements
have been made, make it clear to them you must be picked up
and escorted home, even if it is only a few short blocks away.
If you have use of a vehicle, ask the parents to walk you to
your car. In the event that your clients cannot provide you
with a lift home as planned. Ask them to provide you with a
taxi ride home, or call to see if your parents would be available
to pick you up. The most important point is, do not walk home
alone particularly if it's late at night and dark outside. If
need be, pay for the taxi ride yourself to make sure you get
home safely. |
| Arranging
to meet your new clients: |
The
e-mail's from parents who viewed your babysitter web page are
continuing to pile up and it is time to start replying to their
inquiries. You should suggest to the parents a get together
meeting to become acquainted with one another, would be a great
first step. This way! You have a chance to meet the parents
and discuss the services you have to offer. When they see that
you have come armed with a list of topics to discuss, as well
as the printed forms from the Safety First Program, they will
certainly be impressed with your approach and feel more confident
about hiring you.
We strongly suggest you have at least one of your parents accompany
you when meeting your potential new clients for the first time.
This way they will have the chance to meet each other and you
will feel more secure and comfortable, during the initial meeting.
If you are an adult babysitter, precautions should still be
taken by ensuring there are children in the home of the person
you are speaking with. |
| Does
this conclude the safety tips for babysitters? |
| No I am afraid not!
There are numerous safety concerns to be considered while on
the job which we will address on upcoming pages. But to this
point, you have considered a number of significant safety issues
including, |
What
age must the children be for you to baby-sit.
What is the maximum number of children you are capable of handling.
How to safely meet new clients for the first time.
How to get yourself to and from your babysitting jobs safely.
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Well then what is on the form ?
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On our first form, we have detailed a number of tips and suggestions
you can use to prepare yourself for your first get together
meeting with the parents. You can print this form by clicking
on the link below. If the form does not open within 60 seconds,
then you may not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your
computer. If this is the case, click on the icon below to get
your free copy.
Once your have printed our
first form, click your browsers back button to return to
this page and click on the link below, to reach our second
form and more valuable safety tips. |
| See you there!!!! |
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a Babysitter.com |
