i started babysitting not too long ago this family needed a mother's helper, so i thought WHY CAN"T I TRY? so i did. i didnt know what the average rate/hr was, so i charged 5$. the job was terribly hard, as the little guy was barely 2 years old and loved to scream, run around, throw things and drive me crazy. He asked me to hold him all the time( that was kind of hard, as i am only 14) and if i refused, he would start screaming and would hug my legs and yell UPP UPP. Ohh Gosh. I thought thats the way it was supposed to be, because i didnt have babysitting experience with toddlers before. And the worst part was that for lunch they would give me bread and really cheap juice. I mean, they didn't force me to eat it, but they thought i wouldnt like what they usually ate. Pssh, they didn't even ask me. They used to buy me muffins, but then they must have thought that was a waste of money, and gave me bread. Sometimes with butter tho! aha how cool. Anyway, they went for a vacation for a few months, so i decided to try a new job. I met a few families. The first one was a single mother with two 8 year olds. I charged her 7$. I was so surprised when she told me that she is willing to pay 10$/hr, because she thought 7 was too little. Another family had a 7 year old girl. i babysat her every saturday evening, till 1:00am. It was the easiest job i've ever done! all we did was play games and run around the house. It was kind of hard to put her to sleep tho, but i turned it into a "silent" game, and it worked really well - she would fall asleep right away. And i got paid 8$! wow, i would have done that for free! But those jobs were occasional, and the first family with a 2 year old boy will be coming back pretty soon. I am sure that they will ask me to work every day during the summer. I don't know what i am gonna do! I mean, i think they are just using me as a really cheap babysitter! and their toddler is just terrible! sometimes when we play, he would come to his daddy, make him get out of his office chair, and make me sit there. Then he would make his daddy sit on the flloor. And he would yell and scream and do all kinds of nasty things till we obey. help! what should i do? should i leave that family, or is this normal?
Sweetie, as a mother to a set of toddler twins, I will tell you that yes, this behavior is quite normal. Now granted, my kids don't get away with yelling and bossing my husband or I around, but pretty much everything else you mentioned, sounds like typical toddlerhood.
Did you forget to get your babysitter kit before you started? (1) First aide kit (2) duct tape (3) Rope (4) sleeping bag to stuff the child in to muffle the sounds (5) Sony walkman to listen too Can be bought from (www.bestsitters.com) (if that link acutally goes someplace I would laugh)
I posted about 1-2 weeks ago about the live-in babysitter job I have now. The 2 boys here can be nice on occasion but mostly they are frustrating monsters. $10 an hour...holy cow, wished I got paid that
and I bet u already knew it would...u forgot to add earplugs to your list cuz even if u duct taped the kids mouth they can still make sounds.
I babysit a lot too, and its all about your comfort levels. If you dont enjoy watching the kid, tell the parents "I'm sorry but it's not working out for me" Thats it. They will probably be upset but it's the nature of the business. Especially if you can get more $$ somewhere else. The stress alone of watching a toddler is worth more than $5 an hour in my opinion. if you dont want to do it then dont. It's your choice.
If you don't want to babysit for that first family, just say you're too busy and you can't.... there's no sense in stressing yourself out.
there is actually a reason to keep working for them. even tho they pay little money. it's weekly, and i was able to buy some pretty cool stuff. i just got tired of asking my mom for money for every little thing
