New Babysitter

We are using a new-to-us babysitter this week as our normal babysitter is out of town. My normal babysitter knows all about Allyssa and David's medicine regimens that she can give them medicine without me even telling her how (although I do, just to make sure!). She knows their bedtime routine so well that I don't have to write a thing down at all. We've been through our babysitter rules with her, so she knows those as well.

Since we're having a new sitter this week, I've been thinking about the things I'll have to tell her.

Some things are normal like medicines and bedtime routines, but somethings might be very different from some of her other jobs.

We have babysitter rules.

We don't allow our sitters to discipline our kids. (Gasp!)

This might seem really weird to some people, but really it is to protect both this sitter and our kids. It isn't the sitter's job to discipline, in our eyes. It is her job to entertain and put to sleep.

Here's how this works in our house:

We tell the sitter: You may tell our children "no" if they do something like hit each other. You may not give time outs, spank, take toys away, or any form of discipline harsher than a "no." You may distract our kids with toys, food, or television. If one of them is throwing a fit and won't be distracted, call us. If you feel like yelling, call us. We will come home for any reason. We're the parents.

We also tell the sitter: Our kids are excited that you are here. They will not be on their best behavior. They are excited and looking forward to your being here and playing with them.

We also tell the sitter: Once the kids are in bed, you may watch TV, read, do homework, use our computer, text, use your phone, etc.... Do not watch anything on the TV or do anything on the computer that your parents would not approve of. It might take Allyssa a little while to fall asleep, up to an hour on some nights. If she comes out more than twice, give us a call, and we'll tell you what to do to make sure that she doesn't come out again.

It might be odd to tell the sitter she can use our computer but she can't discipline our kids, but to us it makes sense. She isn't their mom. Her main roll is simply to make sure that no one gets seriously hurt and to put the kids to bed for us. This is also why our sitters are paid better for our kids' waking hours than when our kids are asleep.

So those our our rules. They might not work for everyone, but they work well for us!