I think that the most important thing about babysitting is the attitude you bring into it. If you are thinking of it as just a way to supplement your income and nothing more, you will end up having a more difficult time. I’ve had friends who had this mind set and they came away with a negative experience. When you are close-minded, you have less of a tolerance for anything unfavorable that may come your way. As an experienced (and happy) babysitter, I am here to say that you can get a lot of satisfaction from babysitting jobs if you just have the right outlook.

Babysitting jobs don’t offer the most lucrative or competitive income. Most people who babysit don’t make more than $15 an hour and depending on the family, you may end up working only three days a week. You should know all of this before you go into it. Otherwise, you end up bitter and resentful when your employer doesn’t pay you the desired amount.

My advice to potential babysitters is to look at it as a learning experience–something that will open up doors over the horizon. If you want to have children in the future, you will learn so much from just watching someone else’s child. Sometimes they are unbelievably cute and clever; sometimes they are annoying and insufferable. Just like how people have good and bad days, children have a right to have their bad days as well. Just be patient with them and you will discover that they are a well of inspiration. I was fortunate enough to babysit a young girl the other day who is incredibly bright and she helpfully taught me how to navigate the Internet in an efficient manner. She showed me a lot of potential free babysitting games.  She even gave me a list of links to sites (mostly child educational) she visits regularly so that I could have some resources to turn to when I need them.

Ultimately, babysitting jobs can be amazingly rewarding when you see things through a more positive light rather than just focusing on the monetary incentives. The bigger picture will show you that the lessons you learn while babysitting are worth more than you will get paid.

As a male nanny–a "manny" as they have cleverly labeled it in the child care industry–there are many stigmas working against me. For one, being a nanny has been a field dominated by women. Historically and presently, there are a significantly higher number of female nannies than male in the nanny world. Secondly, there are stereotypes associated with the gender roles that we play and how unnnatural it appears when a man, the person who essentially should be out hunting and gathering, is there in your living room, rearing your child and playing babysitting games.

Ironically, it is the male nanny that faces sexual discrimination in the workplace. I’ve had many parents contact me for a meeting and upon seeing, find out that I’m not the "best fit" for them. If by best fit, they mean a bosom and a soft voice, I suppose I wouldn’t be. It’s discouraging and although I can undersand that we have to face more intensive screenings for safety reasons, I wish that male nannies received more respect when looking for a sitter nanny job.

Contrary to popular belief, being a male nanny has nothing to do with sexual orientation and everything to do with responsibility and a love of children. How come women are allowed to like taking care of children while men are resigned to the more detached roles? I feel there is an inherent injustice in not only the way that existing male nannies are treated but also a distinct opposition to more men entering the field of nannies. All I ask is that we be seen on an equal plane as women are without any double standads.

As an underpaid babysitter, I am already in a financial rut. In this hostile economic climate, I am in even more distress. When the Miltons asked me to babysit for Rose–their adorable four year old daughter–I, for the first time, felt the slightest bit hesitant. The Miltons are a good family and have always treated me well but even they are having problems. They couldn’t afford to pay me as much as they used to and I accepted this pay cut because it’s always better to get paid something than nothing, right? I took my initial qualms and turned it into a challenge. How can I help take care of Rose in a way that would save both the Miltons and me money?

One major step I had to take was to stop taking Rose out to expensive locales. No more weekend trips to the amusement park or museum. At least not until things get better, I knew I had to find resourceful ways to have fun. As I was thinking of some free babysitting games, I came up with some cool craft ideas that kids often do in their classroom. I had her cut out some snowflakes to string them together and we both even learned how to make play-dough animals. Not only was it incredibly enjoyable, I was preparing her for the basics of kindergarten.

Later, instead of sitting her in front of the television, I took her out to the local park which is basically like a vast land of free babysitting games. We played “I Spy” and “Hide-and-Seek.” The best part about it is that we were able to venture out and take advantage of the beautiful sunshine. As we were lying down on our picnic blanket under the fresh and breezy warmth, I asked Rose what she thought about all these free babysitting games and she responded, “I love it–I wish we could do this everyday!”

My husband and I are going on a much-needed vacation to Barbados for only four days but we can’t bring our seven-year old son since this is a romantic getaway my husband prepared. Trust me–I asked. That leaves me with the tricky task of finding a proper caretaker for Jonathan. He is not an especially difficult child but he can get unruly from time to time. As a typical seven-year old who has an acute selective hearing problem, he does what he wants. This is why I want someone who will not only understand him but someone who would be able to communicate with him in an effective manner. Here is a list of considerations for this coveted babysitting job:

Grandma Olive
My husband’s mother–my mother-in-law–seems to be the clearest choice. She lives ten minutes away from us and she has taken care of Jonathan before. She has two small dogs whom Jonathan likes to play with. She would be the perfect pick were it not for the fact that she is mildly senile. She can’t hear very well, has a deplorable memory and once accidentally fed Jonathan dog food thinking it was cereal. Bless her heart but we will probably only pick Grandma Olive as a very last resort.

Uncle Ryan
My younger brother, Ryan, is eighteen years old. He is actually quite mature for his age and he has also taken up the babysitting job of looking after Jonathan before. The only thing is that, as a doting uncle, he likes to spoil my son too much. He will allow him to play video games until midnight and feed him pizza and candy. I don’t think my kid an handle more sugar and behave well.

Laura
Laura is our local dependable babysitter. She is always up for a good babysitting job and even though, secretly, I’m sure she thinks Jonathan is a handful–she will do anything to earn that extra income. She has been trained properly and treats my son like a mature person rather than a rambling child. If her schedule allows, I would love her to take care of him while we’re gone.

Although it is relatively rare nowadays, baby sitting flyers have always been a good way to market yourself as a babysitter. With the vastly transforming Internet and its online capabilities, people don’t feel the need to leave their houses to advertise their services anymore. Still, there is something refreshing about seeing young people go out and physically reach out to others. Here are some tips on how to craft effective baby sitting flyers so you can help people search for babysitters, especially you:

-Make your name the focal point. You want people to recognize and remember it because you are essentially your own brand.

-List your qualifications in a clear and succinct manner. People usually gloss over big blocks of text so try to make them into bullet points.

-Determine your rates and include it on your flyer. When parents know what to expect, they are more likely to choose you.

-Design your flyer so that it’s both attractive and easy to read. Too many graphics and weird text may distract the viewer from the bulk of your message. When in doubt, keep it simple.

-Remember to add your contact information. You can include them on tabs on the bottom of your flyer so that passerbys who are too busy to jot your number down can just rip off a tab and save it in their purses to call you later.

-Finally, proofread your baby sitting flyers and if you want, print out a test copy so that you‘re positive that it looks correct and professional.

With the plethora of online based babysitting search engines and companies, I have come upon many that are excellent and many that don’t live up to my standards of how a babysitting networking site should be. Recently on the request of a friend, I have decided to try out Sitter City, a subscription-only web site, and offer up my review of its nanny services and my experience with them.

The startup rate to join Sitter City is around $40 and afterwards, $10 a month to maintain the subscription. If you choose to opt for the annual plan, you can save two dollars a month and will be billed at the end of your year. After some research, I’ve found that Sitter City’s costs aren’t that different from other babysitting networkers. For the extensive services that they offer, it is actually a bargain.

At Sitter City, there are more than 150,000 sitters who all go through background checks and are willing to provide you with the information you need. Their search engine is extremely easy to navigate through and I made a sample search for babysitters in my area by simply typing in my zip code. A total of 2,285 sitters turned up–their approximate distance away from my house specified in the upper right hand corner of their boxes. Once I clicked on their profiles, more specific information was revealed such as a brief bio, references, work experience, skills and certifications and job preferences. You can refine your search according to what you find most important.

I picked a sitter that lived about five miles from my home. I had corresponded with her through e-mail to ask her additional questions although most of them were already answered on Sitter City. When she came, she was pretty much what I expected in a babysitter. She was exceedingly nice to my kids and according to my 5-yr old afterwards, she was like "a younger and funnier Mary Poppins". If any kind of review, it’s that of your own child that says the most. I definitely recommend Sitter City as a source for your babysitter search.