You Pinspire Me
I’m going to just come right out and say that I was an amazing babysitter. I’m not just saying that – I really was genuinely awesome. Families fought over me for New Years. They paid me to come to weddings & sit in hotel rooms to watch TV & monitor the napping baby. They bestowed upon me one of their two cars for a week at a time so that I could pick up the kids from their school after my highschool classes were finished & bring them home. I was pretty much a superstar, and I owe most of it to the Great Babysitting Tip (or the Golden Rule of Babysitting) that my mom instilled in me. We’ll get to that in a minute.
Some of this had to do with the fact that I was just about the most predictable teenager in the world. I didn’t have a boyfriend until my 2nd year of university. I didn’t drink. I didn’t smoke. I didn’t hang out with unsavory characters. I went to church. I was a leader at Youth Group. I volunteered as a Sunday School Teacher, I led the crafts table at Vacation Bible School, and I was a regular attendant in the church nursery. I worked part time at a fast food joint and saved my money for university. I played the lead role in the school drama production every year. I got straight A’s in English (& straight C’s in Math) every year. I knitted, I painted, I read. I pined after boys who pined after my best friend. I sang in the (tiny) school choir. I either rented a movie or went rollerblading with my best friend every Friday night in grade 11 & 12. [I sound like a real hoot, huh? I actually was. Predictable girls can be very fun, don’t let any of them fool you!]
The picture of the perfect babysitter. 😉
Of course, I took what I learned as a leader in VBS, Sunday School, & the nursery and applied it to babysitting. Consistency, Creativity, Music, & a touch of spoilage make very happy children. Happy children make happy parents which, in turn, means more babysitting for this girl!
However. Do you know what thrilled the parents every time that I came over? Follow-through from a simple lesson that my mom taught me: Always leave their house cleaner than when you arrived. NO, babysitters aren’t maids, but you know what’s better than coming home to a quiet house full of sleeping children after a night out? Coming home to a quiet clean house full of sleeping children and NO DISHES ON THE COUNTER. NO LAUNDRY IN THE HALLWAY. NO BOOKS ON THE FLOOR, NO TOYS TO TRIP OVER.
I swept, I vacuumed, I loaded the dishwasher, I had the kids help me clean up the toys, I straightened the couch, I wiped the table, I stacked the newspapers – all of which took me about 30 minutes. (I never once cleaned a bathroom or scrubbed baseboards – there are limits, people.)
Guess what? Babysitters don’t tidy up anymore – not unless you outright ask them to. I don’t think that every babysitter did that when I was young, but I’m pretty sure that the majority of us did. I have not had a SINGLE babysitter in the last 3 years who has cleaned up after the kids have gone to bed. Toys everywhere. Supper dishes (that were created in our absence) piled on the table or the counter. It’s not because we don’t pay them enough – we are very generous with our sitters (they could make more at a minimum wage job, but just barely).
I don’t blame the sitters for this – no teenager in their right mind would rather clean up someone else’s mess than sit down to watch the latest SYTYCD. No, I blame the mothers. Mothers, just because your children are Millennials doesn’t mean that they aren’t capable of taking initiative! Lay down the law, tell them that this is how the world works, this is how they impress people, this is how they get ahead! I got glowing recommendations from the people that I babysat for. One of the dads still talks about my mad babysitting skillz to my mom (he happens to be her investments broker). I got a job – before I left for university they hired me for a summer of nannying because I was so awesome.
I never once babysat for someone who listed “clean up the kitchen & sweep the floors” on the babysitting to-do list. Not one parent ever asked me to lift a finger once the kids were in bed. It’s a sign of good faith and it’s just a nice thing to do! Mothers, I’m counting on YOU to tell your children to go above and beyond – to get into the habit of doing things that aren’t required & have no visible returns – people will love you and remember you for it!
Jenn vanOosten
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I couldn’t agree with you more!
Amen, sister!