Babysitting with no house phone

esuss

Wed, Jun 07 2017, 8:42 pm

Verizon wireless and AT&T both have a phone service called wireless home phone. For less than $30 a month for a home phone. They give you a small black box that any wired or cordless phone could be plugged in. There is a rechargeable backup battery in it so it can be used during a blackout.
This is the cheapest way of having a home phone that I can think of. No installation required. Unlimited minutes no long distance charges. I just don't know about international calls.

saw50st8

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 7:33 am

We keep our landline because I think it's really important to have a phone in the house. I would not let my daughter babysit without one. Can she buy a pre-paid if this is going to be a recurring problem? Or, don't have her babysit at people without a phone.

Simple1

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 7:57 am

I have teens. It's funny I never thought of asking if there's a phone; I more like assumed there would be.

For those who suggested, no, I would never get for an extra phone just for that purpose, why should I have to pay for that? Then again they're not that serious about babysitting, just do it if they happen to get called.

dancingqueen

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 10:28 am

Simple1 wrote:

But aren't there other occasions where you'd want your teens to have a phone for safety purposes such as when they're driving etc?

observer

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 10:37 am

As a mother of young children, I would not feel comfortable or safe leaving a babysitter with no phone while I am out.

I would either leave a phone or if I did not have any landline phone and couldn't leave my phone, I would only hire an older girl who has her own phone.

HonesttoGod

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 10:40 am

We don't have babysitters often so we don't see the need for a landline.
That said on the rare occasion that we do have a babysitter and she doesn't have a phone, one of us leave our phone at home for her to use and we give her the unlock code.

But again its not often as there aren't many teens in our area that babysit.

smile12345

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 10:48 am

observer wrote:

As a mother of young children, I would not feel comfortable or safe leaving a babysitter with no phone while I am out.
.

This.
I honestly can't comprehend anyone who would be okay otherwise. Aside from the fact that the babysitter needs to have a way to call even if just for the fact that the baby is screaming and she can't calm him down, do most people not call the babysitter to check in and make sure that everything is okay?

Simple1

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 6:36 pm

dancingqueen wrote:

But aren't there other occasions where you'd want your teens to have a phone for safety purposes such as when they're driving etc?

The older teens usually do have phones (at least among my daughters and their friends.)

DREAMING

Thu, Jun 08 2017, 9:45 pm

Chayalle wrote:

I'm not sure where to post this so I'm putting it in the teenagers forum, because I'm really coming from the perspective of parenting a teen. However, you can look at this from the perspective of a parent hiring a babysitter.

Do you think it's safe to allow your teen to babysit children, in a house that has no phone?

If not, would you give your teen your cell phone for the evening, so that she can babysit for someone else?

I live in a community where the high schools do not allow their students to have their own cell phone - some not at all, some not until 12th grade. My 16 year old does not have her own phone, and I don't feel comfortable with her being in a house with no phone - what if there's an emergency? I also don't like giving up my phone for the evening. I'm considering telling her she cannot accept babysitting jobs at homes with no phone.

As a parent of young children, would you be okay with leaving your kids with a sitter with no phone? Why would you consider that safe? Whose responsibility would you think it is to provide a phone - yours or the sitters?

I'm interested in hearing your response. TIA!

I wouldn't leave a sitter to watch my kids with no home or cell phone. I wouldn't allow my child to babysit in a home without a phone