For those of you who babysit at home?

amother

Sat, Mar 03 2012, 10:19 pm

I need to make some extra money and I was thinking of babysitting at home. I have my own kids too, one of which goes to school. However, my question to those of you who do this, what do you do with your own kid when they are sick? Obviously you keep them home, but what do you do about not getting the other babies that you babysit for sick? Do you tell the Mom's or is it just understood that if your child is sick, they will stay home and you just try not to keep them near the kids that are being babysat?

amother

Sat, Mar 03 2012, 11:32 pm

my situation is a little diffferent, because I run a playgroup, not a daycare/babysitting, but I gueess its the same idea. this is what I do: my playgroup is in my basement. if my child who is sick is old enough to stay upstairs in bedroom/living room with me doing quick frequent checks on them, then they have to stay upstairs,.I set them up with drinks, tylenol, comfy bedding, books etc, but it is still a bit hard on them. this works for age 7 and up very well. for my five year old not well at all. so ,,if the sick child is one of my younger ones, age 5 or younger, I get a substitute for my playgroup. it is not easy finding a sub and I have to pay them a significnat amount. the amount I have had to pay over the years of my experience is between 12 and 15 dollars an hour. having a sub is not easy on my playgroup kids.
the reason why I think my situation is different than yours is because my kids are old enough to handle it usually with a sub,, but if you are babysitting younger kids then it is very hard for them and some mothers may not want that and may prefer to make alternative arrangerment.
I have a friend who babysits and she cancels her babysittling if her kids are sick...
you have to do what works best for you, but at least here are some of my thoughts on the matter. hope that helps

amother

Sat, Mar 03 2012, 11:36 pm

amother wrote:

my situation is a little diffferent, because I run a playgroup, not a daycare/babysitting, but I gueess its the same idea. this is what I do: my playgroup is in my basement. if my child who is sick is old enough to stay upstairs in bedroom/living room with me doing quick frequent checks on them, then they have to stay upstairs,.I set them up with drinks, tylenol, comfy bedding, books etc, but it is still a bit hard on them. this works for age 7 and up very well. for my five year old not well at all. so ,,if the sick child is one of my younger ones, age 5 or younger, I get a substitute for my playgroup. it is not easy finding a sub and I have to pay them a significnat amount. the amount I have had to pay over the years of my experience is between 12 and 15 dollars an hour. having a sub is not easy on my playgroup kids.
the reason why I think my situation is different than yours is because my kids are old enough to handle it usually with a sub,, but if you are babysitting younger kids then it is very hard for them and some mothers may not want that and may prefer to make alternative arrangerment.
I have a friend who babysits and she cancels her babysittling if her kids are sick...you have to do what works best for you, but at least here are some of my thoughts on the matter. hope that helps

When you say she cancels her babysitting, what do the other mothers who send their kids to her do? Moms who work rely on their babysitters. I wanna ask the potential Moms who are gonna send their kids to me to have a backup plan in case my child is sick, but will that make them not as interested to send their kids to me if they have to have a backup plan...?

amother

Sat, Mar 03 2012, 11:40 pm

what happens when she cancels her babysitting is a good question. from what I remember here telling me, it depends on the parents, for example, x sends her baby to her mother in law and y can always fall back on her friend,and z has a really understanding boss , he lets her come in late with the baby just in time for the baby to fall asleep in her quiet office for her nap time.
so basically, it is definitely not ideal. it is better if YOU have a backup plan, like a kind neighbor or friend who could take over for you if necessary.
I would also worry about putting potential parents off.
lets wait and see what other posters have to say about this! hopefully you will get some responses from posters who d o babsitting

amother

Sat, Mar 03 2012, 11:44 pm

amother wrote:

That's a good idea. Now, my next question is, if I got someone to be my backup, would you (as parent sending your kids to a babysitter) be upset if the sick child was in the same house as ur kids. Meaning, if I got someone to cover my babysitting so I could tend to my sick child and keep that child away from the other kids, do you think parents would be okay with that? I wanna get people's general input here... thanx

amother

Sat, Mar 03 2012, 11:45 pm

I send my daughter to a babysitter and don't really have a back-up plan should my babysitter not work out.

That being said, emergencies happen-- I guess if it's not too often, what could you do?

Instead of hiring someone to sub for you in babysitting, can you hire someone to be with your sick kid, or is that totally off the wall? Confused

amother

Sat, Mar 03 2012, 11:46 pm

amother wrote:

I dont see how anyone would be interested in taking care of my sick child, and possibly exposing themself to that child's germs. Also, when my child is sick, they want Mommy, not some random person, ya know?

Sleep

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 12:29 am

I rely on my babysitter, and don't have a real backup plan. So far, my babysitter has always found a sub, when she had a sick kid. She stays with the sick child in a different part of the house, and is available if the sub is having a hard time. In this way, she is there, but not really touching the babies, and can take care of her own child too.

amother

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 12:34 am

Sleep wrote:

Thanx, I think this is what I may do.

amother

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 1:04 am

I work out with other babysitting groups to have the kids come to them. Honestly I feel terrible when this happens because kids need consistency . Also sometimes my baby wakes up in the morning sick or in middle of the night so all the arrangements are last minute.

The best I assume would be to have a sub come in to your home to take over you. In my situation it's a bit harder because my apartment is really small.

RachelEve14

Sun, Mar 04 2012, 1:12 am

When one of my kids is sick, dh takes over. I also have a very kind single neighbor who loves my kids as her own, and if she is free she will stay with my sick one. I wouldn't do this (ask the neighbor) if the child was vomiting or something really awful, but for a standard virus, low fever, yes. My girls bli ayan hara have not been sick this year. I don't know if I would need someone else in the house for them, but ds for sure can't be on his own.

I have an upstairs where my group is, and a downstairs where my sick one can be. If I am sick, or if one of the kids is so sick I really need to take off, there is a system where the daycare kids are spread out amongst other babysitters, each taking one. It's not ideal, but what can you do? People do get sick every so often.

FranticFrummie

Wed, May 08 2019, 6:33 am

I tell all of my moms to always have a backup, and if I know of someone who is looking for a full time babysitter, I suggest they keep me in mind as a backup.

I'm not interested in being a full time carer, but I can often take in last minute kids (at an extra charge.)

When I was living in the US, I was super popular in my neighborhood, because things always come up, and they knew I didn't mind jumping in to help.

The advantage of me not having a social life, LOL. Wink

amother

Brunette

Wed, May 08 2019, 6:49 am

Lol! I actually don't mind when these threads are bumped up. It's interesting to see how much has changed between then and now.

Reading the thread has reminded me of when my mom did babysitting. We were old enough to keep away from the babies when we were home sick. And then when I had my first baby my mom insisted I stay by her for a little and babysat the entire time. My then baby was near her kids but I isolated her if anyone was sick.
Now with the measles and other illnesses I would totally have stayed home and told mom either me or them.