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the kids i babysit never listen to me
hey,
i babysit these four kids and they never listen to me. what should i do? fromhelpless
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Want to answer more questions in the Domesticity category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Babysitting?
The age of the children you baby sit for determines how you handle them. In a manner of speaking you have to get to them at their age level. Another thing to remember is that to a child a baby sister is like a substitute teacher in school they are, regardless of their age, going to test your limits.
If you do not know these children from the neighborhood you have to tell them upfront what your limits are, again in a manner of speaking. You tell them what your instructions are from their parents and you expect them to obey and what will happen if they do not.
An example of telling them what your limits are would be and this works for all age limits. If their bedtime is 8 o'clock you could tell them if they're good you might let them stay up a bit longer to watch a TV program. If they are not good they could end up in bed earlier than their normal bedtime. Why because their parent left you in charge. The same would be true if say one of the children is suppose to complete their homework before any TV. Reward for completing the task without you having to stand over them.
Have some things you can do with them. Arts and craft projects are always a good way to keep them busy and out of trouble. Where they are under your direct supervision as well.
The main thing for you is to realize that they know you are not mommy and they are going to test you. This is what children do, all children regardless of age. Your job is to be a tower of firmness, especially if this is the first time you are sitting with them. They have to learn you are in charge while mom and dad are away. That means you give time outs, you take away favorite toys and you take away TV and computer time. That is how parents punish wrongdoing. What you don't do is hit them or spank them.
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Even if kids listen to their own parents, they will always try to get away with things try to be bad with a babysitter to see what you'll allow them to get away with. I got that often with a new client. The first time would be awful the second time better.
Even two year olds can figure this out so what you tell the kids is:
I don't know what your mom and dad let you get away with but they gave me these rules for you. they said you have to .......
Besides, their rules, I have some rules of my own for you. I expect you to do something I ask you to do the first time I ask, You will treat me nicely, that means no hitting or talking mean to me, and you will keep the house as clean as it looked when your parents left.
If you don't follow my rules, I will never come back. And that means you guys are gonna miss out cus I am one of the funnest babysitters there are.
(that usually gets their attention) Then I can tell them what I am willing to do with them. My thing was origami. The kids loved watching me make creations and their favorite was the paper cube or paper balloon. I might bring a bottle of bubble with extra wands and tell them I had to hold the bottle so it didnt spill but they could dip in the bottle I held and blow bubbles, another simple thing is teaching them to snap their fingers or whistle if they cant yet, you'll come up with simple ideas. Once they know what they stand to lose out on they will begin to behave with you. Maybe...just maybe at a later point they will test you again but thats it. Once a 4 yr old girl ran back into the house quickly from the deck and locked the door on me and wouldnt reopen it. I stayed calm. If worst case she never reopened it, I would still be there and tell the parent s and she would be the one to get in trouble. It must have taken 10 minutes. I think she wanted to see me freak out which I didnt. I told her I liked her very much and I liked doing fun things with her. And maybe she thought this was a fun thing to do too and lock me out. Yes, its funny. But what if mom and dad walked in the door right now and saw what you were doing. They would never leave the house again and get a fun babysitter to come over. You would lose the chance to ever see me again. She thought about that a couple seconds and opened it up and I told her I would never tell her parents she did that because she realized she did something wrong and we didnt need to upset her parents. That wasnt why i didnt tell, nor that i was embarrassed, I wanted her to know i truly cared about her. Older kids are a bit harder but I found they liked word search puzzles or even if the family had jigsaw puzzles around. Find out what the kids like and work with that. If kids still don't behave at your 2nd visit. ..tell the parents exactly what they did, what you said to them and how they responded. If the parents have any real helpful tips give them one more try. But if you can tell the parents have no idea how to control their kids and do something like talk to them in a singsong voice saying Shawna, why weren't you a good girl for your babysitter like mommy asked...then your problem is the parents and theres nothing you can do for their out of control kids. Your own there to babysit not do a major character adjustment of each kid. and you may have to let the job go.
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sho them whos the boss... ot bribe them, that works with the little ones...
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