Rachel Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:29 am
Ooh... number 4 is a very important one. When I'm babysitting, I'm always worried about "Am I allowed to let the child do this", or "Will I get in trouble if I make him do that". That can be quite stressful to worry about!
I would also put, don't worry too much if they start crying. A lot of children start crying as soon as their parent leaves: in this case, the best thing is to distract them. They'll soon forget. At other times, find out what the matter is. The child could be hungry, thirsty, bored, soiled their nappy, missing their parent, or a myriad of other things. Some are easy to fix, some are not so easy. Sometimes all the child wants is to be cuddled for a little while.
You're right about number 5, too. If you're enthusiastic, the child will be, too. Even if you're not enthusiastic, act it. Younger children won't be able to tell the difference. The best way to get them to want to tidy up is to act cheerful and say something like, "Ooh, tidying up is so fun! Look, can you put that in here? Wasn't that fun?!"
Sometimes it can be difficult, too. In the past week I have been babysitting one boy while his brothers had swimming lessons. His mother was in the pool with the eighteen-month-old. Ollie is almost 3, and the reason he wasn't allowed to have holiday swimming lessons was because he's autistic! I was very annoyed at this, because the centre's reasoning was that he wouldn't be able to follow the structure of the lesson and the teachers weren't qualified enough. Well, lots of autistic people *crave* structure, and how exactly does the teacher need to be more qualified to teach a 3-year-old autistic boy than a one-year-old neuro-typical child?
Anyway, Ollie absolutely loves the water. It was heartbreaking to see him arrive, so excited because he knows they're going to the pool, and then have to keep him from getting in the pool. The only thing he wanted to do the entire time we were there was get in the water. I ended up taking him out and not letting him even see the water, just because it was distressing him so much.
On another note (sort of), I'm going to the Annual Australia Day Spit-Roast Barbeque at the home of a family from church. We went to a previous church with this family, and the spit roast is delicious! We went last year and basically the entire church turned up, plus quite a few others. Anyway, they have a one-month-old baby!!!! I have hours of baby-holding ahead of me tonight (hopefully)!!! Provided someone else doesn't get to her first. Mind you, Mrs Brown will probably let me hold the baby because she knows I didn't get a chance in church this morning. Little Elizabeth is so cute!!
from Rachel.