Finding someone to take care of your kids is a tedious task. If you’re a busy parent, you wouldn’t have the time to look for someone who can watch your kids. Aside from that, you also wouldn’t want a complete stranger to come over and to watch your kids.
The thought of hiring a stranger would just give you the creeps. So what do you do? You turn to a family member for help.
Consider yourself lucky if you can rely on a family member to babysit your kids. After all, that can save you some time and money. This particular article cites the advantages and disadvantages of relying on a family member to babysit your kids.
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Table Of Contents
First, The Advantages …
5. He Or She Can Be Trusted
It really is a lot easier to trust a family member than a complete stranger. That’s pretty much the reason why you would rather turn to your mom, sister, or aunt for your babysitting needs.
4. Believes In The Same Principles And Family Values
A family member basically believes in the same principles and family values as you do. You wouldn’t have to spend some time briefing your family member since he or she is basically aligned to what you believe in.
3. There’s Less Exposure To Virus
The chances of exposing your kids to virus are less since you’re not welcoming a complete stranger into your home.
With a family member, you get more than just someone to watch your kids. Surely, grandma and grandpa wouldn’t mind dong extra tasks for your kids.
2. You Don’t Have To Worry About Coming Home On Time
The best thing about relying on a family member to watch your kids is that you don’t have to worry about coming home on time. In some cases, your family member will even be glad that you kids are staying a little longer. This is especially true if you have your parents babysitting your kids. For sure, grandma and grandpa wouldn’t mind that your kids stay a little longer with them.
1. Can Do More Than Just Babysit
With a family member, you get more than just someone to watch your kids. Surely, grandma and grandpa wouldn’t mind doing extra tasks for your kids.
Now The Disadvantages …
But as much as there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. Relying on a family member to babysit your kids can sometimes be more challenging than hiring a babysitter. Here are the reasons why.
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5. Duties And Tasks Are Not Defined
Unfortunately if you rely on a family member, it’ll be pretty hard to define duties and tasks. A family member might even end up doing more than you expect and it might just cause some misunderstanding in the future.
4. He Or She May Not Be Aligned With Your Parenting Style
Your parents have a different parenting style. First of all, they’re not parents anymore, they’re grandparents. And most grandparents believe that they have all the right to spoil your kids. This can be a problem in the future.
You need someone that has the same parenting style as yours. It’ll be too confusing for your kids to have different set of rules.
3. No Backup Plan
What happens when grandma and grandpa aren’t available to watch your kids? Who will you turn to if your sister cannot be there to watch your kids? If you always rely on a family member to babysit your kids, you won’t have a backup plan in case something goes wrong.
If you’re signed up with a childcare service provide, you’re always assured of a babysitter, be it a last minute one or not.
What happens when grandma and grandpa aren’t available to watch your kids? Who will you turn to if your sister cannot be there to watch your kids?
2. Hard To Compensate
How can you compensate your parents, your sister, or your aunt? It’s pretty hard to compensate someone that has no defined duties and tasks. Paying an hourly rate is pretty hard to do especially if there’s no exact time of duty. But most of all, it’s hard to compensate a family member because somehow you think it’s not enough. Related read: Save on Sittercity with this Promo Code
1. May Not Have Basic Knowledge on Childcare
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A family member may not have any kind of basic knowledge on childcare. This is a critical aspect in deciding as to whom trust more, a family member or a professional babysitter?
You need someone that has a vast experience on childcare. Your kids deserve a professional babysitter. In case anything happens, a professional babysitter knows exactly what to do. Hiring a babysitter that’s certified to carry out First Aid and CPR can give you some peace of mind.
It’s never easy finding someone to watch your kids. But it is your responsibility to find someone that’s qualified to do so. As a parent, you need to weigh the pros and cons of hiring a family member to babysit your kids. You simply can’t say that your kids are safer with a family member than with a babysitter.
Do you depend on a family member for your babysitting needs?
A nerd at heart (haha), I have been following and analyzing the world of online sitters for a couple of years now and have seen a lot of innovations and changes in this market. In between taking care of my loving (and demanding 😜) family and writing, I also do a lot of “traveling” on the Travel Channel and Discovery Channel. Read More
I think another thing that this article doesn’t explicitly mention that is still very important to consider, is the types of activities that the relative will provide versus a professional daycare. Good daycares offer a range of activities, events, and even curriculum that is developmentally appropriate. They’ll do arts and crafts, music lessons, reading, outdoor time, imaginative play, dress up days, etc. How many of your relatives have both the experience and will to provide consistent age-appropriate stimulation?
Of course everyone has to determine what they value and get on the same page as the relative doing the care, and I am sure that some arrangements work out wonderfully for everyone, but I am relieved that my husband and I can afford good quality daycare because I don’t want to burden my family and I think my son is better off with professionals anyway.
For example, we have asked my mom to provide some emergency care when our schedules didn’t align with the daycare’s, and my son will inevitably end up in front of the TV or some sort of screen. Her idea of a field trip is taking him to the movies (more screen time!) or to the toy store or to McDonald’s. This is fine once in a while, but I would never want this for a childcare situation and sometimes it is best to just let grandma be the “fun one.” Let’s just say that when she said she wished she could “help out more so he wouldn’t have to go to daycare” I was quick to respond with, “don’t you worry, mom.”
Nothing against daycare but I prefer someone who is focused on my kid. I’m not too crazy about asking help from my mom as well but I’d rather hire a sitter whom I’ve screened, interviewed, and run a background check on.
There are some moms who really rely on their family members and I think that’s okay. What’s not acceptable is that some moms actually rely on their friends to watch their kids. We have one mom in our group who always leaves her kid with us. Each time we schedule a play date, she drops her kid off and leaves. The most irritating part is that she picks up her kid late all the time. So we’re obligated to watch her son and it’s really irritating.
My folks live ten minutes away from us. My sister,who is also married, lives pretty near us as well. That doesn’t mean that I rely on any of them for childcare. No way! I still hire a babysitter. My kids are my responsibility. I won’t ask anyone to watch them for free. It just doesn’t work that way for me.
I strongly believe that grandparents should never be burdened to watch the kids. Even if they offer to babysit, it’s just not right to rely on them. At their age, they should be relaxing and having the time of their lives. Why burden them? Seriously, Sittercity is a much better option for childcare.
I used to ask my mom to come over and watch my kids until we had some kind of fallout. She was kind of bossing me around already. My kids were listening more to her than to me and that bothered me a lot. I think the hardest part about relying on a family member is the familiarity. At some point, I just couldn’t draw the line and that really strained my relationship with my mom.