Hiring a virtual babysitter seems to be an option for some parents these days. You too might consider it but before you do, let me ask you a question. Is a virtual babysitter for you?
Truth be told, virtual babysitting isn’t for everybody. In some cases, physical care cannot be replaced by virtual babysitting.
There are lots of things to consider when choosing this particular option for childcare. So before hiring a virtual babysitter, think about it first.
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If you want to know if a virtual babysitter is right for you, read on.
Table Of Contents
Is A Virtual Babysitter For You?
It’s best to define what a virtual babysitter is before deciding whether a virtual babysitter is right for you.
A virtual babysitter does not physically show up to provide childcare. Instead, she makes use of platforms such as Zoom or Skype to engage a child so that the parents can attend to other things at home.
With more and more parents working from home these days, virtual babysitting has become a convenient option. They can work and attend online meetings without getting bothered by their children.
So, is a virtual babysitter for you? It depends if you can stay home with your child. If you can’t, a virtual babysitter is definitely not an option.
Another thing to consider when choosing virtual babysitting as a childcare option is the age of your child. You just can’t make it an option if your child is below five years old.
Children younger than five years old won’t be able to stay still in front of a computer, let alone understand what the virtual babysitter is telling them what to do. They would need help in the activities rolled out by the virtual babysitter. In that case, you’d have to sit with them as well.
That would definitely defeat the purpose of hiring a virtual babysitter since you would have to join them. You might as well just do the activities with your child, without the help of a virtual babysitter. That way, you can save the money intended for the virtual babysitter.
Since a virtual babysitter is highly dependent on an internet connection, you need to consider the quality of your internet connection. If it sucks, then you might as well forget about hiring a virtual babysitter.
You’ll just end up wasting some time and money if you can’t get connected to the internet while the virtual babysitter is waiting on the other end.
The most important thing to consider when choosing virtual babysitting is whether your child likes it or not.
Some kids may not be comfortable with virtual babysitting. They may not like the idea of talking to a complete stranger on a computer. You can’t blame them. Virtual babysitting is definitely a far cry from watching cartoons or playing online.
Having considered all that, you can finally decide if virtual babysitting is for you.
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What To Look For Out For When Hiring A Virtual Babysitter
Once you’ve decided to go for a virtual babysitter, there are important things to look out for. For starters, you don’t just hire the first person who comes along. There are some parents who think that they can just hire anybody to watch their kids online.
While it is possible to just hire anyone who is willing to go online to watch kids, a professional virtual babysitter does more than just that. She engages kids online by providing fun but learning activities. If you think about it, not everybody can do that, right?
Therefore, experience matters if you’re looking to hire sitters. She should know how to handle kids online. At the same time, she should have a good grasp on child learning because it’s no joke teaching a child, let alone teaching one online. Related Read: Details On Sittercity Rates
For starters, children have a short attention span. It will take a miracle or an awesome virtual babysitter to have them sit on the computer for an hour straight. To get your money’s worth, you have to make sure that the virtual babysitter can do the job well.
So, if you think you can just pay anyone to go online to watch your kid, think again. You need a very good virtual babysitter who is experienced enough to handle, manage, and engage your kid online.
When it comes to hiring a virtual babysitter, it’s recommended that you use online childcare services. There are a lot of them and it’s up to you to choose which one you like most. The important thing is using it to hire a virtual babysitter.
Online childcare services can provide some kind of safety net when hiring a babysitter, whether virtual or not. To begin with, most online childcare services offer background checks. You can run background checks on the babysitters to make sure you’re not hiring someone who has been charged in the past.
If you don’t hire your virtual babysitter from online childcare services, you’ll end up paying a much higher price to run background checks. In a worst-case scenario, you might not even run any kind of background check and that could be very dangerous for your child.
You might just end up hiring someone who could potentially abuse your child online. That is something you want to avoid. Related Read: Use This Sittercity Promo To Save
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Keep in mind that online childcare services such as Sittercity have reasonable prices for their background checks.
It’s Always Better To Be Careful Than Sorry
Just because a virtual babysitter isn’t physically present, doesn’t mean she can’t harm your child. Keep in mind that there are a lot of bad things that can happen online as well. Related Read: Is Sittercity Free?
There are a lot of crazy folks out there who take advantage of the internet to prey on children. They can pose as virtual babysitters and you might just fall for them.
That’s the reason why you should be hiring a virtual babysitter from your choice of online childcare service. For example, Sittercity verifies the identities of their babysitters.
So, before a babysitter becomes visible on Sittercity, her personal details are checked and verified first. From there, Sittercity could either approve or disapprove of it. Hence, all the babysitter profiles you see on that particular online childcare platform have been approved.
The fact that Sittercity makes it affordable to run background checks will give you some peace of mind. Remember that it’s always better to be careful than sorry, especially when hiring a virtual babysitter. Related Read: How A Sittercity Bio Looks Like
Simple Steps To Follow When Hiring A Virtual Babysitter
Here are some simple steps to follow when hiring a virtual babysitter.
- Choose an online childcare service provider. You already know how important it is to hire a virtual babysitter from an online childcare service provider. It provides you an extra layer of protection since the babysitters undergo identity checks.
- Post a job. Online childcare service providers allow you to post a job. Your job post is seen only by babysitters who are signed up with your online childcare service provider.
- Connect to interested applicants. The nice thing about posting a job on online childcare service providers is that you’re guaranteed to get responses from a good number of interested applicants. Connect to them and see if they have experience in virtual babysitting. Don’t forget to check their profiles as well.
- Choose your top applicants. Narrow down your applicants to your top three or two choices. Schedule online interviews and have your child join in.
- Run background checks. Make an informed decision by running background checks. You can run background checks on your top choices or on the virtual babysitter you intend to hire. The point is, you just have to run background checks to be sure.
- Do a trial run. It wouldn’t hurt to do a trial run. It’s a good way to break the ice between the virtual babysitter and your child.
If a virtual babysitter is right for you, go right ahead and hire one. Just be careful and remember everything that we have shared with you here.
Is a virtual babysitter for you? Feel free to let us know if this kind of childcare provider suits you or not. We would love to hear from you.
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It used to be the case that I would babysit for families. These days, I’m the one hiring sitters to watch over my little girl. LOL! How time flies. My mission now is to share some of my insights so that other moms get to benefit from my experience with babysitting. Read More
