These days, many college students need part-time jobs while they attend classes to help them afford things they need and fun things they want to do. After all, studying shouldn’t be the only thing you do in college, contrary to what your mom might think! You may have travel in mind after graduation, or even for next weekend — but you have to pay for all the fun you’ll be having somehow!
Most college students want a job that can supply them with cold, hard cash throughout the semester, but won’t make too many demands on their time or interfere with their homework and class attendance. (That job should be fun, too, right? Right!)
As a college or university student, you’re considered more responsible, resourceful, and dependable than the average high schooler, and you probably have more experience babysitting, as well.
So what’s the solution? You guessed it, babysitting. As a college or university student, you’re considered more responsible, resourceful, and dependable than the average high schooler, and you probably have more experience babysitting, as well. According to Payscale, watching kids is the third most popular job for college students, and Forbes noted that a babysitter in New York can make $25 per hour, per kid (spoiler alert: some even make more)!
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You can advertise your amazing babysitter skills on websites like Sittercity or Care.com. UrbanSitter is also a great place to advertise your availability as a babysitter. You can also simply talk to your neighbors and relatives about possible jobs throughout the year.
As fun as babysitting can be, watching children is serious business, and keeping yourself safe is important, too.
Here’s one thing you may not have thought about, though: your safety as a babysitter.
Why Should A Babysitter Worry About Safety?
Before you take that promising babysitter job with the kids you watched last summer or a new child, you need to think about your own safety as well. As fun as babysitting can be, watching children is serious business, and keeping yourself safe is important, too. While most of the stuff your parents taught you as children can be applied when you take babysitting jobs, a refresher never hurts.
Following these 10 top safety tips will help keep you and the kids you are watching safe. Here they are:
10. Learn The Details Of The Job.
Think about what you can handle — or want to handle. Only take babysitter jobs you are qualified for and that you know you will enjoy doing. If the scope of the job is outside of your ability, be honest. You don’t have to watch five kids at a time for a pittance. There are other babysitter jobs in the sea.
9. Always Inform People Where You Will Be And When.
Tell your friends or family the location of the job, how they can contact you, what time you will be home, and what the hours of the job will be. Checking in with your friends or family if the gig is running late never hurts, either.
8. Never Unlock The Door For Strangers.
This one may seem obvious, but you never know who could turn up on your doorstep, from well-meaning grandparents to someone claiming to have a delivery for the parents — leaving outside lights on and keeping all doors locked whether you are inside or outside is the best policy.
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If a situation makes you uncomfortable, tell a friend or relative and call the client afterwards to explain that you will not be working for them anymore.
7. Use Your Intuition.
Whether you talk to the family on the phone or in person (both of which we recommend before you take a job), listen to your instincts and arrange a meeting in a public place before you accept when taking on a new job. Using your intuition while babysitting is important, too. If a situation makes you uncomfortable, tell a friend or relative and call the client afterwards to explain that you will not be working for them anymore.
6. Report Anything Unusual.
This goes for your safety and the safety of the children. If you come across a possible situation that may put anyone in danger, it is your duty to report it to the authorities. This could range from observing suspicious behavior in a public place to someone lurking around near the house after dark. Keep that smartphone handy!
5. Learn How to Lock and Unlock All Doors and Windows.
This may seem like basic information, but many houses now have complicated alarm or security systems run through smartphones, or use codes. Make sure you ask parents to walk you through the process and leave notes in case there is an emergency. Also — parents like to change the codes when you haven’t been around for a while, so make sure you ask about the new codes or how to lock and unlock the place.
4. Have Emergency Phone Numbers Available.
Since you have a smartphone, all you have to do is keep it on you — but make sure those numbers are a tap away — in an emergency, you don’t want to waste time trying to find the parents’ phone numbers or the number to the local poison control hotline. Responsible parents will leave those numbers in an accessible spot, but just in case, you should have them, too.
3. Have The Family Fill Out An Information Form.
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The information form should include all relevant health information for the kids and for the family, and you can keep the form at home in a file that your friends and family can access should anything go wrong. This information can help keep the kids safe, as well, in case there is an accident and a family or friend needs to care for the kids until the parents get home.
Make sure you get your bearings or know where the nearest hospital or major intersections are in case there is an emergency.
2. Know How To Get To Safety.
As a college student, you probably have a driver’s license and got yourself to the babysitting location, but you still may not be familiar with the neighborhood. Make sure you get your bearings or know where the nearest hospital or major intersections are in case there is an emergency.
1. Trust Your Instincts.
If something feels wrong when you arrive at the job, there is nothing stopping you from leaving. You know what you’re comfortable with and what you’re not, and if a parent asks you to do something that sets off alarms in your head, it’s best to just decline the job and go home.
While it may not be the best-paying job out there, you’d be surprised how much rates have gone up in the past ten years, and it’s a job you can get relatively easily through family and friends. Being a babysitter will work perfectly with your school hours, since babysitters generally work nights and weekends.
Another bonus is that you may be able to sneak in some study (or non-study) hours while the baby’s sleeping, or after the kids go to bed. Let’s face it — you may as well get into the gig economy now, while you’re young! Working as a babysitter helps others (families and kids), will help build your resume, and may even lead to travel in another country if you end up babysitting through your college years.
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
Babysitters must also use their better judgement in choosing a platform for their services. There are a lot of these platforms out there but I have to say that Sittercity is the safest of them all. The fact that it’s still up and running means it’s the most trusted platform for childcare services. As a mom, it’s the only one I trust at the moment.
This is a great article and thanks for sharing it. My daughter has started to babysit to earn a little extra. She’s now a freshman in college. Your article is something she should read. Safety is something the young ones take for granted.
A sitter should also look into the privacy of her personal information. She should be very careful in advertising her skills and other personal information. A membership-based platform like Sittercity or Care.com is pretty safe. Information is pretty much just contained in just one platform. I think the other services share information on social media platforms and I don’t think that’s safe.
One of the reasons why I hire from Sittercity is that I’m pretty sure of getting sitters who are of the right age. A teenager from our neighborhood wouldn’t be as safety conscious as compared to a sitter from a reputable childcare provider.
These are great practical tips every sitter should know. If a sitter knows how to stay safe, then most likely, she will also keep the kids safe. Thanks for the article.