Babysitting Requests. What's Appropriate?

There's no denying, parenting is hard and that's why we need to help each other out. Free babysitting is a gift, a miracle even, but we don't want to use it all up. Here's a set of guidelines to help us give and receive the gift of babysitting. To everyone who has ever helped me out, THANK YOU!

Rules
Give as much notice as you can.
The sitter may say no, without explanation.
Make the sitter's job as easy as possible.
Establish when, where and how long.
Discuss diet and discipline.
Send any needed accessories.
Tell the sitter in advance if your child is sick.
Come back on time.
Frequent requests should come with benefits. Trading babysitting or cash payment is fine.


Q&A

1. What is the appropriate time frame?  It's all about how much energy I have and making it last. For infants, two hours max, unless I've tended your baby before I think I can do longer. Toddlers, three hours. The older the child, the longer the time. If I'm watching more than one child, time decreases.

2. Will you babysit over night? If your child will go to bed and actually sleep, yes. If I have to bounce your child all night, then no. I do make exceptions for emergencies.

3. Will I feed your child? Sure, if he's not too picky. If he only eats certain foods, has allergies or visits frequently, send food with him.

4. Will I administer medicine? No. If medicine is necessary, please medicate your child before you leave.

5. Will I spank your child? No. I will do a time-out. If many time-outs are needed, I will probably not want to babysit often.

6. What qualifies as an emergency? If you or a close family member is in the hospital or passes away, that would be an emergency. If you get called into work suddenly, that would be less of an emergency. If you get arrested, that's an emergency but you should call your mother and not me. :) If you want to go shopping, it's not an emergency.

7. What will you expect of my child? I expect that your child will share reasonably well, not hit anyone or break anything on purpose, help with cleanup, and in general, do as he/she is asked.

8. Will you drop what you are doing to help me out? I will if it is an emergency. Otherwise, no.


Once again, thank you to all my kind peeps who have stepped up for me. And thank you to all my good friends who make it easy to say yes when you ask for help. You know who you are.