Kids are adorable, fun, and downright cute. That’s what most people think and it’s easy to see why. However, babysitting them is by no means an easy task. In fact, taking care of kids is something akin to handling teenagers: their mood changes like the wind changes direction, they’re hungry all the time, and their sleeping patterns are somewhat erratic.
So it’s no wonder that babysitters want to be paid a decent hourly wage for looking after someone else's children. Even if that ‘someone’ thinks that their children are extremely well behaved and that the babysitter would have to simply spend the entire day eating chocolate chip and peanut butter ice-cream (yum!), playing with LEGOs (fun!), watching Mexican soap operas on TV, and relaxing.
Something like that happened to one person (let’s call her ‘Alice’) who was shamed by a mom for ‘daring’ to ask for 15 dollars per hour. According to the mom (shall we call her ‘Betty’?), such a price was way too steep for taking care of her ‘well-behaved’ kids who’d be sleeping most of the time. Fortunately, the babysitter had enough sense to stand her ground and not give in.
A babysitter stood her ground after being shamed by a mom
In ‘Betty’s’ opinion, ‘Alice’ shouldn’t have been asking for such a ‘steep’ price because her 3 kids are well-behaved (even though they’re not potty-trained) and would’ve been sleeping most of the time anyway. Betty thought that 8 dollars per hour would be enough. Betty was wrong.
‘Alice’ wasn’t planning on giving in to emotional blackmail and showed that her pride and dignity were worth more than a few measly bucks.
Being a great babysitter is more than just about showing up. Healthline provides some helpful tips for babysitters when they have to deal with both parents and kids. For example, babysitters shouldn’t have to figure out every detail by themselves: if you have any issues or questions, call up the parents and ask. Nobody expects you to be an omniscient mind-reading savant the first day on the job. If you can’t calm a kid down, it might have nothing to do with you and everything to do with them losing their favorite plushie. But you need to know about the toy in order to look for it.
Furthermore, in case anything bad happens [knocks on wood], it’s best to keep a handy list of emergency contacts, from poison control to other family members’ phone numbers. Also, be sure to mind any allergies the toddlers might have. A good babysitter keeps the kids alive, while a great babysitter actively engages them and helps them grow into awesome people, instead of plonking them down on the couch in front of the screen.
So, dear Pandas, do you think ‘Alice’ did the right thing by refusing to work for 8 dollars per hour? Would have refused as well? How else would you have dealt with a parent who was shaming you? Do you have any interesting babysitting stories to tell us? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!
Here's how people reacted to the story posted online. Some even shared stories of their own
