Community Chat

[qualitygal]

yes, plenty. 7 different families. Gee, thinking about it, I'd forgotten how many I took care of during those times.

One of the last charges I had, played a joke on me with the "fake puke" thing. I hope they don't make those anymore. 

Have to laugh, for some reason the story of THE Ransom of Red Chief, comes to mind.

[PamelaSue72]

No, unless I couldn't get out of it. One of my mother's GFs would need a babysitter from time to time and she'd make me do it. But I'm not particularly fond of children as it is and, even at that age, I didn't care for kids.  

[buyornot]

Being the third girl in a family, I had a built in customer base as my sisters aged out of the job I babysat almost every night-yikes.  I've also taught school for thirty years-lots of kids in my life!  I also worked daycare through college.

[haddon9]

Yes I did.  When I was in jr high and early high school I had a regular babysitting job.  The parents went out every week and I watched their kids.  They were easy kids but it only paid 50 cents an hour.  After a while I got a raise to 75 cents.  Sounds so funny now!

ETA:  When my 31 year old daughter did some babysitting as a teen she made $10.00 an hour.  

[Burnsite]

I babysat for a near neighbor when I was 12 for about a year--but it was only a few times as they didn't go out that often.  The mom had seen me dealing with a younger sibling who needed calming and bandaging after an injury.

The family was large:  7 children, but they were sweet, happy, lovely children. But I still felt it was a worrisome responsibility.  Then a newborn joined the family and I decided it was just too much.  Pay was 50 cents an hour, but in my world at that time, it was hard to give up those big bucks! 

[willdob3]

Yes, I was The Neighborhood Babysitter. lol I started at age 11. 

Not sure if this is a coincidence or not but I have not desire to work with children or have any of my own. lol I like other people's kids in small doses just fine. 

[Yardlie]

Definitely! While my parents gave us an allowance, it didn't cover all the things I wanted as a teenager. Even then, I had to earn my allowance. I was the neighborhood babysitter. Sometimes I had more work than I wanted.

[Nomorebirthdays]

No I worked on a farm in HS.

I do watch the grands now, best job ever.

[Mominohio]

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@willdob3 wrote:

Yes, I was The Neighborhood Babysitter. lol I started at age 11. 

Not sure if this is a coincidence or not but I have not desire to work with children or have any of my own. lol I like other people's kids in small doses just fine. 

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I've noticed a lot of answers on here about people who did indeed babysit, and then decided not to have children.

I can tell you that between babysitting, and working for (and later directing) our towns summer 'Safety Town' program for preschoolers, I changed my mind about wanting to be a teacher (that is what I considered early in high school). 

It also motivated me not to become a mother until well into my 30's. I realized I didn't have the desire or patience to be a parent (or a teacher) early in my adult life. Valuable lesson learned, in my opinion, as so many people I know got degrees in education, only to never work in the field. 

[lulu2]

I babysat frequently.  There were a lot of couples with young children in a complex near us.  Once I babysat for one family, their neighbors and friends began calling. I was paid $.50 an hour.

Before I was old enough to get working papers, I worked as a mother's helper at the shore.  Most jobs were 2 weeks in length.  Believe it or not, that was the toughest job I ever had.