Know Your Limits

Pretty much all of us want to make money.  Some want to make it by illegal means, by sueing others, or by hitting the lottery.  But, most of us want or at least plan to earn our money by working.  Sometimes people will babysit for others as a favor, but most often babysitters take on child care jobs to make money. 

If you are in the childcare field, it is important that you like what you do.  In order to continue to enjoy taking care of children, you have to know your limits.  Larger numbers of children and younger children can definitely be alot more work.  If you are fine with caring for 4-6 children at a time, that's great!  But if three seems to be your limit, avoid accepting jobs with more kids just to make more money.  When you do this, you soon become burnt out and begin disliking your job, and possibly resenting the children, or even unintentionally taking your frustrations out on them.  You could lose patience much more easily and also become more restricted in your activities.  It is much easier to take 2 or 3 children to the playground than 6.

When infants are included in your group of charges, once again everything can be more difficult.  You may have to wait for the baby to nap to play with the other children or prepare snacks or meals for them.  And if the baby decides she's not going to nap that day, you may be in for a rough ride.  Some people are very skilled at handling multiple children of different ages at the same time, but if you aren't one of them, know your limits.  By taking on only babysitting jobs that you know you can handle, both you and the children will have a much more enjoyable experience.

Lisa McLellan

Child Care Expert