Historical June 1976 feature about period babysitting practices, compensation and discipline; preserved as archival reporting, not current child-care advice.
One of the best things about summer for mothers of young children is the abundance of babysitters available at all hours of the day. As we enter this “the Sitting Season,” we thought it would be interesting and instructive to check the “state of the art” as it is now practiced as reported by the sitters, their clients, and the sitters’ parents.
From a discussion with five frequent sitters ranging in age from 11 to 15, some interesting facts and problems emerged. On the general topic of compensation for sitting opinions differed very little. The standard rate is 75c per hour regardless of the time of day or night. Some people who have more than two children do pay more per hour, usually $1.00. The girls interviewed felt that, with a few exceptions, the people for whom they babysat were more frequently generous than stingy in their payment habits. The conversation quickly turned to certain common abuses concerning payment. Among these abuses is the practice of putting off payment until the next day or later, which can lead to confusion about just how much time was involved and money owed. Several sitters felt that they had been shortchanged in this way.
The girls also objected to being paid from the time the clients leave the house for the evening rather than from the time of the sitter’s arrival. Because some people ask the sitter to arrive early in order to allow them the freedom to get ready for their evening out, this time gap can be considerable.
The sitters interviewed also voiced a complaint about being expected to do various housekeeping jobs on the vague promise of “a little extra money.” It was felt that doing or not doing these jobs should be at their option and that the amount of money being offered for doing them should be specifically stated beforehand. It was the sitters’ unanimous opinion that baby-sitting is child care, not maid service, and that 75c an hour does not include housekeeping chores except for those involved with child care.
The fourth and perhaps most extreme financial abuse of sitters is the practice of two or more clients’ pooling their children and leaving them in the care of one sitter and paying the sitter only once at the standard rate. The sitters do no particularly object to this “pooling” practice in itself if they are notified in advance and given a choice in the matter, but they expect to be paid 75c an hour by each set of parents. They also expect a reasonable limit (5 or 6) on the number of children to be involved in this pooling. In one instance a sitter was left with ten children to manage, several of whom were toddlers or infant’s.
The girls were asked what privileges they expected to have in the home where they were sitting. All felt they should be allowed normal use of the telephone unless told otherwise. When it came to food, they expressed a desire to be told what they could and could not eat, so there would not be any problems later. None of them expected to be able to bring along more than one friend (of the same sex) as company while sitting, and that was generally considered to be at the discretion of the clients.
When asked what they expected from their clients, the girls mentioned many familiar requests: They wanted to know where the clients could be reached, when they would be coming home, where needed items (diapers, etc.) could be found.
They also expected to be picked up, unless there was virtually no distance involved, and escorted or driven home after dark. Some of the girls expressed a need for greater discretionary powers in the area of discipline. They felt somewhat hampered by a blanket ban on spanking, which they all agreed was to be used only when the child was out of control.
Out of the discussion a list of Do’s and
Don’ts was distilled:
Do:
Inform the sitter of your whereabouts and call if this changes during the time you are gone.
Outline discipline policies for the sitter, preferably not in front of the children.
Show a new sitter where everything is.
Pay the sitter immediately if at all possible.
Don’t call for a sitter at the last minute if possible.
Don’t expect the babysitter to be a maid.
Don’t share your babysitter with another family without first asking the sitter.
Don’t shortchange your sitter by paying only once when more than one family is involved.
Don’t come home late on school nights.
Don’t stay out later than you expected to without calling the sitter.
Some clients (the people who hire a babysitter) were interviewed individually about what they expected of a sitter in general and about the problems they had encountered in their experiences with sitters.
All the mothers interviewed felt that child care was the babysitter’s prime responsibility, although they differed somewhat on what “child care” involved. Some did not generally ask the sitter to give baths and put children to bed, but all expected the sitter to be able to do these tasks. None felt that the babysitter must clean house or do dishes as part of the job. However, there was general agreement that the sitter should clean up any mess made while he or she was in charge. There was some variance on the subject of payment for housework extras. One person paid an unspecified extra amount only if the sitter was asked to do a job; if the sitter had not been asked, it was considered a favor. Another mother, however, said it was her policy to pay $1.00 for every job done regardless of whether the sitter had been asked to do it. No one else seemed to have any standard way of handling payment for housework.
All but one of the mothers paid sitters 75c an hour. Because she had a number of very young children, that one mother was charged $1.00 by her sitters, usually high school girls.
It was a general theme among those interviewed that they expected a sitter to ask permission to bring a friend along for company. All preferred that no more than one friend accompany the sitter, and most felt that the friend should be of the same sex. Some said that they expected to know the friend, as well as the sitter, personally before giving this permission. Most also said that this had rarely been a problem.
Finding the house a mess on returning home had been a problem for some. This was usually a result of some overly ambitious cooking project.
Some also expressed disapproval of a sitter’s spanking a child. It was felt that this was only within the parents’ province. One mother commented that she didn’t like learning later from the children that they had misbehaved and been punished. She wanted to be informed by the sitter that same night about the children’s behavior and any action taken by the sitter.
The only other concern that emerged from the interviews with mothers involved the use of appliances. One preferred that sitters not use household applainces without permission and instructions.
In talking to parents of babysitters we encountered no particular concerns.
The Paper would be happy to receive comments from our readers on this subject for possible inclusion in our September issue.
Originally published in The Paper, June 1976.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Printed “sitters do no particularly object,” “infant’s” and “applainces” retained as source errors. Period discipline views preserved as historical reporting.
Original source: SD_Times1976_06.pdf, printed page(s) 4, 8; PDF page(s) 4, 8.
