What does it take to qualify as a babysitter these days?
Dear Let Grow:
My 15 year-old daughter joined an online babysitter’s group to get more summer work gigs. It has been an eye opening experience as to parental expectations. She has multiple family references, straight A’s, and is WONDERFUL with children, especially keeping the kids active. She also cooks and does chores during naps, like laundry and cleaning.
I will NOT be paying for an FBI background check. Whatever happened to “Must love kids”?
Here is one of the jobs:
“Hello!
I am relocating to the area and I am looking for an after school sitter 3 days a week from 3:30-7 pm for my 6 year old daughter who will be attending 1st grade this coming Fall. I would need:
Child abuse clearance
FBI background check
Preferred CPR certification
Start date would be Tuesday 9/4. Also need occasional days this summer covered if looking for extra work!
PM for details :)”
No thanks.
Believing that everyone is a child abuser unless proven otherwise is a distorted way to look at the world. And ironically, the holy grail of an FBI background check does not flag most of that segment of the population that will go on to abuse kids, since people NOT on any kind of sex offender registry commit the vast majority of crimes against kids. As this article explains:
Works both ways… make the same demand of the potential employer/parent. For safety sake. Baby-sitters have been preyed upon too.