The ad I posted on Craig's List for babysitting jobs has received a great response-- I'd call it a babysitting blitzkreig. I babysat yesterday for three hours at a hotel for a new Professor's kids while he and his wife went househunting. The kids were a little on the wild side and potty-mouthed. Tonight I babysat again for the new family with the 2 yo and 8 month old. I babysit for them 2 more times and then.. I AM DONE aside from my one glorious family whom I regularly babysit for.

At $10 / hour, babysitting can be profitable, but given the big jump in income I'll be experiencing in a few months after I graduate (I have a job lined up), it's not worth it when I don't feel like I'm getting treated well. Case in point, both parents were home while I babysat tonight from 5-9pm but they were in other parts of the house. The mother warmed up some leftovers for me to feed to the little boy for dinner, she then dished the remainder onto a plate for herself and her husband then then disappeared, leaving 'ol Beanie with nothing. Luckily, I was able to find a loaf of bread in the fridge so I ate a slice of that. I don't think they meant to leave me hungry, but it just seemed like as long as the kids were out of their hair, no one thought about me. When I took the job, the mom actually asked if I would wait to eat until I got there so I could eat with their son-- like many kids, he eats better when others are eating. I guess I made the erroneous assumption that they would provide me with a little food to eat!

One of the other new families made a big deal of constantly emailing and reminding me when they wife overpaid me $10 when she didn't have the correct change. We all acknowledged I had been overpaid and agreed to just carry over the "credit" for the next time. So what was the reason for all the emails reminding me of the $10 credit? Did they think I was going to skip town with their $10 bucks? I mean, seriously, who among us is the student and who is the "professional"?

The irony is, all these people want me to keep babysitting for them! Like many situations, it's a two way street and the money alone isn't enough to make me coming back. So, to all the parents out there, if you have trouble finding a babysitter and then finally find one, make sure to be nice to her! People think it's the kids that make the babysitter not come back, let me tell you, parents can be equally deterring!

I know many jobs involve weird bosses and difficult personalities, but when you hiring someone to come into your home and care for your kids-- don't make her feel like a second class citizen.