Momversation: I expect a lot from my babysitter

The irony of my position on this topic is not lost on me. I was a kid who never cleaned my room or helped with the dishes. When I babysat, I didn’t pick up toys or probably even clear the table unless I was asked to. It just didn’t occur to me.

I wrote a Sociology thesis about the relationship between mothers and the caregivers they hire. My feeling at the time was that babysitting did not include housecleaning. But now….

I have a sitter on retainer. Every Friday night she comes right after I have given the kids dinner. Her job is to give the kids a bath and put them to bed. They love her and so do I. She is a mother of two and we pay her $18 per hour.

After my kids go to sleep, two or three hours pass before we come home. So we have started pushing a cycle of laundry through before she arrives so that there are clean kids’ clothes to be folded while she’s watching tv.

Watch my video and let me know what you think of my expectations. How do yours line up?

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.