okay
well i take it since you selected this topic that you have children
no i don't but i have nine younger brothers and sisters
you don't
my goodness
so well i have two daughters and um
they're past this they've been latchkey children for a while and they're almost where i can start saying they're you know young adults so i don't have to worry about child care too much anymore
um-hum
um
we're supposed to discuss what criteria we would ask or expect
uh-huh i would assume it's you know if you were looking for a day care center or something like that
well if i were looking
or probably even babysitters would be the same thing
exactly exactly um i think my my top priority would be that it would be someone who would be responsible and someone that would actually like children
yes i would think someone older and i would want to know if they've had any past experience with children
um-hum
um-hum
and i think that varies
i think a lot of your criteria vary with the age of your child
yes that's true also
um you know it's it's it's once they get to a certain age it's almost more important that it's someone that can entertain your child as opposed to someone who's
you know really really qualified per se
uh-huh
um
but with a with a baby definitely have to be someone who knows how to handle a baby and would know how to respond to an emergency
um-hum
so
well um i did a lot of babysitting when i was younger i'm twenty two now and i did most of my babysitting when i was between the ages of thirteen and sixteen
but um the only thing people ever asked me well of course they knew i came from a family with younger kids but they really didn't ask me if i was used to children or not the only other thing they asked me is what i would expect in pay
oh uh-huh uh-huh
you know and um i was pretty surprised because if i had a child and someone would you know i would want to know
i personally would ask for people that that person has babysit for before
well i my experience i babysit a lot also at when i grew up and um
coming from you know that background and the background as a parent now i think the reason that people don't ask a whole lot of questions is
a a lot of times babysitters i know i did this with my children it's you get somebody where you kind of know the family already
um-hum
and that gives you so much basic knowledge that you don't ask a whole lot of questions
um-hum
because because i had three younger brothers and sisters myself so they they thought okay she knows how to how to treat children
yes well see when um i first got my babysitting my first babysitting job was pretty strange um this lady saw us at church and she was a you you know she was a younger lady she didn't really know my mom she knew my mom by name and that was it
and um
she knew that i was one of the oldest girls in my family so she just asked my mom if i could babysit
uh-huh uh-huh
you know she really didn't know my name or anything you know and i thought that was pretty strange
you know and she had two children one was still in diapers when i started babysitting
wow
so um
she pretty much you know just assumed that i would know
you know how to handle them so i want you know i enjoy kids and i get along with them very well so there's no problem but uh with today's world and the kids today
uh there's no way i can't say that i would just ask someone you know that i didn't know like that to babysit
oh i agree with you but there again she she you know she knew
knew of your family and she and she met in a safe setting such as church
um-hum that's true
um-hum
so she was going on those two instincts just the same i know myself i never and i was very very protective on who babysit my children
oh i would be too
and and in it it really shocked me because just about six months ago someone came to my front door rang the doorbell she had just moved in the neighborhood she had her daughter with her and the daughter was oh about a second grader
and she was actively looking for people who would babysit her child
oh my
and i thought well she doesn't know me or my children from anything and
huh-uh
it was i was almost more reluctant of letting my older children go babysit for her because i didn't know her then she was reluctant of letting strangers into her house
um-hum yes
uh-huh
so i mean people are so different
oh i know um well i really i obviously you've never had to look for a day care or anything
well i did i did have um
my my child uh in a day care for just a short time and when my oldest was about two and a half and i worked just a part-time job and
uh-huh
uh in in those situations um what i did is i'd
i went in and you know i made a few phone calls i went in and visited i asked questions such as how they would discipline a child um that was a concern with me um you know
uh-huh
you you learn a lot by going in there and they explain they explain to you you know what their day consists of and what their general rules are and um
that's you know
that's as much as i know you probably could get really good feedback from a lot of other working mothers
um-hum
you know that have done this over and over again but i
well
go ahead
how did you stumble upon the day care center did you just look it up in a phone book or what was it
um i think lots of people lot i think i went by location for one thing i think most people do that i think you start out with the criteria of
um-hum
you know do i know of anything or do i know anyone who has their child in a day care and
yeah most i would say most people would probably go by word of mouth
right
right and then you know i mean even at that you have to consider the logistics of it you know i mean you're not going to take your child south of town if you work north
uh-huh
yes exactly
you even if that's the best one in the whole wide world
um-hum
so there there are just so many considerations
um-hum then again did um money come into play with it at all
oh money is always a factor in my life definitely i've never you know i've never had the luxury of not having that be a factor um
even in something as important as day care i know if i didn't have that stipulation i would have done things differently
uh-huh
you know um Montessori school would be something that i would have pursued but that's always a little bit more expensive than what i could look at
uh-huh
um
and i was very very fortunate in that i didn't have to do that on a full-time basis
yes
so and and then when you get you know when you get into the full-time basis day care
