To have the telly off when the sitter is here

[SherbettingSherbert]

DD does nursery 2 mornings a week so I use the sitters.co.uk service on other days when I have a freelance project on (I'm self employed). Usually just 3 hrs at a time.

It's worked well and most sitters have been really great.
I try to be as considerate as possible, sitters are welcome to eat, drink whatever they see and I don't expect any nappy changes or meals to be made or given due to the time-slot. I'm in the house anyway and happy to take a quick break for that. DD is 2.5 and no longer naps.

She has books and toys (not a room-full, but enough) and we have a small garden with a little swing and slide if they want to get outdoors for a bit.

One thing I'm not so keen on is having the telly on. We're not against screen time and have used it but DD can get fixated so we're limiting even more now. DP and I don't have it on either unless were watching something specific in the evenings.

I don't want the sitters to get bored here so I mention they can stick it on if they need a break. It's not been a big problem and most don't at all or do for a little bit towards the end.

However, we've had a couple of sitters going straight for the telly option, on for almost 3 hrs of kids TV with DD mostly sat like a veg.

Admittedly it's only been a small number of times but I'd like to stop it happening again and take the TV option completely off the table.

So am wondering...

IABU: It's not fair to ask a sitter to be here for 3 hrs without the option

IANBU: They're there to look after DD and it's ok to expect their attention to be on her the whole time

Also, any suggestions for extra games or activities to provide so I'm not asking them to sit together in silence would be great. (silence and toddler hahahaha)
We have a little ipad and I would be happy for them to use it to stream music or the radio though.

(Apologies for the long post, I'm not always great at being concise!)

Thank you!

So … 6 hours a week for 2 weeks every couple of months… yeah I probably wouldn’t sweat the the screen time.

I mean at that age what would you be doing with you DC during that time?

What’s been your experience with them @Whalesong ?

So far, outside of the TV incidents and one sitter cancelling with an hrs notice we’ve not had it too bad

@saltinesandcoffeecups
indoors:
play-doh
building towers
water paints
lining up traffic jams with cars
tea parties with the dolls
play train tracks
reading books
singing songs
doing silly dances

in the garden:
to play on the swing and slide
getting muddy if it’s rained
watering the plants if it hasn’t
counting and collecting leaves/sticks/tree nuts
whizzing round on her balance bike
picking up stones with her tractor

just a few things off the top of my head that I personally be doing with DD at that time.

I think some of the point as was mentioned by another PP is that if she was going to be plonked in front of the tv for 3 hrs I might as well do that myself and save some money.

Thanks @ICanHideButICantRun thats useful to know. I was miffed but didn’t want to get anyone in trouble.

Has been really interesting to read all the responses and see difference of opinion where 3 hrs is not that long vs 3 hrs is a mind-numbing amount of time to spend with a toddler.

Thinking about myself 3 hrs with DD can be either depending on her mood and my disposition. I do know that time flies by a lot quicker if I have a plan though.

So on balance I think I agree with the poll that it’s fine to put the remote away and I won’t be mentioning the TV.

But I will try to make things easier by implementing some of the great suggestions by helpful PPs like putting some toys away that will only come out when the sitters are here and writing a small list of suggested activities/play that DD likes as a kickstarter and having all the stuff ready.

Thanks MNs

Ok do you have this list out for the people watching your DC?

think of this time as if you were a teacher leaving a lesson plan for a sub… have the things out and ready to go for them. I’m assuming you know where all of this is located but it sounds like these people are new every time. Set out the activities or give them a rough plan for what they should do.

Of course you can expect them to change nappies and feed them. If they gave your child a meal it would give them something to do. If the sitter takes your child for a walk followed by a bit of playing then dinner including clearing away your child’s bowl etc. then that gives them something to do but also saves you a job later.

@saltinesandcoffeecups I haven’t, no. But it’s a good suggestion. I’ll get a list like this written up and have the stuff ready.

The sitters aren’t always new every time. Just due to the irregular nature of my work sometimes a favourite sitter isn’t available for a day here of there so someone else will fill in. I think a little list and a couple of ‘good to know’ notes might help.
thank you

@Summerfun54321 thats an interesting point, actually. I’ve been trying to keep things as easy as possible but might well just be making it more boring than needs to be. I could maybe do a later time to cover her dinner time and give them something to do and you’re right, save me a job that day! Thanks for the great suggestion :)

We had extremely bad experiences with them including serious safeguarding issues. This was over 10 years ago though. Never used them again. Worst customer service I’ve ever experienced too (after one of their staff seriously endangered our children and caused damage to our house through her neglect). The first representative we spoke to after the whole debacle was lovely, but once it was passed to the owner it was another story entirely, with blatant lies (even though we had proof).
Couldn’t be bothered to take them to court, but never used them again and neither did our friends.

For more detail, we had a new puppy which the lady taking the booking noted. He was crated, and we told the sitter to leave him in the crate. The children were asleep in bed when she arrived.
When we came home it turned out that she had taken the puppy out of the crate to cuddle him. Great, apart from the fact that

1. Her black boot polish had stained our beige carpet in the living room. To the point we had to re carpet.
2. She’d let him have the run of the house while she smoked in the garden (plenty of evidence). He wasn’t allowed upstairs. At all. But after we’d paid her we discovered that he’d chewed the childrens’ toys and a number of precious items in our own bedroom. So she’d left him up there while smoking in the garden (as evidenced by the butts). Which was a safeguarding issue as our children were 4 and 2 years. She clearly had no idea whatsoever what was going on in their room or if they were safe. She’d literally left them with a dog she didn’t know!

The next day I spoke with a representative who was shocked and remembered that we’d notified them of the puppy when making the booking and that we’d said to leave the puppy in the crate. But the owner soon took over the call and lied until she was blue in the face.
Needless to say we never used them again. Nor did any of our friends.

I don't see why it matters whether it's tedious for the sitter or not? It's a job. My job is boring as well, but I don't really care, because it's a job to earn money. Work usually is boring.