Baby sitters

[SecrectFarleysNibbler]

Being a first time mum I have no experience of sorting out a babysitter. What's the heads up? How old? How much do you pay? Any advice or tips?? I live I a rural village and my good friend runs the local youth group and knows all the likely candidates so I feel very happy that she can reccomend a young lady that is trust worthy and responsible. My dd is now 7 mths. I am a single mum and have not had a night off yet!!

for a baby I would want at least 17 year old, preferably older

I pay my babysitter £4 per hour ish (tend to pay for the evening)

if I'm going to be very late home then she will sleep over and I do her a cooked breakfast

What a lovely thing to do!!

I was 14 when I started babysitting babies, my first was 7 months old, I'd looked after him at a playscheme creche for a week and his mum asked if I wanted to do it. I had a very thorough interview with both parents and when they had their second baby she was just 3wks old the first time I sat for her, it was lovely, I just sat and cuddled her all night :) I think though I was quite responsible. I was told to check on him every 30 mins but I checked every 15-20mins and I only had to call them to come home once when he woke and wouldn't stop crying for about 30 minutes and nothing I tried worked. Took them 15 minutes to get home and he shut up 5 minutes before they got home :)

£4 an hour????

As with all these questions - it depends!
Our first babysitter was my CM's 16 yr old dd - she had FAR more experience of babies than both dh and myself put together . Also her Mum was about 100 yards away, had there been something she didn't think she could cope with. Most of our babysitters have been people that, should there have been something worrying them, would have been able to call on their parents if we couldn't get back in 5 mins (not that anyone ever had to). I think that "common sense" element is far more important than any particular age.
£4 ish an hour is about right I'd say (as workshy says - it is generally a price for the evening). You need to make sure she has a way of getting home safely though - trickier if you are on your own, but, that said, I'd go out and collect my dd from a babysitting job, so it may be your sitter's parent might too.

There are 'babysitting certificates' in order to get them the teenager has to know children's first aid.

www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Teaching-resources/Teaching-packages/Babysitting/Babysitting-course

Do you get permission from their parents??