Lessons Your Teen Will Learn From Babysitting
If you are at your wit’s end trying to find a troubled teen program that will teach your child responsibility, look no further than local babysitting. Not only can babysitting keep your teen occupied outside of school, but it can also teach a troubled teen how to be responsible for another life. It may start out supervised by a parent, or shadowing another experience sitter, but at some point, they will be left on their own to care for a small child.
While this may seem like a daunting task and one you may fear as a parent, it’s actually a really great way for your teen to gain some valuable life experience. Below are listed several reasons why you should encourage your teen to get into the babysitting game, and how it will make them a better person in the long run.
It will teach them personal responsibility. When your teen is put in charge of someone as needy as a young child, they learn very quickly that the well-being of this person is going to depend on how well they do their job. If they are mature enough to handle this with grace, it can show them that they can handle many more tasks that require their leadership and that the success of these projects may fall on their shoulders.
It will be their first experience when earning money. Babysitting can be a lucrative business once word-of-mouth has reached the neighborhood about your teen’s great skills with children. With all of this cash coming in, now is a good time to talk with your child about spending versus saving, and maybe even open a checking account in their name. When they learn that not all money needs to be spent immediately, they learn how to budget for the things they want or need in life.
It can teach them life-saving skills. A lot of parents, particularly if the gig is a long-standing one, will request that their caretaker learn certain emergency techniques to be prepared. Classes on infant and child CPR, as well as basic first aid, are a major plus on the resume of a young babysitter. While you may hope they never have to perform these skills, it’s important that your teen knows how to handle an emergency situation, and could end up saving a life. These skills can come in handy other places as well, such as a teen wilderness program where your child may be a counselor after gaining babysitting experience.
It can be their first experience with networking. Trust is a huge factor in deciding who will care for a little one, and if your teen establishes a reputation as being trustworthy and responsible, they will be highly sought after as a sitter. These type of networking skills will come in handy later in their chosen careers, as they learn the value of a good reputation in the working world.
It will teach them scheduling. With everything going on in your teen’s world, having to move around activities in order to pick up a babysitting job here and there will teach them the value of flexibility. This can also teach that not everything goes according to plan, so being prepared to prioritize is important.