Babysitting Basics

Babysitting
Dayee
1990

I’m going to have to award this book “most boring cover art.” Seriously, this book design looks like they had some bad wallpaper laying around and someone said, “Hey, put that on a book, the teens will love it.”

Cover “art” not withstanding, the content isn’t too bad. The book is written in scenarios followed by a brief discussion. There is also a business-like theme so kids think about this professionally, including interviewing. The general advice is okay, but the technology available these days (cell phones, nanny cams, etc.) definitely needs to be discussed for 21st century babysitters.

Having three younger sisters made me a pro babysitter by the time I was 11. The going rate when I was babysitting in the early 1970s, was about 75 cents an hour. I had one dad try and talk me down to 50 cents an hour. I did it and then was subjected to an entire day of cooking and caring for three horrible kids for 5 dollars. There are some days when I think that day is a metaphor for my life in librarianship, or maybe preparation for my career. But I digress…

So, to recap: