The Drawbacks of Getting a Family Member to Baby-sit
Parents on a budget often consider themselves lucky to have a family member, be it an aunt, uncle, or grandparent, who is willing to provide some form of childcare for them. However, while this might be convenient in a lot of ways, getting a family member to provide babysitting has a number of drawbacks, as well.
For one, if a day care or a babysitter fails to provide the level of service you expect from them, you can fire them. A grandparent might not understand why they’re now no longer allowed to baby-sit their grandchild, and it can cause a rift between family members. Babysitters also tend to understand that a child’s parents are their bosses, and will try hard to perform well at their job. Family members might take a more lackadaisical attitude.
Secondly, a day care center or babysitter will generally have an agreed-upon price for their services. Many parents expect family members to provide childcare for free, which isn’t a fair expectation. Conversely, some family members might expect to be paid more than a regular babysitter, just by virtue of the fact that they’re related to the child, or think that they’re doing the parents a big favor by babysitting.
Some relatives might also take babysitting time as an opportunity to criticize the parenting skills of a child’s parents, or try to do things “their way” instead, whereas a day care center or non-related babysitter will tend to be more impartial. This can also be a source of tension between family members, leading to more long-term unpleasantness than the actual babysitting was worth in the first place.
Relatives might try to get away with more than a day care center or a babysitter. While a babysitter probably wouldn’t think of taking a child along to run errands, or socialize, someone related to the child might see nothing wrong with that. This might be fine with some parents, but can be a source of anxiety for others, who are more comfortable with their children being in one place until they get home.
Though having relatives baby-sit has a number of down sides, it can still be a great arrangement for parents who don’t have access to reliable babysitters or professional daycare. To make sure that this arrangement never becomes a problem, parents should provide relatives with clear-cut requests and expectations, as well as be willing to provide some form of compensation for their relatives’ time and energy. As long as both parties know exactly what is and isn’t acceptable, having family members baby-sit is a great way to let children spend time with relatives they wouldn’t normally see, and bond with the rest of their family members. Get to know more on child care.
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