Success On the Job ~ Cleanliness

 No experienced babysitter can ever express the importance of cleanliness on the job. A lot of the fun activities I do with my client's kids require some wiggle room when it comes to being clean, and so I have to remember that if I want to do fun stuff with the kids, I have to clean up after myself (and them!).

 Imagine you are a parent, coming from from a long, boring, stressful business meeting or it's midnight and you just got back from a party or a late night showing of a movie. You walk into the house, and the house is an absolute mess. There are dirty dishes piled high in the sink, crusty pizza sauce on the counter, toys and stuffed animals on the floor, and your not quite sure what that blue spot on the floor was supposed to be, but you were sure it wasn't there before you left the house. After you get home, of course, you are stressed or just plain tired!  Coming home to a messy house wouldn't be an ideal way to come home when you were dreaming of a nap after that movie or a blanket and a book to get your mind off of that annoying secretary for awhile. To top it off, you realize that you have to pay good money to your sitter, who should have gotten all of this accomplished before you stepped in the doorway.

 Okay, well, if I were you in that scenario, I wouldn't be giving that babysitter a call back... nor as a babysitter would I expect one!

 When I am babysitting and the kids and I make a bit of a mess, it always gets cleaned up. I just absolutely cannot stress the importance of cleaning up after yourself and the child(ren) when you babysit. When everyone is occupied (close by!), napping, or in bed for the night, I go around the house to make sure anything we made a mess up is tidied up before the parents get home. I also as the parents of the kids if there is anything else I can do, such as unloading/loading the dishwasher (I would always ask permission first, though).

 A few cleaning musts:

•  Counters and tables
• dishes
• things such as blankets and toys on the floor
• stains and spills
• swept up floor

 Make sure the house just looks nice overall... if it was a bit messy before, take care of what you can in that area, even if it wasn't your mess or the child's mess. A parent always likes coming home to a clean home after a long day.

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