Tips & Tricks For Babysitting Remotely

(CBS DETROIT) - With Michigan still under "Stay At Home" orders and schools across the state closed, parents have embraced many different ways to keep their kids educated and entertained.  One solution is for parents to hire an online babysitter to read a book, help with homework or engage with different activities over the internet.  It's called Babysitting Remotely or virtual childcare and it is used to help entertain, look after, or care for a child remotely by using a video calling app such as Skype or Facetime.  This can be helpful if the parent is working from home and is momentarily preoccupied or needs to concentrate on something.  The staff at babysits.com has shared some tips, tricks and real-life experiences for you to consider before your first remote babysitting experience.

Firstly, make sure you have a "getting to know you" meeting with the parents and the child(ren) via an online platform like Skype for example.  That way you can get to know each other a little bit more, decide on an hourly rate, share your contact information for emergencies, talk about the activites you will be doing and how long the babysitting appointment will take.

During the first few minutes of a babysitting appointment, the parent should stay for the first few minutes until the child is settled and doing something fun with the babysitter.  The parent should always be in the same house or room as the child.

A fun first activity is to "draw your life."  This will help the babysitter and child get to know each other better.  Tell about yourself, your hobbies, where you live and who your friends are.  While you are telling this, you will also draw it to show it to the child.  Once the babysitter is finished, it's the child's turn to share.

Here's 8 nice extra tips shared by babysits.com for those interested in becoming an online babysitter:

• Tip 1: The parent should always be in the same house or even room as the child.
• Tip 2: Before starting with online babysitting, don't forget to ask for the phone number of the parent. If something happens, the child needs to go to the toilet, the internet connection is not working, the child doesn't have concentration anymore etc. you can easily call the parent, and the parent can come in the room and take care of the child.
• Tip 3: Always remember that the activities will probably take a little bit more time and effort than usual. Especially when you are teaching something to a kid, like how to play an instrument or when you are helping them with homework. Always stay patient and don't forget to include some extra breaks.
• Tip 4: When you are teaching how to play an instrument, make sure that the webcam is focused on your hands instead of your face. By doing this it is easier for the child to learn.
• Tip 5: Babysitting remotely is not for really young kids. Once a child can speak, sit by themselves and can concentrate longer than 30 minutes, the child is ready for online babysitting. If the parent doesn't know if it will be possible for their child, we recommend to first try it out for a few minutes while the parent is still there and then decide together with the parent if it is possible for the child.
• Tip 6: Remote babysitting is not meant for the entire day. If a parent really needs to concentrate on their work or has a meeting, babysitting remotely is perfect. 1 hour to 3 hours is fine for online babysitting, but we don't recommend to babysit longer than this. With longer calls, the chances are high that the child will lose focus.
• Tip 7: Using a computer instead of a phone is easier.
• Tip 8: There are actually a lot of activities that you still can do while babysitting remotely. Here are some ideas for things to do while being an online babysitter; teach the children how to play an instrument, read a book to them, dance and sing together, do some easy DIY's together, help the children with their homework, teach the kids a different language, chit chat, play games and do some exercises together.

Here are some online babysitter experiences shared by babysits.com:

Deborah - "I heard from my aunt that my cousin felt lonely because she could no longer see her classmates and friends. To help her a little bit, I called her and we chatted for a while. Afterwards it seemed a nice idea to read my favorite book from when I was a child, called Ezzies Diary. My cousin really enjoyed chatting with me and listening to the story. We have agreed to do this every week!"

Julia - "I tried remote homework assistance with Marie for the first time a few days ago. I guess the main benefit for her and her parents was that I was keeping her busy while the parents were working from home. Being present online and answering her questions helped her to focus and made me use my brains to get back into surprisingly tricky maths exercises!"

Elena - "My first experience as a remote babysitter was really nice. Together with Victoria we learned the numbers in English from 1 to 10. It was quite easy to do this exercise through the screen. The internet connection was sometimes the only problem that we had. But other than that it was helpful for her. Looking forward to the next online tutoring call!"

Charlotte - "When I first heard about remote babysitting on Babysits I have to admit that I wondered how this was possible. Now I am looking after Valentine remotely while her parents are working from home. We had a good time, we even created a dance and did some DIY's together."

Joseph - "My experience remote babysitting with Lizzy was really fun. We played piano together and I tried to help her learn some basic melodies. It was a little more difficult than usual to show which keys she needed to play, but with a bit of practice and changing the camera angle so she could watch where my hands played it worked out quite well!"

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