What house rules should I set for a babysitter?
The house rules for your babysitter can vary from family to family. Typical ones are: don't use the telephone; it's only there for me to call you, or for you to call me. Other rules are no visitors whatsoever, no boyfriends, no girlfriends. Also, I would make sure that they don't smoke when they're over there, because they're always going to be away from the child, usually, when that happens, and that instance puts a child at risk, anyway, because they're not being watched at that time. I would also make sure that they understand when bedtimes are, whatever process that you have before bedtime, that that's followed, that they know exactly what you do first, second, and third. I would certainly do it with them, if you can, before you leave your child with the babysitter. I'd go through the whole process with them. Some parents do things to get their kids settled down before they go to bed, so first they might take a bath and then they might read to them, and then they might get into bed. Whatever that thing is that they do, that's a consistent thing every night, you want to make sure that they follow your rules and do exactly those same things.
