A good babysitter doesn't show up and park the children in front of the television set while she listens to music, watches her own program or does her homework. A good sitter works hard at providing a fun and safe experience for the children she is caring for. When I was a teen, a mother told me she never felt guilty leaving her children to go have fun, because they were having fun too. They even begged for me to come over. It wasn't that I had an exceptional talent for children. It was simply that I enjoyed being with them and that I worked hard to see that they had fun. I was amused when Ann Martin's books, The Babysitters Club, came out, because her sitting techniques, even to the Kid Kit, were so similar to my own.
First, have your teen name her sitting business, and perhaps even use her computer to create business cards. This will help her to feel like she really has a business. She might consider building a bag of toys, books and craft supplies to take with her. She can pick these up at yard sales for very little money. Remind her to think of this as a business expense. All good businesses have them. These toys, as Ann Martin explains, and as I learned as a teen, make you very popular with children. They get new stuff to play with. My trick was to refuse to open the bag until the parents were out the door, which helped to fend off tears. One child, who had always cried, starting ordering her mother out the door the minute I arrived. The mother, who knew she should be pleased, was actually a little hurt until I explained about the bag. Then she decided just to be glad she could leave without hearing sobs.
Have your teen come up with a plan. If the children have a plan of their own, that's fine, but her plan will be a backup. I memorized several good stories for telling, learned simple games, and practiced silly kid songs that I could spring on a fussy child. I was always good for a picture book...or six.
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