Tears are a fact of business. Your teen should learn that the child's reaction is not personal. The child is simply afraid or sad. The best way to handle it is to follow the child's lead. If a child wants to be held, hold him, but work on getting him sidetracked. Assure him that his parents will return soon, and then tell him some of the things you plan to do together. Then get started reading a book, building a block tower or whatever. If the child doesn't want to participate, the sitter can do the activity. Frequently, this distracts the child and he gets involved in the activity.
Help your teen learn how to impress parents. Your teen should dress neatly and conservatively. She should be ready on time if she is being picked up. If she is arriving on her own, come a few minutes early and offer to entertain the children while the parents finish getting ready. She should be polite and should show interest in the children, bending to their level to talk to them, and asking to see their toys. Impress them by asking intelligent questions if it is a first job: When is bedtime? What is the bedtime routine? What rules should she be aware of? Where are the emergency supplies and numbers?
When the parents return, they should find the house in the same condition they left it. Dishes used while the teen was in charge should be in the dishwasher or rinsed and stacked. Toys should be picked up-except for the one being used. If the children are supposed to be in bed asleep, see to it that they are. If they are supposed to be awake, have your teen be playing with them when the parents arrive. I loved coming home and finding the children curled up in the sitter's lap listening contentedly to a story. If the sitter wanted to finish the story before leaving, I was even happier, since it suggested she cared about them.
Make sure your teen knows how to handle an emergency. When my children are just starting to sit, I always stay home so they can call if they need help. Be sure they ask the parents for emergency phone numbers. Practice with them so they know what to do if something goes wrong.
Babysitting is a tremendous responsibility, but it can also be very rewarding for teens who really work at it.
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