A Peek Into the Life of a Working Mom: How to Deal with Texting Babysitters


Working moms are at the mercy of the childcare providers so seeing this headline captured my attention, “How to Stop Your Babysitter from Texting on the Job”.  With my first child, we used nannies for nearly the first three years of her life.  If you have followed this blog, you know that the first left unexpectedly and the second was with us for a full year.  Without disparaging either young woman, one constant challenge we had was keeping them off of their cell phones.

We live in a small neighborhood with a lot of retirees. So, I was fortunate to constantly get updates from my neighbors about their observations.  While it was too bad that I couldn’t persuade any of them to take the assignment themselves, it was nice to know that they were keeping an eye on my daughter. 

One of their comments surrounded the amount of time the nannies were on their cell phones, either talking on them or texting on them. A walk around our courtyard involved the baby in the stroller and the nanny texting with one hand and pushing the stroller with the other. Hearing these reports was both reassuring and maddening. 
It was reassuring that people were looking out for my kid, but it was maddening that I was somewhat powerless When you work all day, there’s a HUGE enforcement issue with those that work in your home.  There were things about having a nanny that bothered me nearly every day.  One of the main things was the use of the cell phone.  The problem was regulating cell phone was incredibly challenging.  The only way I knew to regulate that was by looking at cell phone records regularly, which was a practice I didn't want to engage in. 

I gravitate towards articles that discuss topics that I've struggled with.  So, I was encouraged when I found an article that purported to give moms tips about how to stop texting on the job.  I am sharing it with all of you so that you can benefit from these tips.  I need to learn from them too. Now that we're expecting a new baby, we're exploring our childcare options once again.  Wish us luck! 
"How to Stop Your Babysitter from Texting on the Job" http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20140225/babysitte.texting/












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