SAVING MONEY FOR SUMMER!!!

So what are your kids doing this summer? Going to camp? Daycare? Maybe staying at home with a sitter? If a sitter’s coming, do you have all the information organized? And I mean EVERYTHING? Will she know the kids’ schedules and habits? What about emergency instructions? Time limits on electronics? Will she even know how to turn on the Wii? And if you have a Special Needs child, does she understand all that entails?

You’ve seen Melissa and I write about The Caregiver Organizer many times. Now is your chance to get one at 25% off for the summer. Maybe you’ll be using a new sitter, or maybe your child’s needs are just changing. Whatever the reason, The Caregiver Organizer can help you!

So here’s the Summer Special:

25% OFF

The Caregiver Organizer for MY Child

(use coupon code “child25”)

AND

The Caregiver Organizer for MY Special Needs Child

(use coupon code “snchild25”)

Click HERE to get to our website and download your eBook today at 25% off the regular price (which, by the way, is pretty inexpensive anyway!).

Here’s to an organized summer for you AND your babysitters!

Karen

 

GUEST BLOGGER – VANESSA VAN PETTEN

5 Tips For Being An Awesome Babysitter

By Vanessa Van Petten, author and creator of RadicalParenting.com, a parenting blog written by kids.  She also is the founder of the Radical Parenting Babysitter Certification course.

Babysitting can be an awesome way to make extra money or even as a full time career if you love working with kids and families.  Whether you are babysitting or you are a parent wanting to give your new babysitter some tips, here are some of our favorite pieces of advice for being an awesome babysitter:

1. Have a stock of babysitter games
You never know when you are going to be in a house with no TV, while it's raining outside and a shortage of snacks.  Always have a notebook full of games you can play anywhere.  This can be word games for older kids, coloring games for younger kids or get-to-know-you icebreakers for those awkward first moments.

2. Be prepared
Make sure you know the family's basic emergency numbers, the number for poison control and a back-up adult you can call.  You never know when you might need a little extra help and it is better to be safe than sorry!

3. Know how to make fun snacks and basic kid recipes
I cannot tell you how many times I went over to a family's house and the mom wanted me to whip up Mac and Cheese, pasta or rice and veggies.  Make sure to watch some videos on boiling pasta, cooking rice and heating up certain foods. Hungry kids mean irritable kids!

4. Consider getting a babysitter certification!
A babysitter certification is a course for babysitters. Ours is four parts and we cover hundreds of topics that babysitters deal with on the job and provide answers, activities and programs for them. (See full list of lessons below). In the course babysitters go through a workbook, textbook and complete homework lessons before taking the final exam.

Once certified, you can use our programs, recommendations and referrals to build their business. Many parents have also signed their babysitters up for the program as a refresher on ideas, safety tips and activities for their kids.

5. Practice
Offer to babysit neighbors or cousins for free until you get less nervous about being alone and feel like you can handle all kinds of situations.
We hope these tips have helped! Be sure to check out our Babysitter certification course, we also offer a bunch of free tips!
--
Vanessa Van Petten
Author: "You're Grounded!"
http://RadicalParenting.com
Twitter: @vvanpetten
Subscribe to our newsletter via email:
http://www.radicalparenting.com/join-page/subscribe-page/
Vote for Us! Bloggers Choice Awards: http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/47141
Check out my next book: Parenting Is Flat
http://www.radicalparenting.com/parenting-is-flat/

YOU FINALLY HIRED A SITTER: NOW WHAT?

I love guest blogging! Isn’t that funny, because when Melissa and I started this adventure 4 years ago, she was the writer and I was the “business-person.” Now our roles have definitely blurred into each other’s, and I’m loving it!

So this has absolutely nothing to do with the title of this post, does it? (Ha, great writing, Karen!) So here it is: I was invited to write a blog post on a great blog, which is an extension of the website Momologie. If you’ve never been there, please check it out (and not just saying that because I’m on there!). The best way I can describe it is that it’s “grown up family stuff.” (I know, another sterling example of how my writing skills have developed!) They have wonderful family tips, but with class and style and maturity. If you like what you see, sign up for their daily newsletter. It’s free, of course! (Okay, I admit that sometimes it’s a bit too classy and mature for me, but probably not for you!)

You can find my article here.  And it’s not just a blatant sales piece to get you to buy my book, (although if you want to buy it, you can go to www.bythebookkids.com!), but it actually gives helpful advice how to really enjoy your time away from your kids so you can come home refreshed and relaxed.

So take a look. It will be like getting 2 blog posts for the price of 1 today!

 

Karen

BY THE BOOK IS ON SALE!!! TODAY ONLY!!!

How many times have you left tons of notes for the sitter, only to realize halfway through dinner that you forgot to tell her that ONE most important thing? You should be relaxed when you get time away from the kiddos.

Melissa and I want to help every parent out there get more organized when it comes to childcare so that you CAN be relaxed, whether you get away from your kids everyday or once a year! (Oh, but if it’s only once a year, you need to get out more, girlfriend!)

By The Book: How To Take Care of MY Kids is a workbook for parents to fill out with information about THEIR children to give to their caregiver. This could be a full time nanny, occasional babysitter or even Grandma. (Okay, let’s be honest. It could even help Daddy, right?) Having everything organized will give you peace of mind when somebody else is watching your children.

TODAY ONLY we will be selling the hardbound book at HALF PRICE! Only $9.95 plus s/h. Just go to http://www.bythebookkids.com/ and use coupon code OCTSALE for your 50% discount!

And if you don’t have small children, do you know anyone who does? Or do you know anybody who is about to be a mom for the first time? This makes a GREAT gift!

Karen

Review on Care4Hire.com

Review:

You know… we’re busy. And not just a little busy, a LOT busy. On any given day we can be a chauffer, housekeeper, problem solver, mediator, entertainer, mechanic, nurse, employee (or boss), dog groomer, concierge, and above all, caregiver. We seem to take care of everyone (except ourselves, but that’s a whole different issue) including our kids, our spouse, our parents, our pets, our neighbors, and even the stranger at the grocery store who needs help getting something off the shelf.

Whew! We need help sometimes, if for no other reason than to save our sanity. But where to go for this help? I’d hire someone if I just knew where to find them. Well, now there is such a place.

Care4hire.com is an online database for families and caregivers to search babysitters, housekeepers, tutors, elder/companion care, pet sitters and other miscellaneous services. A free preview of available caregivers is available to families. Whether you need a caregiver for a few hours to a few days, you will find it at Care4hire.com. Once you are a registered member, you will be given immediate access to caregivers through email and phone.

So I went to Care4hire.com and entered my zip code. Here’s what came up for me within a 25 mile radius:

• 348 babysitters/nannies
• 9 housekeepers
• 8 tutors
• 16 companion/elder caregivers
• 19 pet sitters
• 17 miscellaneous helpers

WOW! Surely, even someone as neurotic and picky as I am should be able to find somebody to help me out from all these prospects. And they even offer background checks (for an additional fee) and suggested interview questions.

GIVEAWAY:

The president of Care4hire.com, Candi Wingate, has generously offered a gift certificate for 1 month of free service, a $29.99 value. The contest will end on July 15th at midnight CST, when the winner will be picked at random.

HOW TO ENTER:

Primary Entry: Go to Care4hire.com to check out what they do. Let me know which service would be most useful to you and why.

*This entry is mandatory to allow additional entries!

Additional Entries (be sure to leave a comment for each entry):

• Subscribe & Follow my blog via email
• Follow me on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway (remember to use @karmelpub when tweeting)
• Follow Care4hire.com on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway
• Blog about this giveaway and provide a link back to here
• Grab our button and place on your blog

GOOD LUCK!

By The Book: Caring For MY Kids

REVIEW:

I was sitting in the publisher’s office, nervously wading through the questions. Six hours from home, away for the third day, and my cell phone starts to ring. I check the ID. “I’m sorry, I need to take this. It’s home.”

“Dance clothes? Yes, it’s in the book. Directions to class? In there, too. And YES you have to wait for her. Check the DAILY ROUTINE Section.”

***************************************************************************

I had just put my feet into the hot, swirling bath. I had waited for a long time for this pedicure and not much was going to spoil it, except a phone call from my sitter. Thinking the worst, I answer the call.

“How do you get the DVD player to work? Remember, it’s in the book. Look under HOUSEHOLD ODDS AND ENDS.”

***************************************************************************

I had fifteen minutes before our big date. In those fifteen minutes, I had to pull up my hair, throw on some make-up and leave notes for the sitter. “One down,” I thought. “I finished updating the book yesterday. Now on to hair and make-up.”

***************************************************************************

Some days it seems like I’m the only one who knows what’s going on with my kids. Don’t get me wrong. I love them beyond all reason, but 24/7 for 365 days a year? I don’t know that even Mother Theresa could do that! I need that time away. And sometimes I’m working outside the home and just can’t be reached. So where is that “Lost Manual” that never came with our kids the day they were born?

I finally found it! By The Book: Caring for MY Kids is the instruction book that YOU fill out about YOUR kids. It has EVERYTHING. Fill out all the information about your kids and you won’t need to be bothered for a thing. It’s win-win for you, the caregiver and the kids! The book is divided into five sections and takes only minutes to fill out. There is a place for the kids’ routines, school information, important phone numbers, household rules and whatnot, emergency contact and procedures and even a place to organize all of your sitter information. My most used section is the Sitter Notes. Every time I use a sitter, I pull out a page from sitter notes. The nice thing is she knows exactly what to look for when she lets herself and the kids into the house.

This book has made organizing my kids’ information a snap. Now I can do what I need to do without worrying about leaving the sitter or significant other all the information they need. After all, it’s in the book!


GIVEAWAY:

We are giving away an eBook of By The Book: Caring For MY Kids to TWO lucky winners, chosen at random. The contest will end at midnight on June 17, 2009.

HOW TO ENTER:

Primary Entry: Go to http://bythebookkids.com/insidethebook.aspx to view the different sections of the book, then come back here and tell me what part of By The Book would be most useful to you and why.

*This entry is mandatory to allow additional entries!

Additional Entries (be sure to leave a comment for each entry):

• Subscribe & Follow my blog via email = ONE ENTRY
• Follow me on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway = ONE ENTRY (remember to use @karmelpub when tweeting)
• Blog about this giveaway and provide a link back to here = ONE ENTRY
• Grab our button and place on your blog = ONE ENTRY

GOOD LUCK!

CAN YOU PLEASE BABYSIT SATURDAY NIGHT?

Do you remember when you used to babysit? Okay, besides the fact that we got LESS THAN $1.00 per hour (oops, am I showing my age?), we tried to get away with as much as possible, right? Whether it was eating every bit of junk food they had in the house or (gasp!) sneaking the boyfriend in after the kids were asleep. We were, after all, teenagers!

But now we’re the PARENTS, and we know what they are up to (eek!). But, when looking for a babysitter most of us just ask our friends and neighbors who they use, then we call them, right? But shouldn’t we use the same thought and effort when hiring the 3 hour babysitter as we would use if hiring a full time nanny? We are still trusting somebody with our children, our home, our lives for those 3 hours that we are gone.

In our book, “By The Book: Caring For MY Kids,” we’ve included a section just for parents. It has interview questions for the potential sitter, as well as forms to fill out with your sitter’s information once you hire him or her. It even lets you “rate” the sitter and lets your child do the same. Hmmm, interesting differences in those ratings, don’t you think? J

What we’d love to do is look the potential sitter in the eyes and demand answers to “Do you have a boyfriend?” or “Have you ever tried illegal drugs?” or even “Are you going to pay attention to my kids and play with them?” But, it’s probably not the best approach! Don’t forget, they are checking YOU out, too!

Here is a sample of the questions you will find in the book:

1. Are you certified in Infant or Child CPR? How about First Aid?
2. Have you completed the Red Cross Babysitter Certification Course, or similar course offered at school?
3. What grade are you in at school and what are your grades?
4. What are your extra-curricular activities and hobbies? (This can tell you a TON about what kind of person she is.)
5. What age children are you most comfortable with and why?

These are just a few of the questions you might consider asking a potential sitter.

Depending on the person’s age, you might even want to have her parent there with you during the interview. Not only do you want to be comfortable with her, but you want her to be comfortable with you, and sometimes that means having the parent at ease also. And don’t forget, if she runs into problems, she’s probably going to call her own mother first, before bothering you while you’re out. Soooo… yes, you’re checking out the mom, too!

Next week, we’ll discuss how to hire a nanny. And VERY SOON we will have a giveaway for a FREE book, so keep checking back!

Karen