Babysitters

[weeksmom04]

I was wondering if anyone here uses babysitters for thier ODD children?

My 15 yo daughter babysits for a few minutes here and there but I can't trust my little boy to stay with her for much longer than that because he will actually beat her up if she tells him something he doesn't want to hear.

If I need to go somewhere for more than just a few minutes I have to either schedule it during the day or take him with me.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Beth

[jj]

Do you know any other Mom's that have an ODD child? I ask because I was thinking they may have very similar circumstances and maybe you could exchange babysitting - she take your child while you go run necessary errands and then you take her child, etc.

Sorry, that's the only thing I can think of.

[katiekat]

This has been a huge problem for me also. When my son was in kindergarten it was only a half-day so we needed a babysitter since we both work. Very long story short we went through 3 babysitters in under 2 months and I ended up having to quit my job.
Do you have any place that has respite care in your area? This was suggested to me but unfortunately there was nothing in my area.
I can't remember if your son goes to public school? Maybe someone from there. I was a 1 on 1 teacher's assistant with special needs kids and a few parents who had difficulty finding a sitter asked me to sit for them since I was familiar with their children already.

[anon4now]

Can you find someone and do practice runs? Teach the sitter how to handle your son's needs, and help your son to deal with a new person in his life? You can also look for students in college that are studying some type of psychology major or something.

Also, I know there are babysitting websites. Our diabetes community uses one because it's hard to find someone who can care for diabetic kids. Maybe you can find something like that (or even someone within that community, since they are already sensitive to special needs.) Here are some links:

www.safesittings.com/
www.care.com/special-needs-p1141.html

And here's an article that looks like they have some ideas.

www.ehow.com/how_2362603_find-babysitter-special-needs-child.html

Quite honestly, we decided to be a one income family because it wasn't sitting right to pay someone to watch my son, and not watch him "correctly." Hope the links are helpful.

Anon

[puzzled]

The idea of finding someone already familiar somewhat with your child is a good one...or a college student studying that field.

I cared for a set of autistic twin boys for over 3 years until they became old enough to attend school full days. I had been their older sister's preschool teacher for two years and when I was no longer teaching, their mother called me to inquire if I would babysit them. She felt I would be a good fit, and it did work out. She had gone through several sitters and her parents were too elderly to care for them and their needs fulltime. Since I had an education background, I was able to understand their needs and taught them many self help life skills as well, such as eating with utensils, and dressing themselves, etc. At 3 and a half years old, when I first got them, they knew none of that and were largely nonverbal.

[jill]

I am the same way real careful on whom to use as sitter and I have a hard time trusting others. When I take my child who also has odd I tell her up front this is the deal and what I expect of her and for reward I let her have more time on computer, or TV or her DS game. I even practice how to behave before going and let her know how she is doing while we are there. And yes she has acted out in public resulting in no reward but she knows the deal and it does help.

Is there any teen you trust that has a good relationship with your child? Do you have any family to help out?