How long til my babysitter quits?

[crazyhouse]

KK You say she has tons of stuff to keep him amused toys and what not. Could it be that he might be over stimulated in the situation? Maybe she could put some of the stuff away before he gets there and only have a few items or a set craft for him to do. I know when Jake has Christmas or a birthday he gets tons of stuff from relatives and we have a hard time keeping him focused. Just a thought. She sounds like it could be a great fit, don't get discouraged. He might just need time to adjust to the different schedule.

[katiekat]

Wow that is true for Sean also. He tends to go nuts when there are a million things around at once. He runs from activity to activity and cant focus on one or settle down. He DID have alot of things strewn all over the place when I picked him up. Im going to talk to her on Tuesday when he goes back.

[crazyhouse]

Jake goes nuts and he doesn't relize how fast he is moving. He is like a hurricane going around and around. His signs that there is to much on his mind he stops, identifies, gets it open (usually all the pieces out) and then walks away (leaves it for me to clean up) Drives me nuts! The other thing is if there is to much food on his plate he won't eat or if we are going to many places in one day he starts to get bored and misbehave. Spontinatey is the worst thing for Jake unless it is like the park or Chuckie Cheese. We use a lot of scheduling 11:15 eat lunch 11:45 get ready for the bus 12:00 go to bus stop. He can't tell time yet but we keep telling him it's 11:15 the bus will be here in 50 minutes.

As a child my mom worked 50 hours a week and I saw a lot of bad baby sitters, and in our neighberhood there isn't a lot of nice people. we just got lucky. She sounds like a great babysitter, she just needs some more education. Keep trying don't give up

[John]

:-*Here's an Idea that poped into my head whilst I was reading/scanning . . . Is there a Hospital or some other such entity that can be contacted to see if they offer or know about or can direct you to a source that has babysitters available for kids with needs . . . ?

[lynn]

AS A FORMER BABYSITTER, i HAVE NEVER TURNED A KID AWAY BECUSE HE HAD PROBLEMS. i HAD ONE KID THAT DROVE ME CRAZY, WOULDN'T SIT STILL, HAD NIGHT TERRORS DURING HIS NAP, WOULD HURT THE OTHER KIDS, YOU NAME IT HE DID IT, I WORKED MY BUT OFF WITH THIS LITTLE GUY, HE WOULD COME IN SCREAMIN AT 6AM AND i WOULD HAVE HIM SIT ON THE PORCH AND LET HIM SCREAM TILL HE WAS DONE.

i HAD TO KEEP ON MY TOES WITH THIS KID AND i COULD NEVER GIVE IN OR HAVE A BAD DAY WITH THIS KID, BUT AFTER 4 YEARS HE HAS GROWN AND FLOURISHED AND WITH MY HELP MOM HAS TAKEN HIM TO BEHAVIOR THERAPY AND PUT HIM IN A PRESCHOOL.

TRY GIVING THE BABYSITTER IDEAS, WHEN HE ACTS CERTAIN WAY. AND REALLY WORK WITH HER OR SHE WILL DROP YOU LIKE A HOT POTATO....BE REAL OPEN AND YOU MAY BE ABLE TO WORK THIS OUT.

GOOD LUCK

[puzzled]

That is exactly what I am thinking too....I have never turned away a child because of "problems".... I have a set of autistic twins...we only found out they were autistic 1 month ago, but they have taken food off of other children's plates, drank out of EVERYONE'S cup, broken more toys than I can count, ate my fish food (yukk!!), put toys into the fish tank, played in their feces...I could go on...all of this happened BEFORE the dx, and I just worked with them...I went online and got advice ( I suspected autism long before the mother was willing to get help) and now they are somewhat potty trained...at 5 and 1/2 years old! When the mom called me almost two years ago to sign them up, she told me that they were "almost potty trained"....even today, they will only go when you take them, and the bowel training is hit and miss....

BUT, I would never tell their mom that I would no longer bbsit due to their issues.

I really hope that this woman hangs in there and tries some strategies to help your little boy....it is so rewarding to see them thrive and know that you are some small part of it!

[unicorn]

Katie - I hope that things work out for you too. I like the idea of not having too many things out at once for them to play with. Tiff does the same thing when there are too many choices. She will only stick with one for a short time and then in the end there is stuff everywhere.

Hopefully you and her can work together to find Sean's strengths and find what she can do to play on his strengths.

[katiekat]

Good day at the babysitter's! I suggested to her that after lunch she give Sean a bit of quiet time which is what I do at home. He doesnt have to nap but just give him a quiet area without a lot of toys,maybe a puzzle or crayons and paper and minimal interaction. It seemed to work today. She said he was much calmer then he has been. She's going to do this every day now so hopefully things will get better. I think he must just need that down time after school.

[charliegirl]

Thats great! I hope it continues to work.

[lynn]

quiet time is perfect..no mater the age at my house we all had quiet time, most of the time it was when we watched a move or t.v., right after lunch....sometimes it would be reading or drawing, Iwould turn the lights low and put out blankets to lay on.
and if someone did fall asleep I would tell the other children they had to play quietly and only pull out one toy, like small connectors or lacing cards.

this was a great way for me to have soe down time but it gave the kids a break from the stimulation.

also I found that they were much more behaved in the afternoon.