Dear Parents:
BabysitterU is a division of Kidproof Safety and is designed to help provide training and education for teenaged babysitters. Kids can take a class, read related articles and share comments that will help them become safe and more confident sitters.
Parents have many questions when it comes to hiring a babysitter, or letting their kids babysit. We have answered the most common questions below for you. If you still have questions, do not hesitate to contact us directly be calling 1-866-467-2338 or by email info@mybabysitteru.com. We answer all emails!
Is my child “certified” to babysit after taking a babysitting class?
There is no such thing as a “Babysitters License” for teenagers. All babysitting courses, regardless of who delivers them, are participatory – and should never be promoted or sold with the believe that kids will be “licensed” to babysit afterwards.
Successful students receive a certificate of completion. This is not a license – but a certificate that they can use to show their prospective clients that they have been trained in how to be a safe and reliable babysitter.
Warning: If any babysitting class designed for kids and teens tells you or your kids that students get a “babysitters license” or will be “certified to babysit” in Canada or the USA, this is false and we advise not to enroll in that program.
How old does my child have to be before they can babysit?
Kidproof is a global child safety organization that delivers a number of child safety education programs around the world. Some countries may have different laws and we are not able to keep up with them all. We recommend that you contact your local child welfare office or police department to ensure there are no laws that relate specifically to teens babysitting.
USA and Canada
In many countries/provinces/states there is no specific law that states when a child is able to babysit. This is because children mature at different rates, and some teens may not be ready or responsible enough to care for others until they are well into their teens.
Most laws speak about the need to “protect a child” or “care for other children” or use similar language rather than “babysitting.” In most Provinces (Canada) and States (USA) there is no specific law but many kids are ready to begin to care for other kids around age twelve (12).
All children have the right to be protected and safe, and it is the responsibility of the parents to ensure that the child is safe in all situations. Often these laws dictate that parents are responsible until the child is the age of majority. However, many children are babysitting before they are 18 or 19 years old.
Who’s decision it is to allow a child to babysit?
As a parent, it is important that you ensure that your teenage babysitter is prepared, trained and responsible enough to take care of her/himself as well as others. You have the final say in whether your teen can babysit, and we support this rule throughout our training.
Do you help parents find babysitters that have taken your training?
We are not a babysitting matching service. Kidproof trains teenage babysitters and insists that all teenage babysitter only babysit for people that they know and that their parents have approved.
We do not provide the names or contact information of any of our students.
We also understand that finding a great babysitter can be a challenge and recommend these tricks that may help you:
1. Speak to people at your workplace for a recommendation.
2. Ask your child if they have any “helpers” at school from higher grades that may be in interested in babysitting for you.
3. Find a group of kids through friends and family and arrange a private babysitting class (with instructor) and develop a pool of trained babysitters that you know.
4. Offer to pay for the Online training of a teenager you know that may be interested in the job.
5. Seek to hire college students. There are a couple of great sites that will help with the search. www.sittercity.com or www.canadiansitters.ca
Protecting your child’s privacy
We are very committed to protecting your child’s privacy and providing a safe, fun, online experience. We are dedicated to safeguarding any personal information collected online and to helping parents and children learn how to exercise control over personal information while exploring the Internet. We ensure that our privacy policy and our information practices adhere to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Safe Harbor Principles and the Canadian Code of Practice. Because many of the visitors to this site are children, we take care that our content is suitable for children. In addition, we take special measures to help children protect their privacy while online. For example, we do not ask children to disclose more personal information than is necessary for them to participate in a particular activity, and we take efforts to prevent children from posting contact information.
We encourage you to monitor your child’s activities online and instruct them never to provide personal information on this or any other site without your permission. If you have any questions about COPPA or your child’s privacy and/or safety online, please visit the Federal Trade Commission site at www.ftc.gov/kidzprivacy.
We work hard to ensure that the girls who contribute to the website do so with full parental knowledge and consent. We hope this Privacy Policy will answer any questions you might have about how we collect and use information your child may send us online.
If you have any questions, please contact us at:
BabysitterU
220-10 1080 Mainland Street
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada VV6B 2T4
866-467-2338
e-mail: info@mybabysitteru.com