I recently started rethinking my reasons for babysitting and decided that there was more to it than that, although the pay is a great bonus of the job.

I realised that babysitting was an opportunity to learn.

I started my babysitting business earlier this year and it is slowly starting to build.

I started out with minimal, yet decent amount of experience thanks to my mother, Donna Butler.

She has been an early childhood educator running her own family day care business for eight years.

This was beneficial to me in seeing what it was like to be in charge of small children.

I had the opportunity to personally experience how to understand and deal with young children ever since I was in Year 2.

I have been looking seriously into early childhood care for my future career.

Getting into babysitting while still young gives me the opportunity to give childcare a fair go to see if it is something I truly want to be doing.

Babysitting is a great start to leadership roles. 

You have to learn to be in charge and responsible. After all, you are looking after the most important thing in these parents’ lives: their children.

That takes a huge amount of responsibility.

Accidents and emergencies can happen at any time and it is important to be vigilant and supervise the children you are looking after, and always be prepared.

I find hanging out with young children to be really enjoyable.

Who doesn’t like to watch all those shows that normally as a teenager you would be looked down upon, like Frozen and Paw Patrol.

It is a perfect way to just chill and be a kid without those stressful teen years hanging over your head.

It’s also great to bring out the blocks and Dr Zeuss and sing silly songs while no one is there to laugh at you, just small children to laugh with you.

A babysitter also plays an incredibly important role in a young child’s life. 

We read with them, we spend time with them, we play with them, all while gaining lifelong skills like patience and trust and empathy.

I initially started babysitting to earn some money, but soon found there is so much more to be gained and learned from it.