With parents busy during nights and weekends, an easy way to earn money in high school is to become a babysitter. Senior Maya Baker has experience in babysitting, as she has babysat for roughly seven families with children in infancy to 10 year olds.

“Typically when I’m babysitting, I try to have some sort of activity planned depending on the length of time,” Baker said. “But otherwise, I pretty much let the kids do their own thing.”

But babysitting is more than playing games. Babysitters have to reinforce positive behaviors and treat the children equally.

“Sometimes they argue over who gets to play what game or what they get to do,” Baker said. “So I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out some sort of compromise and alternating who gets to do what.”

Overall, babysitting is can be a good experience for high schoolers to care for younger kids. It builds valuable skills, like patience and problem-solving. 

“The best part of working as a babysitter is when you show up and the kids are excited to see you rather than being upset that their parents are leaving,” Baker said. “It’s nice to see that they think that me coming over is something to look forward to.”

To learn more about becoming a babysitter, visit: https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/babysit.html.