Free Babysitting Games During Economic Bad Times

As an underpaid babysitter, I am already in a financial rut. In this hostile economic climate, I am in even more distress. When the Miltons asked me to babysit for Rose--their adorable four year old daughter--I, for the first time, felt the slightest bit hesitant. The Miltons are a good family and have always treated me well but even they are having problems. They couldn’t afford to pay me as much as they used to and I accepted this pay cut because it’s always better to get paid something than nothing, right? I took my initial qualms and turned it into a challenge. How can I help take care of Rose in a way that would save both the Miltons and me money?

One major step I had to take was to stop taking Rose out to expensive locales. No more weekend trips to the amusement park or museum. At least not until things get better, I knew I had to find resourceful ways to have fun. As I was thinking of some free babysitting games, I came up with some cool craft ideas that kids often do in their classroom. I had her cut out some snowflakes to string them together and we both even learned how to make play-dough animals. Not only was it incredibly enjoyable, I was preparing her for the basics of kindergarten.

Later, instead of sitting her in front of the television, I took her out to the local park which is basically like a vast land of free babysitting games. We played “I Spy” and “Hide-and-Seek.” The best part about it is that we were able to venture out and take advantage of the beautiful sunshine. As we were lying down on our picnic blanket under the fresh and breezy warmth, I asked Rose what she thought about all these free babysitting games and she responded, “I love it--I wish we could do this everyday!”