Julie - posted on 09/26/2011 ( 2 moms have responded )
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My 16 yr old neighbor has been watching my kids for me on the weekends and on special occasions for a year now. She is a sweet girl and I’ve never had problems with her. For the last month I have been using her as my after school care sitter. It’s about 15 hours a week M-TH. I have slowly been noticing things that I am unhappy with.
For example: I asked her to have my little ones in daycare picked up by 4pm, I found out she’s not getting there until after 5pm and sometimes it’s almost 6pm. My school aged child gets home on the school bus and is left home alone until she gets there. Also my daughter tells me things she says that I am unhappy with- like “I’m not your mom”. She doesn’t let them do things that I have said they can do. I feel like she just sits on my couch and watches my TV. She doesn’t play and interact with them, take them outside or on walks. She has lied to me and said she took my girls to the library, when my daughter said they have not been to the library.
I have found another girl who wants to babysit for me. She is almost 18 and planning on studying early childhood development when she goes to college next year. She is a little more expensive but I feel like she will be worth it. She has fun ideas and I have already set the standard that I expect full interaction with my kids. She also has no problem being there on time. She has very reliable references as well.
So my question is how do I let the old sitter go politely? She is my neighbor and I would still like to use her on the weekends occasionally. I don’t want her to be mad with me or treat the kids badly in the future. Do I offer her severance pay? She has only been doing this for a month so I feel like she was still in a probationary period. Do I need to give a notice even- and how long of a notice?
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