3 Things to Look for in a Babysitter

Sometimes when you are busy, when you are short on help, when there just aren't any other options available to you there is a temptation to just let anyone who is available babysit your kids.

Unfortunately this is not the greatest idea. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency in the United States 4 percent of the reported crimes committed against children in the form of neglect, assault or sexual abuse are committed by babysitter. This is why it is so important to really be able to assess the character and then predict the behavior of anyone that you hire to look after your child!

Lots of the time we assume that a friend or relative is the best choice to look after our kids. This is not always true unless the candidate has demonstrated to you that he or she is â€“
1. Mature
2. Responsible
3. Capable

As you know 'liking the person', familiarity with the person and even age may have nothing to do with this. Some of the most likeable people in the world don't like kids or may do you 'the favor' of looking after your kids because he or she feels obligated.

Furthermore familiarity with a person does not always mean that they are familiar with how to look kids or the basics of First Aid. In fact, if you really think about it, some of the people we are most familiar with in our lives, especially family members, tend to lean towards the dysfunctional side (but we love them anyway!)

Also, 'being responsible' does not necessarily come with age. There are lots of sixty year old out there that are much more thoughtless and reckless than the sixteen year old down the street.

Then there is the issue of capability. If you have a toddler going through the 'terrible twos' you do not want to have someone frail or nervous looking after your kid. You want someone who knows how to dry tears, bribe a kid out of it or give him or her Time-Out. You want someone skilled with children and someone who is able to 'make the call' about whether or not to take a trip to emergency if your child is hurt.
In a nutshell, you want an individual who is mature, responsible and capable because anyone who fulfills those three criteria is going to be someone that you can trust when you are not at home!

Parenting Tips
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Hello Kitty Gadgets

Just when you think the Hello Kitty phenomena could not get any weirder there is now a plethora of gadgets that continue to celebrate this theme.

One of the weirdest inventions is a tooth cap that looks exactly like the famous cat. You can get it as a frontal crown or as a hub type crown for a back tooth. Now that is a conversation piece. However it is a bit intimate. You would literally be opening your mouth to show someone how filed your tooth down to get a Hello Kitty cap on it.

Another weird as heck invention is the Hello Kitty contact lenses. These feature an image of the famous white cat in each eye. You have to be pretty fanatical about this anime character to want others to see that instead of your pupils.

Another strange invention was the Hello Kitty Vibrator. Originally marketed as the Hello Kitty neck massager it is a cult collectible. It started turning up as the subject of blogs when it became a noticeable object in fetish films.
Even weirder is the Hello Kitty Car Muffler. This thing attaches to your tail pipe. It is in the shape of the Kitty complete with whiskers and the cute little bow on the head.

Yet another strange little gadget is the Hello Kitty headlamp. A pink band fits around your head and a kitty shaped light lights the path for you. The drawback here is that the light is a little small. It is not exactly something that you would have your kid use to light his or her way when riding a bike.

There are all kinds of gadgets for the kitchen that come under the Hello Kitty brand. One of the cutest is the toaster. It is white with a relief image of the cute cat. It is a good toaster to give to a kid.

Another famous Japanese gadget is the Hello Kitty Keyboard which is bright pink with maternity green and baby blue buttons. Every key on the board looks like a kitten's face. It is made by a prestigious company in Japan called Sanrio.

Although technically not a gadget the Hello Kitty Dog House is worth mentioned. It is pink, can fit a Chihuahua and is festooned with 7,600 crystal beads. The pink pillow inside is in the visage of Hello Kitty's face. The cost for all of this luxury for your lap dog is a mere $31,660.

Parenting Tips
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