How to Find a Babysitter in the Neighborhood

Holiday season is coming and it can be difficult to find a good babysitter. It is even harder if you have moved into a new neighborhood and don't know anyone. Here are some tips on how to find that person you need.

Many parents would rather hire an individual who is a 'known quantity' and familiar to other people in their neighborhood just simply because that familiarity breeds trust. If they know your babysitter than he or she has a bit of a support team at his or her disposal should something go wrong?

Finding a babysitter in your neighborhood is generally quite easy if you live in a suburb or smaller town that is friendly to families. However it can be a little more difficult if you live in a big urban area where teens and young people are known to have a rough time or in an area where there are not a lot of families. It can also be difficult to find someone if you are quite new to town and don't have enough acquaintances to find a babysitter via personal recommendations or 'word of mouth.'

Here are some simple ways to find the person you need as fast as possible.
• Place ads in your local classified, local gym, grocery store, church and YMCA.
• Take an ad to your local employment agent or youth employment agent.
• Call your high school and see if there is a babysitting club.
• Introduce yourself to the neighbours and see who they recommend and be very sure to ask many questions about his or her honesty, reliability and trustworthiness .
• Talk to your co-workers and see if they can refer someone to you.
• Keep your eye on the light posts, local bulletin boards and the bulletin board Laundromat. Babysitters often leave paper flyers with number tabs on them for you to call.

You can also find a sitter by going onto the Internet. One way to find a sitter in your area is to simply go to a popular search engine like Google or Yahoo and type in 'babysitter' followed by the name of your town. For instance if you live in Springville, you would type 'Babysitter Springville.'

You can also find a babysitter on Craigslist. This is one of the largest lists that exists that offers specific postings from specific neighborhoods all over North America.

Another option is to use your local social networking platform like Facebook or Twitter. Very often just putting up a status update such as 'Does anyone know where I can find a good babysitter?' will often get you immediate results!

Parenting Tips
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DHA Improves Intelligence

You can improve your child's chances of scoring well on an intelligence test by supporting their brain with a proper, nutritious diet. In fact there are certain foods that are known for helping enhance mental abilities and development. Cutting down on foods that are unhealthy for the brain can also help enhance mental performance.
If you take the advice in this chapter then you may find that big changes in your family's diet are called for. However it is worth it when you consider that your child's future is at stake. Also keep in time that your entire family might become a bit sharper if you stick to this diet and that if you have any elderly people in your family that they might actually become a bit sharper by sticking to this diet.
Add DHA to your diet!
The main nutrient that promotes intelligence, memory and clarity of thought is called DHA. It is now well established that this nutrient is not only good for mental development but also for your eyesight. It also reduces your chances of having a stroke or developing heart disease which is excellent in terms of the longevity of the health of your child.
Your body does not produce this substance naturally so you have to get it from foods. This means that your body has to convert vegetable based fatty acids like Flax oil into DHA. The body does not do this easily which is why many people are actually short of this nutrient.
DHA is found in the Omega3 fatty acids that we find in fish and fish oils and it is therefore crucial that your child get enough of these acids so that their mental abilities are optimized. The notion that eating lots of fish is an old wives tale is not a myth at all!
Chances are that your children are not getting enough of this nutrient. The average intake of DHA by three year old children in North America was discovered to only be 19 mg a day. This falls way short of the 300 mg a day that was identified as being needed by a targeted scientific group to improve mental acuity. This is also the level needed to support developing fetes.
The American Food and Drug Administration say that the requirement for DHA is not as high. The suggested dose is about 2 grams of fish oil ever day. Many nutritionists and doctors suggest that this amount should be much higher. Many believe that the optimal dose is 5g a day. You can see how only getting about 19 mg day is nowhere near enough to support mental development and how not consuming enough could definitely hurt a child's learning abilities.
Knowing this the obvious conclusion is that the first thing you can do to enhance your child's academic abilities is to simply review their diet and make sure that they are getting enough DHA to eat.

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