Can I handle two babies???

[Tam]

I keep my year old neice on Mondays. She is a "hold me and hold me now!" kind of baby. I have a four-year old that is very, very active and demanding. Now I have been asked to keep my year old nephew. He is as close to being a perfect baby as you'll find, but I just don't know if I can do it! Have any advice? I know moms with twins have no choice but to handle two babies at once!

Also, when it is family, how do you handle charging for babysitting? I love the babies so much, but I don't feel that I can keep him every day without some kind of pay.

[stephwhiz]

Sounds like your house is going to be bursting with excitement! Actually I think the one year old and the four year old will play good together. When my DD was 4 and my great nephew was 1 they loved playing together and she spoiled him so much. I would try it and give it a go...just tell them after the first week if it is not working out :wink: .

When I keep my great nephew for more than a day I charge her and she doesn't have a problem paying it because she would have to pay someone else if they kept him. Just talk to them up front about it and work out the payment details right off the bat :wink: .

Best of luck!

Stephanie :D

[harmony5]

I think you could handle it especially if your nephew is an easy going baby.

As far as pay, I don't know about what I would charge family. I babysit a little girl for $20 a day but she isn't family.

The main advice I can give is to set all your expectatios up front. What they need to provide, time to drop off, time to pick up, etc. I get seriously taken advantage of by the people I babysit for because I am a pushover. I pray for the day she goes to school so I won't have to deal with them anymore. I am sure your situation wouldn't be that bad though, since it's family.

Best of luck!!!

Lori

PS>>>>What part of NC are you from? I'm in NC too, close to Raleigh.

Tam, yes I have almost 4 year old twins.

Not sure what to tell you here but their personalities sound like they may balance each other out so it might not be a problem for you.

I think it's up to you and about what you feel comfortable with, what you feel within yourself you can tolerate (you know your levels).

Do you know anyone who runs a home daycare? Perhaps you can ask them how they do things?

My Mum ran one for 17 years and she didn't have that much trouble with the kids. They'd generally play together, we did have a few clingy ones.
Mind you, I used to give her a bit of a hand at times also. She was fine and she had at least 3 other kids in the house and then a couple after school.

If you can borrow toys from a toy library and the toys change all the time that would be a great help in "handling" them or providing activites.

Have the relitives offered you money? I guess just work it out between yourselves, being that you have to provide food etc for the children it is only fair that you should get some renumeration.

The ladies above made really good suggestions about pay!!