Baby Sitting Social Hour
Number of People: 2 in charge; 12 to help
Budget: $0
This job is to coordinate the baby-sitting of Nestlings and Skimmers during Social Hour. Children who are 5 and older (Puffins and up) participate in the Afternoon Children’s Activities and are not your responsibility. Baby-sitting takes place at the Children's Barn, Saturday through Friday. It starts at 5:30 when Social Hour begins and runs until dinner at 6:30, when the last child is picked up. All parents of little ones should take turns helping out with this job, so that every adult has a chance to go to Adult Social Hour if s/he wishes. You are not being asked to be the sole baby-sitters, but rather to organize all the appropriate parents into a schedule for the week.
Ask the Chairs for a list of parents with children under the age of 6 years old. Contact these people via email and inform them they will be working one shift and do they have any preferences? Let parents know when lobster night and clam and muscle nights are so parents who are NOT having these can sign up for those nights. Make a schedule beforehand to give out on Star. Each family being assigned one shift-there should be 2 adults per shift. Doing this before star will set the expectations and allow people to sign up for the days that work best for them. You can also organize on the Island, if necessary, just be sure to do so before the first social hour on Saturday unless you want to do it yourself Saturday.
Most kids are happy to play on the playground, but here are some other possibly activities to do with the kids.
Reading Aloud/Books on Tape (You may need a portable player)
Games at Playscape
Singing and Dancing
Circle Games
Dress-up (if you feel like bringing out some extra clothes! A few hats or shirts work wonders with imagination)
Sign the kids in and out and periodically do a head count.
Parents may wish to drop by during Social Hour to see how things are going. It is a short walk down the back stairs of Newton to the deck. However, no one may bring alcoholic beverages.
In the past, Jr. and Mid Teens (occasionally some Sr. Teens) have offered to help out with baby-sitting. You might want to check with the leaders of those groups to see if they will get volunteers for you.
1999 - Movies were used for the kids. Responses from the evaluations indicated that parents would prefer more physical activities for the kids.
Last edited by Kathy West - June 2018