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What does a baby sitter do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
What does a baby sitter do

A Baby Sitter is responsible for the welfare and safety of children while their parents or guardian are away. The tasks will vary on the age, behavior, or needs of the children. However, most of the time, a Baby Sitter must supervise the children's activities in a friendly and fun manner, prepare meals, assist in bathing or dressing, and get them to bed. There are also instances when the Baby Sitter must do some light chores, such as cleaning up after the kids or washing the dishes.

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Baby sitter responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real baby sitter resumes:

  • Prepare and organize records for tax purposes and comply with DCFS licensing standards.
  • Provide and prepare daily meals and snacks according to DHS and FDA rules.
  • Job duties, babysit for working parents, last min plans, mommy helper.
  • Supervise safe activities for the children and provide tutoring and homework help; CPR train.
  • Hire to babysit friends/neighbors, as well as providing regular childcare services for younger brother.
  • Volunteer by helping children complete their homework and babysit until their parents pick them up.
  • Have babysat multiple children from family members, to neighbors and friends over the last few years.
  • Own and operate a state license daycare center with above standards of early childhood development and academical skills.
  • Play with the kids, care for them, and most importantly make sure their needs are meet before mine.
  • Recruit, train, and evaluate care staff, including accounting for payroll reports and records to state tax agencies.
  • Excite to offer child-appropriate activities involving art, music and dance and being silly with the kids as they have fun.
  • Maintain a clean facility, prepare monthly reports for DHS, maintain immunizations records, receive several certificates in child development.
  • Assist children with daily activities and homework
  • Monitor homework assignments of school-age children.
  • Retrieve bi-weekly payroll summary information for quarterly financial payroll reconciliation.

Baby sitter skills and personality traits

We calculated that 50% of Baby Sitters are proficient in Child Care, Kids, and Nutritious Meals. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Instructional skills, and Interpersonal skills.

We break down the percentage of Baby Sitters that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Child Care, 50%

    General child care responsibilities-Cleaned up homes and prepared several types of meals-Helped with homework and academic/intellectual endeavors

  • Kids, 24%

    Job Description: I am able to entertain multiple kids in fun, interesting, as well as safe way.

  • Nutritious Meals, 12%

    Assisted the six year old with homework, prepared nutritious meals, supervised activities of two children 2 and 6 years old

  • CPR, 5%

    Started date night sitting at age 12 for young children and the yacht club job involved work extensively with children* CPR certified

  • Homework Assignments, 5%

    Monitored and assisted children with daily homework assignments.

  • Meal Prep, 1%

    Worked with children birth to 12.-Developed age appropriate games/activities.-Meal preparation.

Common skills that a baby sitter uses to do their job include "child care," "kids," and "nutritious meals." You can find details on the most important baby sitter responsibilities below.

Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a baby sitter to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what baby sitters do because "childcare workers need good speaking skills to provide direction or information effectively and good listening skills to understand parents’ instructions." Additionally, a baby sitter resume shows how baby sitters use communication skills: "care for the children of members * use communication skills and organization skills to keep track of kids"

Interpersonal skills. baby sitters are also known for interpersonal skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to baby sitter responsibilities, because "childcare workers need to work well with people in order to develop good relationships with parents, children, and colleagues." A baby sitter resume example shows how interpersonal skills is used in the workplace: "assist children in academic and personal/social growth development-to include interpersonal, organizational and conflict resolution skills. "

Patience. baby sitter responsibilities often require "patience." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "childcare workers need to be able to respond calmly to overwhelming and difficult situations." This resume example shows what baby sitters do with patience on a typical day: "pick up kids, take to appointments/practice, cook snacks and dinner, help with homework, developed patience"

Physical stamina. Another common skill required for baby sitter responsibilities is "physical stamina." This skill comes up in the duties of baby sitters all the time, as "working with children can be physically demanding, so childcare workers should have a lot of energy." An excerpt from a real baby sitter resume shows how this skill is central to what a baby sitter does: "prepare kids food engage in educational and physical activities"

See the full list of baby sitter skills

The three companies that hire the most baby sitters are:

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Baby sitter vs. Personal care worker

A personal care worker is responsible for providing quality health care services for elders and disabled persons. Personal care workers are usually employed in a private household setting or a special healthcare institution, assisting patients with their daily activities, and monitoring their conditions. They update the patients' medical charts, administer medication from the physician's prescriptions, and manage their food intake. A personal care worker must be highly-organized, especially when attending to patients' needs, inquiries, and concerns.

We looked at the average baby sitter salary and compared it with the wages of a personal care worker. Generally speaking, personal care workers are paid $1,482 lower than baby sitters per year.Even though baby sitters and personal care workers are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require nutritious meals, cpr, and meal prep in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, baby sitter responsibilities require skills like "child care," "kids," "homework assignments," and "family friends." Meanwhile a typical personal care worker has skills in areas such as "patients," "home health," "good communication," and "in-home care." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Personal care workers tend to make the most money working in the professional industry, where they earn an average salary of $29,488. In contrast, baby sitters make the biggest average salary, $48,994, in the finance industry.The education levels that personal care workers earn slightly differ from baby sitters. In particular, personal care workers are 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a baby sitter. Additionally, they're 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Baby sitter vs. Companion

A companion is responsible for assisting sick and recovered patients, as well as the elderly. Companions perform housekeeping duties, ensuring that a facility is well-maintained and safe for the use of the patients. They also monitor the patients' medication, prepare their meals based on a medical professional's prescription, support them on their daily activities, respond to the patients' needs and special requests as allowed, and report any developments to their family or guardians. A companion must be compassionate enough to extend physical and emotional support, depending on the client's condition.

A career as a companion brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a baby sitter. In fact, companions salary is $1,726 lower than the salary of baby sitters per year.A few skills overlap for baby sitters and companions. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "nutritious meals," "cpr," and "meal prep. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real baby sitter resumes. While baby sitter responsibilities can utilize skills like "child care," "kids," "homework assignments," and "family friends," companions use skills like "companionship," "patients," "home health," and "provide emotional support."

Companions earn a lower average salary than baby sitters. But companions earn the highest pay in the non profits industry, with an average salary of $30,973. Additionally, baby sitters earn the highest salaries in the finance with average pay of $48,994 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Companions tend to reach similar levels of education than baby sitters. In fact, they're 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Baby sitter vs. Nanny

Nannies are family employees who are primarily responsible for taking care of children in the family's house. They are usually tapped to take care of the kids while the parents are at work or away on vacation. Their responsibilities include preparing food for the children, feeding the children, bathing them, dressing them up, ensuring that they take a nap, playing with them, and tucking them to bed at night. They also ensure that the schedule set by the parents is being followed. They may also do other household chores such as cleaning, watering the plants, washing the dishes, among others.

On average scale, nannies bring in higher salaries than baby sitters. In fact, they earn a $9,290 higher salary per year.By looking over several baby sitters and nannies resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "child care," "kids," and "nutritious meals." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from baby sitter resumes include skills like "homework assignments," "family friends," "babysat," and "babysit," whereas a nanny is more likely to list skills in "household chores," "first aid aed," "transport children," and "medical appointments. "

Nannies earn the best pay in the non profits industry, where they command an average salary of $41,844. Baby sitters earn the highest pay from the finance industry, with an average salary of $48,994.nannies typically earn similar educational levels compared to baby sitters. Specifically, they're 0.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Baby sitter vs. Vocational childcare teacher

A vocational childcare teacher teaches vocational subjects at a secondary school level, in either public or private schools. Their duties include preparing materials for classroom activities, assigning and grading classwork, and designing assignments. They are also expected to instruct students, making use of different teaching methods like discussions, lectures, or demonstrations. They generally have to instruct students in the specific knowledge and skills needed for a specific occupation.

Vocational childcare teachers tend to earn a lower pay than baby sitters by an average of $794 per year.According to resumes from baby sitters and vocational childcare teachers, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "child care," "nutritious meals," and "cpr. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between baby sitters and vocational childcare teachers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a baby sitter might have more use for skills like "kids," "homework assignments," "meal prep," and "family friends." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of vocational childcare teachers require skills like "customer service," "child development," "classroom environment," and "continuous supervision. "

The average resume of vocational childcare teachers showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to baby sitters. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.2%.

Types of baby sitter

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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