During a teenager’s high school life, earning their own money is one of the lessons they have to learn. Babysitting is one of the most common ways to do so, and many teens like the idea of taking care of kids.

But when considering who to choose to babysit for their children, reputation and gender becomes very important to parents.

“I usually ask friends for girls, it’s kind of like a word of mouth among other moms,” Lovejoy mom Melissa Potts said. “I want somebody that somebody else has used before and has good things to say.”

Qualifications like being CPR certified and the amount of experience a sitter has is also another important factor.

“References and their qualifications are important,” Potts said. “Like if they’ve had experience before with kids my kids’ ages.”

Children of different ages require different types of babysitters with various experience levels.

“I think it depends on the age of the kids you’re looking for sitters for,” Potts said. “So for somebody like my daughter Ally I would say someone around 16 or 17 so she can communicate with them and she pretty much knows what to do and doesn’t need a ton of direction. For somebody like my son Andy who is a baby, it would be someone who has a lot of experience with babies. So for that I would look for somebody older until they can get around on their own.”

For the babysitters, being able to drive is very helpful, so the prefered age to start babysitting for many people is around 16.

“Babysitting becomes easier once you can drive because no one has to pick you up and drop you off,” junior Abby Martin said. “There are so many more things to do. Instead of being stuck in the house or the backyard, you can go to the playground or to Chick-fil-A.”

Even though some people think that driving age is a good age to start babysitting, many underclassmen feel that this job is a good opportunity.

“I think babysitting is a great job to have because it is a great life skill,” freshman Lauren Willman said. “You have to be caring and patient while you are babysitting, and these skills can also be used in plenty of other situations in life.”