Lets understand what the baby-sitting job is all about. The baby-sitting profession came in vogue as early as the 1930s when women started going out to work. When the parents went out to earn a living the infant back at home suffered the most. It is then that nannies were sought for to keep the baby until one of the parents return.

With the passage of time baby-sitting became a very popular means to earn money, especially for women, young or old, who would take care of children during the time their parents were away and would get paid for it. Later the system of creche came into being where children left by their working parents: in these cruches the baby sitters or nannies would take care of many children at a time and this system gained ground very fast.

Even in modern times parents do keep their children under the custody of a private baby-sitter or in a creche to ensure the children's safety while they are away for their own job. So baby-sitting has now become a full-fledged industry that offers some value-added services besides taking care of the kids. The more services a baby-sitter provides the more popular it becomes among the working parents. So parents must look carefully before choosing a babysitter service.

The quality of child-care is the foremost yardstick when it comes to choosing a babysitter. Parents always look for registered and certified professional when choosing a babysitter and are very keen about an interview with the prospective caregiver before appointment. Various concerns provide specialized trainings in baby-sitting n baby-care and a certification from them is a vital credential for choosing a babysitter who goes professional in the field of nursing infants and baby-sitting.

When the parents leave their children in the hands of a baby-sitter they must be perfectly sure of the seriousness of the person when choosing a babysitter. Then comes the question of experience and training when choosing a babysitter. Baby-sitters must be well trained for this purpose so that they know how to take care of each of the children's individual wants since the kids spend a pretty long time with their nannies. Parents keep children of various ages under the nanny's care. So when choosing a babysitter it should be seen that a nanny must know every trivial detail about the child.

Baby-sitters first know about the child's health condition, if he/she is under any medication; they also take note of the medicines and food that the children take. The baby-sitters then also look after the children's academic and co-curricular activities. They help the children with their homework and encourage them to play and pursue any other hobby that they like to.

Then comes the question of money. Creches have their own rate of charging a cost on the basis of how much time the child is staying in the creche. Private baby-sitters also charge a fixed rate on hourly basis.

Additional factors that determine the rate are the over-time duration of the baby-sitting hours, special dates such as Christmas and New Years Eve or other festivals and private late-night parties. Number of children to be taken care of also determines the rate. Again, parallel responsibilities such as, preparing food and running other errands for the children are also counted when the payment is made.