In order to be covered for our insurance, the babysitter MUST be 18 years of age. This is something that many of you may want to look into so that you do not void any of your insurance coverage.
I'm not sure how much difference it makes in attendance. Last year there were often only 2 children, but the year before there were as many as 12.
We have used a teenager... they playoutside on playground or basket ball in the caf/gym. we pay her $20 each time. If we did not have one we would have about half of the attendance. I guarentee it. We have several single mom's and parents who work different shifts.
It's worth it!
I can say that when we started doing it last year, our attendance tripled. Of course, we did a lot of PR and communication that hadn't been done in the past, so I don't know that the "sitter" was the factor. We used a couple of high school kids. They were either paid $10 or got credit towards community service hours. This year we are working with a local church who is trying to raise money for their youth group. They are supplying the help and we are "donating" to their organization.
We have a school aide that does this for us and our district picks up the cost, all of the elementary schools do it here. It does make a huge difference in attendance, I am a strong believer of that so much that I fought to have it done for our volunteer breakfast as well. It is really such a small thing but can mean alot!
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
