Meet Babysitting Angel Eveline

“After my first three weeks at my new job in a hotel, corona came around. At the time, I was very disappointed, but looking back it gave me the opportunity to take the plunge together with an old fellow student: we started our own company in interior textiles.

Exciting, but also great that we had the room to work on it at home at our leisure. During the day, I babysit full-time, so that I can continue working on our company at home in the evenings. That combination works out great. During the week, I babysit all the hours that I can, so that I can work again in my spare time.”

“I have a couple of fixed families where I babysit on standard days every week. There are also some addresses that regularly ask me, but where I do not come every week. That's fine, but I find that I prefer keeping the babysitting services quite regular.

Personally, I think the introduction takes quite a bit of energy. Children can be shy and the parents are also often around to show you around. I find that I can be more relaxed babysitting when I've been somewhere more often and when the children are used to me. It's just a bit more relaxed and they really like me being there, which makes it more fun for me too.”

“Normally, I often picked the kids up from school and tried to stick to the routine that the parents explained to me. I believe that a fixed routine works great for children. For example, we'll play a game, read, and in the late afternoon we'll get the groceries for dinner. Recently, however, things have changed quite a bit due to the schools closing. I notice that more and more parents are asking me to help out with homeschooling. I don't mind at all and actually really like doing so. I even considered getting teacher training for quite some time. I chose not to pursue it at the time, but this way that interest comes in quite handy.”

“Since I visit the same families every week, I see the house where I am at that moment kind of as a workplace. I like to leave my workplace as neat and tidy as possible. When the little ones are sleeping for a bit, I like to have a look around to see what I can do and try to tidy the house a bit. I fold some laundry, load the dishwasher, and make sure everything is clean. I notice that parents really appreciate this and I personally also enjoy working in a neat environment.”

“Number one is of course the contact and fun with the children. Doing fun things together such as reading books and walking really makes me happy. Especially during these times I can enjoy these small things even more. I also recently moved to the Hague. I notice that, due to the corona measures, it can be a lot more difficult to get to know people and kind of build a network. You no longer go out for drinks or go to a group class at the gym together, or something like that. So, for now, that is also a big plus about babysitting. Also for my company, by the way, I hear from almost every babysitting address that they would like to buy a cute pillow from me. Really great!

But number one truly is the children and the fun. Every day is different, which makes my job really unique and varied. I've never been reluctant to go to a family.”