By Annie AlshulerContributing Writer
Students who enjoy working with children and need a little extra money need look no farther than The Daily’s classified section, where Evanston residents post want-ads for babysitters.
“My friends have had such wonderful experiences with Northwestern student babysitters that I decided (to place an ad),” Evanston resident Stephanie Layden said. NU students are more competent and mature than high school students, she added.
Weinberg junior Margot McKirdy, who babysits off campus, said college students can relate to kids better than older family members or neighbors.
“It might be convenient to have your old granny neighbor over (to babysit), but the kids would rather spend their time with someone younger who will actually play with them,” she said.
Babysitting has its advantages for the students, too.
“Babysitting is a great job to have in college because it is flexible and usually during the night when classes don’t get in the way,” McKirdy said.
McKirdy babysits in her spare time as well as working two other jobs, one on campus and one off campus. She finds babysitting desirable because “it is good pay, all cash, under the table, and given to you at the end of the night.” With her other jobs, she has to wait two weeks to be paid.
According to McKirdy, another perk of babysitting is having time to do homework while on the job.
“Depending on the kids and their bedtimes, (babysitting) gives you some good time to do work while getting paid,” she said. Downtime usually isn’t an option while working most jobs.
But one of the biggest inconveniences with babysitting off campus is transportation. Not owning or having access to a car can severely limit the number of babysitting offers a student can accept.
“A lot of families will require you to (have access to a car), and most people don’t have cars on campus,” McKirdy said.
Fortunately, there are families in need of babysitters who are within walking distance of campus, allowing NU students to take on these jobs. Other families live close to El stops, so public transportation is a feasible alternative to owning a car.
To some NU students, lack of transportation isn’t the only disadvantage to babysitting. Students such as Weinberg freshman Matthew Waggenspack, who want to earn extra money but don’t like children, are not attracted to babysitting jobs.
“I do not work well with children. I would much rather prefer to work in a professional environment,” Waggenspack said.
And though some NU students are able to juggle college life and babysitting, for others, it’s more difficult.
SESP freshman Aireale Rodgers works as an individual overnight coordinator in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and said her bosses know where her priorities lie.
“I feel that (the Office of Undergraduate Admissions) understands that the scholarly obligations I have should come before the professional chores that they have assigned me,” she said. “My job in the admissions’ office allows me to efficiently do my real job – be a college student.”
Reach Annie Alshuler at [email protected].
