Are You Unemployed? Turn the Holiday Rush into a Babysitting Opportunity at the Mall

The holiday season in December is full of occasion of gift-giving and activities with family, mixed with stressful errands for parents. Malls are crowded with shoppers, there are at least ten on each shopping list, and the logistics of figuring out a way to keep young children entertained when parents are trying to finish errands can feel frightening. If you are unemployed this holiday season, you may also be thinking of babysitting, for the children of young parents trying to manage child care and shopping.

Parents are always looking for trustworthy and safe products to care for children staying busy while shopping and taking care of their children’s child care arrangements. There may be safe options for shopping during the holiday time, but for busy malls, retail holiday specials, or holiday sales, the parent will find this to be a challenge. It is a perfect niche for a babysitter to provide reliability while parents complete their shopping lists.

Unlike regular babysitting that can occur at home, providing babysitting in or nearby a mall includes an additional convenience component for parents. Parents will have a drop off peace of mind for a few short hours to know that their young children will be safe and entertained.

Identifying Your Target Audience

The first step with a babysitting service located in a shopping mall is to determine the customers who need it most. Most of your customers will likely include:

– Parents with children ages 2–10 years who struggle with shopping for a long time.
– Busy working parents who want to run Christmas errands after work.
– Families visiting the mall from out of town and don’t have relatives to help with child care.
– Parents who are attending a holiday event, or mall-led Christmas workshop and their children would not be entertained or allowed.

Identifying your target audience allows you to tailor your services more narrowly to a certain type of family, so to comfort the family about leaving their child in your care.

How to create your Babysitting service

Safe Space for the Kids to play: if at all possible, partner with mall management to facility some sort of designated area for your kids play place. Many malls have community rooms, play zones or activity corners that could be rented or allowed to be used temporarily. The area should be clean, and safe as well furnished appropriately with kids furniture and toys.

Prepare some fun and safe options to keep the kids entertained: it can happen fairly quickly that kids can get bored when occupying their time. when storing, make sure there are board games, color books, puzzles, some small craft activity, and toys that are age appropriate. Think about offering a few holiday-type activities, such as making ornaments.

Safety First: Parents are going to want to know that their children are in safe hands; therefore, make sure you have learned about some basic first aid skills; as well as emergency contacts and procedures to have for drop-off and pick-up. Learning CPR or some sort of child care training is a fantastic selling feature because it adds credibility to your service.

Have a Sales Pitch: Parents are always trying to grab ideas together to save time around the holidays; flyers, social media, and posting to a local community board are all good ways to sell your service. Just be sure to indicate your hours of availability with the safety measures and activities included, and perhaps even indicate you are at a high traffic mall location.

The Benefits of Babysitting During the Holidays

Flexibility: Most likely your job has regular hours, babysitting at the mall will allow you to pick times that you can arrange around holiday shopping hours. You can babysit on the weekends in the evenings, or a day/week you prefer that is usually a higher traffic shopping day(s).

Instant Money: Parents are willing to pay for convenience and trustworthy child care during the holiday season. Even if your price is a little higher than normal, you will likely have a stream of parents coming in if you offer good service. This type of temporary holiday job you do not necessarily have to complete hours of training to get or wait for a certain period to be pay. After your first client, your take-home is where babysitting is simple to make immediate money.

Connections: Working in a public environment, such as a mall, can lead to other referrals.

Being Unique as a Holiday Babysitter

Theme Activities: The holidays provide some great opportunities to plan themed activities for your babysitting service. Plan craft projects, imaginative play, storytelling, or even group holiday-themed music. This will build on the enjoyable experience for the children and families in your babysitting services.

Dress the part: You should make it a habit to look tidy and pleasant. Parents are more secure with someone who looks the part.

Keep Parents in the Know: Providing parents with the routine of notifying them of their child’s activities, snacks, or small incidents will help establish your trustworthiness. Ongoing communications through text messages or social media will develop parents’ trust in your services as well as the likelihood of returning families.

Play Up The “Extras”: Small touches, (like providing holiday-themed snacks), and arranging for a small gift exchange experience for both parents and children, will add to the experience and create a better chance of parents recommending you in the future.

The Problem Of Challenges

Watching kids at a shopping mall can be a great way to earn a bit of extra money, but as with everything in life, there is always the risk or possibility of something not going as planned. Sometimes kids can get overstimulated by the mall and parents can sometimes make last minute changes, and at the same time, caring for someone’s kid(s) can be an overwhelming experience. For some of these issues, remember the following suggestions:

Limit the number of children you babysit at one time will likely increase the safety of you and the safety of the care.

Have activities planned and a set schedule, to help things remain orderly.

Have plans in place for situations, (like a first aid kit), and necessary contacts of each child’s parent in the case of emergencies.

Inspiration: Transforming Unemployment into Opportunity

Many unemployed people have successfully generated income by on occasion babysitting for parents needing supervision for their children while shopping—or in other situations. They have made extra money, but they have developed good relationships within their local community. Some turned their babysitting into a lucrative part-time business throughout the year babysitting or doing other activities like tutoring or facilitating holiday camps.

Conclusion

If you are currently unemployed, the holiday season does NOT have to be a time of stress about being broke, or not being able to make a buck! If you turn your focus to the mall and consider it as a place to babysit, you will be developing an additional level of benefit for parents who may simply enjoy the holiday shopping experience while you earn some cash! With appropriate planning, clear communication, and a sprinkle of safety (and fun) theme, you WILL be able to strategically repurpose a high-volume shopping season into beneficial time for you, both individually and financially.

Holidays are all about giving; at the same time Santa Claus creates opportunities. While it may take a little creativity and initiative to offer your babysitting services to busy families, you can turn this period of inactivity into a positive experience over the holiday season.