Here’s the Solution:
Get a Babysitter that is homely,plain, ugly, that does not know seduction techneques, and you won’t be tempted.
Do not get the hot cheerleader, who looks really good in her school uniform, Problem Solved.
In addition to attempting to eliminate pedophelia, it sounds like they’re also trying to limit the potential liability of the father. Personally, I would be more likely to be suspicious of the father of attempting rape rather than the babysitter of misconstruing the situation, and I am sure that most people would, as well. Therefore, it seems like it would be safer to have the mom or the babysitter’s parents drive the babysitter home rather than worry about any potentially inappropriate situation.
I was often driven home by the dad of the kids I babysat for. Nothing bad happened, I wasn’t uncomfortable.
Whatever.
I usually drove the babysitter home and I never thought there could be an issue in that. My wife does not like driving alone in the dark.
What if the babysitter is a guy? Should the dad drive the babysitter home in that case?
I only ever had problems with one babysitting situation (the dad would drive me home, and it was always creepy). He never did anything overt, but I could FEEL how creepy he was. Too bad, because I really liked the mom and the kids.
Turned out later he was abusing his 7-year-old daughter. Go figure.
I babysit for a couple of kids in the village; their dads generally give me a lift home and everything’s fine. I honestly never thought of this.
For what it’s worth, my ex ran off with the babysitter. We were no longer together, but she was still a 15 year old babysitter.
So according to the columnist, single fathers are just never allowed to leave home without their kids, huh?
I’ve driven several of our babysitters home if they needed the ride. Never had a problem and I don’t believe the sitters did either. What’s wrong with handing them a cell phone while enroute, have them call home and stay on the phone until she arrives safely? Don’t see how anything could happen or be misconstrued on either the father or babysitter’s part in that situation.
I would dismiss the columnist’s argument as unreasonable paranoia but for one simple fact: in porno movies, every time a dad drives a babysitter home, they end up having long, explicit sex in a variety of positions. Not just most of the time. Every single time. Thus, even though I have neither kids nor babysitters, I would make Mrs. Giraffe drive any female babysitters home, for the same reason I don’t let Mrs. Giraffe order pizza or call for plumbers. There’s no sense in playing with fire.
Yeah, Giraffe, your theory makes sense except for one thing.
When a mom drives the babysitter home in pornos, they always have long, hot, explicit lesbian sex using a variety of sex toys, household items, and groceries. Every time.
Well, every time except for the time they break down and are aided by a pair of escaped prison inmates who come along…
You’re better off hiring Alice from the Brady Bunch. That way, the worst thing that’ll happen is she’ll record your family heirloom recipe on the chalkboard so it can be easily erased…
Egad, bughunter is right! The only possible antidote would be good lighting and tasteful background music in the car on the ride home.
Either that, we’ll drive the babysitter home together…
Am I alone in thinking that this is really fucking hot? Damn…got several years to wait for kids to be old enough for a babysitter.
sigh
Oh, well…hopefully when it happens, she’ll call me so I can watch or something. I think I’ve earned that much.
j/k 
Anyway, I’ve always thought that the appearance of impropriety can be just as damaging as impropriety itself. If/when it becomes an issue, FaerieBeth will be the one driving the babysitter home.
So who is watching the kids when the single father is driving the babysitter home? In such a case, alternate arrangements would have to be made anyway.
I was a quite attractive, nubile teenager, and I was always driven or walked home by the dads of the families I babysat for. I had two regular families, one around the corner - he walked me home, and one about 10 minutes away by car - he drove me home.
The one who drove me home was one of the most important people in my life, he was like the father I didn’t really have in my life. (I have a dad, he has no parenting skills at all, different story). Frequently after driving me home, my pseudo-dad and I would sit in the car outside my house talking for 20-30 minutes, just about life and stuff. Knowing that I had regular time to look forward to with him was one of the things that helped keep me sane and on a relatively even keel as a teenager. Although I am also very close to his wife, it would not have been the same. He is a very special person and I’m lucky to have been a part of that family. Twenty years later, I’m still part of the family.
In case I have to say it explicitly, nothing bad ever happened.
My take is that this is a case of mild, yet unfortunately necessary paranoia in this day and age. I have heard of cases where the babysitter will “cry wolf”, and in such cases, no matter which way it works out, it gets messy; At worst, it really happened and at best, it would plant a seed of doubt in the spouses mind…not very good for a relationship I should think.
Our best practice always was: If possible, she drives her home (we never did have a boy babysit). If the weather was terrible, or there were extenuating circumstances that would make MrseNiGma not able to drive her home, then I would. In that event, I would typically call her on my cell and ‘have a chat’ as I drove the sitter home. I think it probably made the sitter more comfortable that I was otherwise engaged as well.
It wasn’t to keep mrsenigma happy either. In fact, she thought it rather amusing the whole time. Whether the danger was real or perceived, it was because I never wanted to give occasion to be set up.
Paranoid? Maybe.
Untrusting of a seeming innocent sitter? In this particular area perhaps.
Safe? Absolutely.
I don’t think it’s bad advice at all! When I babysat one particular couples children, the father drove me home and used to make comments about my chest developing early. Finally told my mom and that was the end of that!
On another note - consider my DH, Mr. Adoptamom, foster father to pregnant teenage girls! We had several through our home when we were fostering, as well as not pregnant gals. One of the first things we learned in foster parent training was that Mr. Adoptamom should never be in a one on one situation with any of the girls because of the chance that one may accuse him of inappropriate behavior. Can you imagine the difficulty of making sure you’re never alone with a teen girl in your own home, when there are four of them and only one television? LOL Made for some interesting situations.
Probably, the best advice for men is:
-
take out liability insurance in case you’re cited by some nubile wench
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let the teenage babysitter take a taxi (and pay)
What IS this world coming to?
- PW
I did tons of babysitting as a teen also, and I had sex with one of the Dads who drove me home. On the drive home, well the car was pulled over but still. Not an affair, no I wasn’t deluded and thought I was in love with him and that he’d leave his family and run away with my underaged self, just a flirtation that got out of hand and neither wanted to be the first to back down.
Yes it was stupid and wrong and icky, but had the missus driven me home… just sayin.
My situation was a little different. When I was a kid (late 60s), our (my and my four-years-younger sister) sitters were always *Black, and it was my eight-years-older brother that always gave them a ride home.
Now, my brother had some fairly hefty racist attitudes back then. I remember one time he scolded me for sitting beside a Black person on the school bus, for example. But, anyway, he always insisted that my sister and I accompany him to give our sitters a ride home. I assume now, looking back, so that if any of his friends saw him, he couldn’t be so easily accused of “riding around with a Black girl.” Just a guess, because the subject of why he always wanted us around never actually came up.