Ready Kids › First Job Ready › Badge 6 › Lesson 6.1
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The handover
Run a handover before the parents leave, starting with the address you would give an ambulance.
1Watch
Coat on, keys out
Coat on, keys out
Parents in a hallway, half out of the door: everything's on the fridge, bye. The sitter, holding a sheet of paper, opens her mouth, and the film ends.
16 secondsThis is the moment. In ninety seconds they are gone, and everything you did not ask is a guess.
2The idea
Why the address comes first
If you ring 911 from this house, the first thing they will ask is where you are. You will not know unless you asked. The address of the house you are sitting in is question one, every time, and you write it down where you can read it with shaking hands. Flat number, postcode, the nearest cross street.
The handover is you running it, not the parents. They are in a rush. They have done this a hundred times. They will forget things. You have the list. It takes five minutes, and it is the most professional thing a sitter does. Parents notice, and they ask that sitter back.
3The idea
The handover list
1. Address, flat number, postcode, nearest cross street.
2. Parents’ mobile numbers, where they will be, when back.
3. A second adult to ring if the parents do not answer: a neighbour, a grandparent.
4. Each child: age, allergies, medication, anything medical.
5. Routine: food, bedtime, in order.
6. Rules: screens, going out, visitors, snacks.
7. Where things are: first aid kit, torch, way out in a fire, spare key, how to lock up.
8. Anything else about tonight.
Written on paper, on the side, with the address at the top. Not in your phone, because your phone might be the thing you are holding to your ear when you need to read it. Paper does not run out of battery and does not lock itself.
4The idea
Ravi's five minutes
Ravi has the list on a card. Parents halfway out. Two minutes, can I run through my list? Address: 7 Marsh Close, second right off the main road, postcode written. Numbers. Gran is next door but one. Ava’s nut allergy, and the pen is in the kitchen drawer; the mum shows him where. Bedtime half seven. No visitors. First aid kit under the sink. Back door key on the hook.
The parents leave at 6:36 instead of 6:34. The nut allergy was not on the fridge. It came out because he asked. Every handover has one of those: the thing the parents know so well they forget it is not obvious.
5Build it
Checklist builder
Checklist builder
Build your handover sheet: eight sections you drag into your own order, with the address locked at the top. Add your own questions. Prints.
Print two. One for the drawer, one for your bag.
6Decide
The parents are half out of the door. Which do you make sure of before it shuts?
Pick one to carry on.
7Say it
Two minutes before you go
Say it to a parent who is in a hurry, warmly, not apologising
“Two minutes before you go. Can I run through my list?”
They will say yes. Sitters who ask this get asked back.
8Find them
Which of these are on the handover list?
Tap the ones that count.
Find all 4.
9Do it
Before you leave this page
Run your handover with a parent playing a client who is in a hurry. Address first. Time it. Under five minutes with everything written down, or run it again.
Tick it when you have done it.
Lesson done.
Address first. Then numbers, routine, allergies, rules, where things are. Written down before the door shuts.
Next lesson: What you're allowed to doBadge 6 · Somebody Else's House
6.1The handover6.2What you're allowed to do6.3Fire, with children who aren't yours★Badge Challenge