Ready Kids › First Job Ready › Badge 3 › Lesson 3.1
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Somebody knows where you are
Send a parent the address, the family, the times and the ride home before every job, without being asked.
1Look
The message that goes before you do
The message that goes before you do
A phone showing a sent message: Sitting for the Okafors, 14 Elm Road, 6 till 10:30, Mrs O driving me back, her number below. A tick underneath.
Thirty seconds to write. It is the difference between someone knowing and someone guessing.
2The idea
Why a parent needs the details
You are in a house that is not yours, until late, with people your parent may never have met. If your phone dies, if you are late, if something happens at that house, one person needs to know exactly where you are. Somebody knows where you are, and knows it before you leave, not after.
This is not your parent checking up on you. It is the same thing you would want for the kid you are sitting: someone responsible knowing where they are. Adults on work trips do it. Pilots file where they are going before they take off. You are the pilot on this one.
3The idea
The five things, every time
1. The family’s name.
2. The full address. You will need it again for 911, which is a later badge.
3. Start time and finish time.
4. How you are getting home, and who is taking you.
5. The parents’ phone number.
Sent to a parent before you leave the house. A photo of the handover sheet is even better. If any of the five is missing, you have not got the details yet, so ask for them. And if the finish time changes during the night, you message again. The second message matters as much as the first.
4The idea
Zara, twenty to six
Zara’s mum is out. Zara messages her: Sitting for the Bakers, 22 Hill Street, 6 to 10, Mr Baker dropping me back, his number is this. Her mum replies with a thumbs up. That is all it takes. Now if anything at all goes odd tonight, her mum can be at that door in ten minutes.
At ten to ten Mr Baker texts: running late, back by quarter to eleven. Zara messages her mum: now 10:45. Feeling Dial says Fine. If Mr Baker had said back by one, with no lift, that is the next two lessons. Tonight it is just a second message, and it takes five seconds.
5Find them
Which of these go in the message before you leave?
Tap the ones that count.
Find all 4.
6Build it
The pre-job checklist
Pre-job checklist
Five fields. It builds the message as you fill them, and only unlocks send when all five are in. It saves the family, so next time is two taps.
Fill it with a real family or a made-up one. The shape is what you are learning.
7Decide
It is ten to ten. The parent messages: running late, back by quarter to eleven. What is the next thing you do?
Pick one to carry on.
8Say it
The photo of the address
Say this to the client parent, before they leave
“Can I take a photo of the address and your number for my mum?”
It is a normal request. A parent who is hiring a sitter expects it, and thinks better of you for asking.
9Do it
Before you leave this page
Send a parent the five things for a real job or an invented one tonight: family, address, times, ride home, their number. Ask your parent whether anything is missing.
Tick it when you have done it.
Lesson done.
Before you go: family, address, times, ride home, their number. Sent to a parent. No message, no job.
Next lesson: Your ride home, arranged first