Newsletter

Wondering if your sitter is more attached to her cell phone than your little bundle of joy? How about if the nanny checked on the kids after she put them to bed? With Sittercity's brand new Video Monitoring System -- a wireless video camera that sends live video to any computer or smart phone -- you get the answers to these questions and more, giving you total peace of mind about your caregiver.

With the Basic package, you can watch the live video on your computer while you're at work, on your video-enabled cell phone while you're running errands or any other time and place where you've got access to the web. If you want the option of watching the video at your own convenience without the live, as-it-happens factor, you can spring for the Premium package that comes with a DVR to record video that you can play whenever you'd like.

Learn more about Sittercity's Video Monitoring System and be there when you're not there.

We're changing up the referral rewards starting this month, nixing the extra step of using PayPal and increasing the rewards from $10 to $15 Target Gift Cards. Who doesn't love Target?

For each friend you refer to Sittercity, you'll get a $15 Target Gift Card, delivered via email. Use your gift card to buy the great stuff on Target.com. And since there's no limit to how many friends you can refer to Sittercity, you can really rack up the rewards.

Log in to your My Sittercity dashboard to refer your friends and earn rewards.

Armed with an arsenal of both games and knowledge, the hybrid tutor-sitter is part academic guru and part game-playing goddess. She's certainly a unique breed of caregiver, and we want to hear from you about your experiences working with her.

If you have ever hired a combination tutor-sitter, tell us how it worked out for you, especially when compared to other educational sources (like educational video games). If selected, your story will go to the national media, so please make sure you're comfortable speaking on camera before you submit your story. We may put your tutor-sitter to the test in a brain-straining battle against those other educational sources, to prove once and for all that tutors trump all others.

Send all stories to bsirt@sittercity.com with "Parent Response: Tutor-Sitter" in the subject.

You've heard the trite advice about finding balance among your work, home, community and self. It's riddled with pressure, ridiculous "rules" and conventional wisdom that says you're more likely to end up with added stress instead of sanity. Until now...

Just released last month, Total Leadership shows you how to find mutual value among all four areas of life. Forget the zero-sum game. Ditch the old-school blueprint. Read the book's engaging examples and clear instructions, and get back in control.

You'll learn more than thirty hands-on techniques to strengthen your business results, reveal your clearer purpose, enhance your personal connections and generate sustainable change.

Order Total Leadership and learn how to be real, be whole and be innovative.

June marked a heated month in terms of blog debates. Head over to the Child Care Community to share your thoughts on these popular topics.

• Paying for Sitter's Transportation
• When Parents are Late
• Should Sitters Answer the Door?

The blog also features budget-friendly summer activities, unintentionally hilarious child sayings, the safest place to put a car seat and ideas for backyard camping.

Read about these issues and more on the Child Care Blog.