Web site gives insight into baby-sitting

Web site gives insightinto baby-sitting
For a few hours' work, looking after someone's children seems like an easy way to make some money. But baby-sitting is much more than making sure the kids go to bed on time -- it's a big responsibility that shouldn't be taken lightly. If you're serious about baby-sitting, check out "The Guide to the Business of Baby-sitting" Web site (www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/babysitting/index.html).
Created by the University of Illinois, the site provides important insights into the job of baby-sitting. It includes sections on childhood behavior, and provides tips on how to prevent children from acting up and what to do when they do. There is also information on the stages of childhood development, so you'll have an idea of why activities that might stimulate toddlers won't necessarily work for school-age children.
As its name implies, the site also explores the business side of baby-sitting. It features guidelines on how you should behave while on the job and how to handle financial arrangements such as negotiating your pay rate. In addition, the site features tips on how to advertise your services and creating fliers. Even more important are the suggestions it gives on respecting cultural differences when working for families with backgrounds different from your own.
Quote/Unquote
"There are no cameras on when you are doing it. So you can show up in your sweat pants and have chocolate dripping all over you." -- Anne Hathaway ("Hoodwinked"), on the perks of doing voices for animated films, in Us Weekly.
"We asked (the audience) for names at a show. A kid yelled 'Fall Out Boy," Bart's alter-ego on 'The Simpsons.' It just stuck." -- Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, on how the band got its name, in Us Weekly.
"I've been afraid of (dolphins) ever since I was 8 or 9. I have dreams that I am in a pool and there are dolphins bumping me and I'm frightened." -- Tyra Banks, in People magazine.
Video game review
'PQ'
Grade: F
(D3 Publisher, PSP, $29.99; Rating: E)
Fans of Sudoku or crossword puzzles who own a PSP may enjoy the logical challenge of "PQ," a set of 100 puzzles that are supposed to rate a player's Practical Intelligence Quotient. That phrase suggests that a player's ability to conquer these puzzles proves something about their IQ.
After tackling all 100 puzzles, though, we think this game doesn't prove much of anything -- except one's capacity to enjoy a limited range of logical challenges. In this case, nearly all of the puzzles involve the white silhouette of a man moving boxes around on a grid. The man sometimes is clearing a path or building a stairway or he's asked to block laser beams with his boxes.
When we had cycled through all 100 puzzles and looked for our first "PQ" rating, we found it predictably mediocre -- but we didn't really care enough to start back through the 100 challenges again.
We write this as lifelong puzzle fans ourselves. We enjoy mental challenges that take minutes to learn, as "PQ" does, yet draw players back repeatedly over the years.
"PQ" doesn't fare well when compared with the likes of "Lumines," which is a game in the Tetris family, or chess or crosswords -- or even Sudoku, the new grid in town. By those standards, "PQ" is a pretty poor relation in the cerebral game clan.
--By David Crumm and Benjamin Crumm, Detroit Free Press
Ask TeenGrowth.com
Q. I'm 17 and have a part-time job. My mother says I can't work more than 20 hours a week during the school year. My boss wants me to work more. Who's right?
A. Congratulations on being ambitious, but we think your boss knows a good thing when he sees it. Teenagers come cheap compared to full-time employees. No benefits, no vacation, no overtime. More importantly, working more than 20 hours a week, is almost certain to make it harder to get school work done, interfere with school-related activities and even interfere with your social life. Although it would give you more spending money, the chances are good (based on lots of research) that it may not be in your best interest. Several important studies have shown that kids who work more than 20 hours a week during the school year are more likely to be unhappy (maybe because they're tired), have lower grades and do things that may cause other problems.