The Caregiver's Organizer review.

When Bean was a newborn, I was really hesitant to let others look after her. And by hesitant I mean she didn’t stay with anyone else for the first three months of her life. And it was well past her 6 month birthday before she stayed the night at my in-laws. Bean had horrible reflux as a baby. Horrible actually doesn’t even cover it. She would just be laying in your arms or in her bouncy seat and you would see her face turn red and she would start to choke. It just scared the life out of me every time it happened. And it would happen all day and all night. I just knew that no one would watch her the way I did. She was my baby, my responsibility. I knew that if something happened to her while someone else was watching her that I would never be able to forgive that person so I told myself the best thing was for me to watch her always.

That worked well for me for the first three months. Then real life set in and I had to go back to work. So when my maternity leave was over, I would take Bean to a lovely woman every day to watch her for me. Giggles, a/k/a Nano, a/k/a the MIL, would pick Bean up in the afternoon and watch her until I could run every one off the road get home from work to get her.

The sitter would give me a report every day of Bean’s daily activities. You never realize how much you want to know about someone else’s potty habits until you become a mom. I wanted all the info I could get. And I tried to give as much information to the sitter as I could. But I would always remember something I had forgotten to tell her and panic would set in.

I wished I would have found The Caregiver Organizer back then. I would have felt like I had all my ducks in a row and felt more at ease with leaving Bean.  The sitter probably would have felt less hounded and more at ease herself.

The Caregiver Organizer is an eBook that helps you compile all of the helpful and necessary information for anyone taking care of your children whether it be a sitter for the evening or a full-time nanny. You can customize the information by picking and choosing which sections you need. You can fill out the information on your computer and print it out. They recommend you use the eBook to create a binder notebook that you leave with the sitter. The best part of the Organizer is that it can “grow” with you. You can add or subtract sections when you need to, add children, change the information, whatever you need to and it is ready at the click of your mouse to be printed out and put in the binder.

One of the most valuable sections is the one on allergies. Thankfully, Bean hasn’t shown any signs of any new allergies and the ones she did have she seems to have outgrown. But I when I was a kid, this was very pertinent information my mom had to make sure everyone knew. I had allergies to most insect stings and some medications. Information like this is very important and needs to be shared often so that everyone can know what to watch for and what to do in case of an emergency.

There is a section called “What They Love/What They Hate”. This is a helpful section in our lives. Bean loves, loves, loves chocolate milk. She would drink it all day if we let her. But drinking chocolate milk all day isn’t good for her or her tummy - no matter what Bean says.  I can use this section to let the caregiver know that even if Bean begs, pleads, and whines, she can only have a certain amount of "the good stuff" per day. 

The Caregiver Organizer even covers household information such as areas that are off limits, pet info and even information on all your remotes. How many times have you ever been to someone’s house and spied their various remote controls on a coffee table? My boss’ house is like this. Occasionally, I get suckered into sitting at his house waiting for a repair guy while my boss is in court. He must have 5 remotes on his coffee table. I’d watch tv while I waited if I could figure out which one of the many options I needed to use.

I think using The Caregiver Organizer to share valuable information with your sitters will make you feel better about leaving your children with someone else and it will make your sitter feel more confident in taking care of your children. If you’re interested in trying out The Caregiver Organizer eBook for yourself, use "caregiver25" at checkout for 25% off your download.  There is also a hardbound edition available right now for 50% off.  Use "caregiver50" at checkout.  This is the same edition, same content, just a different name and printed in a hardbound cover with tabs.

*I was provided a free copy of this eBook for purposes of reviewing it for this post.