ALL STAFF INFORMATION

NEW TOPICS

Pollen Allergy in Japan:

  • In Japan, pollen dispersion peaks from February to April, and most people have symptoms caused mainly by pollen from cedar and cypress. It is said that starting treatment early can reduce symptoms during that terms.
    Hay fever symptoms usually start immediately after you’re exposed to a specific allergy-causing substance (allergen) and can include:
    ・Runny nose and nasal congestion
    ・ Watery or itchy eyes
    ・Sneezing and Coughing
    ・Itchy nose, roof of mouth or throat
    ・Sinus pressure and facial pain
    ・Swollen, blue-colored skin under the eyes (allergic shiners)
    ・Decreased sense of smell or taste
    To minimize to be exposed, we would recommend to WEAR A MASK OUTSIDE for relief!

Near Miss Accident Wanted!:

  • As you understand the safety of the children is the top priority, and we would like to listen to your voice about Near Miss Accident (ヒヤリハット in Japanese) if you have during each session. The purpose is to share the safety measurement with all our staffs and improve our skills.
    We would like all the staffs to write the Near Miss Accident on the day of each session when you email with the work report (of course not every time, only if you have some issues).
    -Example from the other company:
    I(Staff) noticed that the marbles we were supposed to be playing with were missing, and I didn’t expect, but found the one in the child’s mouth (3 years old).
    —> If you share the Near Miss Accident, we can share the countermeasures with all our staffs, like
    -not to give such small thing to the child
    -not leave the toys out inside the room etc.
    When you report us, we also welcome your successful experience as below.
    -Example:
    The child every time watches TV longer than 1 hour, but today we made a rule to watch just 10 minutes and play cards after that. It works really effective. In addition, I discuss with the mother and we decided to let the child watch TV maximum 30 minutes a day.
    Please bear in mind that we won’t share the information with the client so you do not need to be worried whether the relationship between the client and you gets worse, this is just to enhance our safety mind.

BACK NUMBER

BEFOFE BABYSITTING

Manage Your Own Health Condition:

  • In winter season, we understand that there is higher chance to get sick, that’s why please take care of your health condition.  If you feel something wrong with your condition, please inform us as soon as possible. Please avoid cancelling sessions on the day (especially if it’s a pick-up session). We recommend you to wear a mask especially in a train or any crowed place.
  • As a prevention, we would like to share the following tips with you:
    Keep your throat moisturized:if you don’t have humidifier at home it is also enough to open the door of the bathroom or to place a bowl of water in the same room where you sleep. 
    -Wash every corner of your hands and use hand sanitizer regularly
    -Wear a suitable mask

    -Since avoiding large crowds might be difficult, we recommend you to wear masks on a train
    -Take care of your immune system (we recommend to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to boost your immune system), and not awake too late before the day of babysitting

Take care of your own schedules – please double-check every assignment

  • Please double-check at least weekly your schedules and sessions to avoid any trouble. Also if there is any request from the client (time change or cancellation etc.) please carefully confirm the date and update your own schedules. It is one of ideas that to use calendar application or to write down in your notes or calendar.

Using LINE with clients is NOT recommended!

  • The company doesn’t recommend you to share your LINE ID with the clients, for several reasons:
    -It is a casual talking application and has a risk of personal information leak, and chance of many requests from the clients.
    -There is no official evidence in case of schedule change if you are informed through LINE.
    -In case of emergency (getting sick on the day, delay etc.) please use your mobile phone and call the client, until they respond to you.
First Visit to Client’s House:
  • Please carefully confirm the location especially for the first you visit a client.
    The location that Google Map indicates is sometimes incorrect.
    So please store the map in your mobile for comparison with your Google Map result on the day of first visit to a client’s house (or pick-up location).

  • To use Google Street View and “walking” the route from the station to the client house before the day you visit can save a lot of time.
 When You Get Sick:
  • Unfortunately, when you get sick or feel something different from usual, please inform Company as soon as possible. Please call the client directly until they respond to you if it is on the day of babysitting.
    -If you just cough, but not sick, you may be able to do babysitting session wearing a mask. However, before we decide, we should ask the client whether it is acceptable for them to do the session. Please consult with us if you face such a situation.
Remember Kid’s and Guardian’s Names:
  • Please make sure you know the kid’s and guardian’s names before each session for the first few visits at a new client’s. It may look rude if you mix up names with someone else or if you fill out the name looking at the client information in your mobile etc.
Confirm the Information:
  • Confirm the following information in advance to have with you during the session:
    -Kid’s + guardian’s name

    -Emergency contact of the day
    -Handover the key from the client
    -Considering the age and sex of the children what to play

ON THE DAY OF BABYSITTING

Reminder for Pick-up Sessions:

Please remind to carefully check your surroundings and always prioritize the safety during the sessions.

  • Do NOT forget to hold the child’s hand when walking outside! (Even when going to the park)

  • The child must walk inside, further from the road where cars are passing.
  • When using strollers, carefully check whether it works correctly and use them in a safe way.
  • When waiting for a train / bus, still hold the child’s hand, also inside the train hold their hands to avoid them falling down etc.
  • Please confirm the battery of your mobile before the session. If the battery is out during the session, the mother or father cannot contact you.

Playtime in the park:

During pick-up or just normal sessions, the parents might allow you or request you to take the child to the park. Often the child might meet there his/her friends, if so it is fine to let them play together. However, please keep communicating with them and try to make English environment as much as possible. Please avoid the situation that you are just sitting on a bench and watching over the child playing in Japanese. 
Direct Call to Client:
  • In the following cases, you can call the client directly on the day of babysitting. These are just examples so you can act flexibly and consult with Company anytime.
    -If you are late to arrive at the client house due to any reason. In this case, please directly contact the client and send email to Company.
    -When you arrive at the house, the client does not respond to you. In this case, the client may be busy with the child or any other reason so please call directly.

In case of delay

  • It is really important to inform the clients promptly if you happen to be late from the sessions for any reason (train delay, feeling sick, got lost etc.) especially for pick-up sessions.
    If you are still on the way and missed the usual train, please don’t hesitate and inform (call!) or if you are on the train, short message first the client immediately. Otherwise they are going to worry about your whereabouts.
Take off your coat before entering the client house:
  • It’s an important Japanese manner, also the sign of respect to take off your coat before entering the client house. After the session ends, also please wear your coat after you leave the house.
    Please refer to the link for your understanding!
Do not wait in front of the client’s room door at the buildings with auto lock doors!
  • Sometimes with some other person you might have a chance to enter the client’s mansion or apartment building without waiting for the auto lock. However never enter the building this way!
    Unfortunately the client arrives at their home exactly at the beginning time of the session so cannot open the door for you right away when you ring the doorbell of the main entrance first. However, please keep trying to ring, if there is no answer after 10 minutes of the beginning time please contact the client via phone.
    It is considered as bad manners and the client could feel it rather troublesome and pressured the situation, that when they came to their home you wait for them right at their home’s door.
Do NOT use the client’s towel without their permission:
  • As we explained in the training material, we request you to bring your own hand towel and use that one, when you are washing your hands. The Clients feel uncomfortable, if you just use their towel without their permission.

Check anything unsafe inside the house:

  • When you visit the client house, there may be something unsafe inside the room so please look around carefully to check if there is anything unsafe at the beginning of the session. Especially baby may swallow any small object, such as battery, beads, marbles, magnet, stickers and sometimes it is occurred for something we cannot expect!
    Please also make sure there is no objects around that may be dangerous if child climbs up (e.g. chair, sofa).
Better to have always your wallet
  • As you may know, pick-up sessions require an extra responsibility since you need to be ready for several kinds of unforeseen situation, such as: the kid requests you to buy some juice on the way, there might be a traffic accident and you need to take taxi with the kid to the client house.
    For this kind of situation, it is recommended to have your wallet (and cash) with you on the day. If there is any advance payment, please write it down at the reports „Advance payment” line and keep the receipt, and you will get reimbursed later.
If the child cannot be apart from the mother when she leaves the house
  • In some cases, you may have to hold the child and calm down if he/she cries. Keep telling the child that the mother will be back soon and distract him/her to have a lot of fun while waiting together.
Safety first – especially when playing outside!
  • Please do not forget that safety has the most priority during every session. Especially if you play outside with the child or on the way back home, please pay extra attention to him or her. We do not recommend you to play hyde and seek, swing and slide with more than one child.
Near Miss Accident 2022.1 Choking for young children
  • CAUSE: During the park time, a boy(2 years old) was collecting acorns with the staff. All of sudden, the staff noticed he was munching something in his mouth and started to cough and tried to get rid of something from his throat. The staff needed to ask him to open his mouth and saw pieces of acorns inside. The staff used her fingers to get all the pieces from his mouth.
  • IMPROVEMENT: The important thing is to always put extra care in the safety and especially outside of  the house. During autumn / winter, acorns or other small nuts are all around the park and are great resources for craft activities. However, some young children might pretend to put acorns in their mouth, nose and even in ears, obviously it is very dangerous when the acorns stuck and cannot remove from their body. 
    Children can swallow, inhale or choke on items such as small toys, peanuts and marble.Babies and small children are most at risk from choking because they examine things around them by putting them in their mouths.
    Please keep in mind below to Prevent accidents indoors:
    -Choose toys appropriate to the age of the child
    -Ensure that small objects such as marbles and peanuts and small toys are kept out of reach of children under three years old
    -Encourage older children to keep their toys away from their younger playmates
    -Small food such as grapes, cherry tomatoes, blackberries and other soft fruits should cut into quarters to prevent choking.

Near Miss Accident 2021.12 Holding hands

  • CAUSE: As you may know the children might get moody in the afternoon during pick-up, especially toddlers when their nap time is missed or they are just simply hungry, so they might refuse to hold the babysitter’s hand and run ahead.
  • IMPROVEMENT: The important thing is to always put extra care in the safety and even though they don’t want to hold hands or might be grumpy, still hold their hand even if they try to refuse. Most of the case after arriving home and having their snack their mood returns to be fine. It is also important to share the situation with the parents to solve the situation (e.g. to bring their snack inside of the children’s back beforehand etc.).  
Japanese Manner When You Enter the House:
  • Almost all Japanese people consider that the entrance is a dirty place and do not to bring something dirty to inside the room. Please take off the shoes at the entrance and NOT to step inside of the entrance.
    Winter Time: Please remove your winter coat, jacket and hat and put them on outside of the client’s house as stated in the Training Materials.
    Also after the session, please wear the coat after leaving the clients house​.

About iPhone / iPad /  TV Usage for Children:

Most of the clients have strict rules about any electronic device usage, but for the families where it is allowed please try to adjust the time. Avoid letting the children watching anything on the devices before sleeping time so they can have quality sleep and avoid eye damages.
The main goal of English babysitting is English communication, so please try to avoid allowing the children to develop bad habits by watching too much TV / iPad or iPhones during the sessions.

Your Mobile phone usage during session

  • Please focus on the child during session. If you still need to use your phone (for example to check the time), please do it when the parents (client) are not around, otherwise it might cause a misunderstanding for them that you are using it for texting or checking some emails etc.
    If the parents are around, please ask the client: “I am sorry but I need to check the time” (or just play the role and say “Oh, what time is it now?”), and then check your phone, otherwise it also causes a misunderstanding. 
Communication with parents – Importance of handover
  • Please pay extra attention to communication with the parents. If you have any finding about the children condition, it is better to share it with the parents. Please also carefully confirm each request from the parents on the day and do handover properly at the beginning and the end of the session, respectively. We understand that you might feel pressure due to the client’s being busy (in the case, you can talk to the parents just briefly) but they also understand the importance of handover. So always report to the client orally as well. 

If the parent is at home during the session

  • If the mother or father is at home during the session, please keep in mind that they would like to do something else at the time (working, cleaning or cooking etc.).

    Even though the child might try go to the parent, please try your best to distract them not to do so. Please try your best to provide the parents with the support and free time, and do not rely on their help too much.

No sweets during sessions

Even if the child hasn’t got allergy, please never give any sweets (candy, chocolate etc.) to the child. Also if you bring your own meal to the session, please avoid carrying those types, otherwise the child might want to have it. The clients are specific about what the child can eat and cannot so please refrain from giving them any sweets. If the parents wants you to give them any type of snack let them decide and prepare for the day.
Cautions on Showing Mobile, Tablet etc. to Kids During Babysitting:
  • Please ask the client before you use your mobile, tablet etc to play with the kids. Most clients do not want babysitters to show these devices to kids since seeing mobile, tablet etc may cause sight weakness and addiction to them. (It depends on the family.) In addition to this, using your mobile during the session may give bad impression to the parents even if you do not play with it.
What To Do During Nap Time:
  • Please make sure to watch over the baby/kid even while she/he is taking a nap. If you just sit there and do nothing during the nap time, it does not look very nice to the parent. You may tidy up the room, write the work report, or talk to the mother in English. You may also ask the mother if she needs any help.
How to handle tantrums:
  • All of you might have encountered or will in the future it is important to be able to handle while the child crying a lot or having a tantrum. For your consideration we would like to share with you one of our previous staffs column about the topic:
    https://littlehug.co.jp/column0072/
Do NOT take photos of children during session:
  • We understand that you have built great relationships with the families and the children, which we are really happy about and if the children do something cute you would like to keep it with a memorial photo etc. 
    However please do not forget to pay attention to the followings:
    -Do not take photos of the children during the session, unless the parents or children’s request it.
    -Do not upload the photos of / with the children to any kind of social media website!
    Based on the personal information policy, we do not have a permission to do anything such as taking photo or uploading them without the guardian’s (parents) consent. To avoid misunderstanding and further troubles, please avoid doing such a thing.

Do not forget to tidy up after each-session
  • Tidying up at the end of the session is part of our job. It is a bad manner to leave around all the toys and everything at the end, moreover it could be dangerous for the child’s safety. So please take 3-5 minutes for tidying up the room, depending on the situation before starting to write the report at the end. If the child is older or capable, we recommend you to tidy up the room together. It’s not only professional, but also a great help for the mother, who otherwise would feel tired, if she had to tidy up after the babysitting.
    By tidying up you don’t just complete your task within the session, but also showing the right manners to the children and supports the parents. If you miss to tidy up the room, you are showing the wrong example for the children and causing extra work for the parents. Please bear in mind that your biggest goal is to support families and this is part of it. 
Reporting:
  • 1) During the session, please focus on playing with the child and fill out the report in the last 2 or 3 minutes, or after the session when you confirm the safety of the child. If you do not have time to fill out, please fill out only the important point (not to fill out in all rows).
    Reporting work is an important task for us (especially in case that the parents are not at home) because that is the only piece of “evidence” the client can keep after the session, but we might sometimes take a lot of time to do so during the babysitting session (the parents feel too long if you take more than 10 min.). 

    2) At the end of sessions, please orally report to the parent(s) within 1 minute. To communicate with the parent(s) is also important to get a long relationship. Especially for pick-up session, the parent(s) would like to know what the child did and how they felt during the session.
    3) Please send an email attaching the copy of the work report on the day of babysitting. 
    After Company confirms your report by email, our office staff confirms whether each session is conducted safety without any problem and also put information, such as your name, date, time and transportation fees etc. in your pay statement as a draft in the next morning.

Report to Company if any unusual situation occurred

  • Please do not hesitate to email Company with your report about any kind of unusual or unpleasant situation happened during the session. For example:
    -Child was crying a lot, or seemed to be stressed over something.
    -You were late to start session and make up to adjust the ending time for the delay.
    -Client asked you for time extension etc.
    We are open to consult with you or with the client in such situations above mentioned.

What to do if there is no more report form at the Client’s house:
  • Unfortunately, sometimes you may face the situation that the end of the session there is no more report format(e.g. Client lost the paper, forgot to prepare etc.), in this case please proceed with taking any kind of white paper, where write down the followings and request signature from the client:
    -Client and child’s name
    -Session date and time
    -Brief Description
    ​-Transportation route and expenses
    ​In this case please just take a photo of this paper at the scene and send that to Company, and leave the original at the Client’s house.
What to do if you have to go to the restroom:
  • Safety first! Please do NOT leave the child alone even short time, and please take him/her with you. Never leave small child sitting on a chair, and never leave baby somewhere he/she could fall down.

NOTICE FROM COMPANY

Influenza Prevention:

  • In winter season, we understand that there is higher chance to get sick, that’s why please take care of your health condition.  If you feel something wrong with your condition, please inform us as soon as possible. Please avoid cancelling sessions on the day (especially if it’s a pick-up session). We recommend you to wear a mask especially in a train or any crowed place.
  • As a prevention, we would like to share the following tips with you:
    -Wash your hand regularly
    -Gargle after entering the client’s house
    -Since avoiding large crowds might be difficult, we recommend you to wear masks on a train
    -Take care of your immune system (we recommend to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to boost your immune system), and not awake too late before the day of babysitting
  • How to wear a mask properly:
    Check the correct side of the mask and cover your nose properly. The upper part is where a bendable portion is placed, you can widened the whole mask to cover your face properly. Make sure you adjusted it fully so it covers your mouth and nose.
    -Use your index finger and thumb to pinch the bendable portion of the top edge of the mask around the bridge of your nose. Take care to cover your nose.
    Fit the mask to your face and under your chin. Once the mask is completely secured, adjust it to ensure it covers your face and mouth, and so the bottom edge is under your chin.
Notice for Typhoon Season:
  • July-August is a season of typhoon in Japan so please follow instructions what to do as attached (pdf) when there is a typhoon attack.
    Notice for Typhoon Season (pdf)
Notice for Emergency (Terrorism):

Please avoid usage of perfume:

Families with small children are really sensitive with any type of smell and as stated in the training material it is not allowed by the Company to wear perfume on the day of the session. However not only perfumes but other scents such as body creams, shampoos and other cosmetics might have strong scents too. We have received some complaint regarding this matter, so better to refrain from the usage of any cosmetics with strong smell prior to the session.

My Number:
  • Please give Company your “My number (individual number), 12-digit”, which is mandatory to present. If you do not have one, please visit your nearest city hall to ask for. If you already informed us, please ignore this notice.
    The Japanese government will adopt the social security and tax numbering system (My number system) in order to enhance public convenience and develop the efficiency in administration. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
    URL: My Number (Social Security and Tax Number System)
Baby Monitors:
  • Some families have set up baby monitors to check how their children are doing. Nevertheless, during the session you might be also shown by the monitor, so please take care of not doing any questionable action.
Sending Reports:
  • Please make sure that your work reports will reach us no later than the 5th day of the following month for the payment calculation. Our office staff rechecks your pay statement with the original reports to calculate correctly. Please make sure not to use express mail and consult with us beforehand if it is difficult to make it.

2022.2 COVID-19 Prevention Measures During Sessions

  • CAUSE: Unfortunately a session was cancelled due to the staff health condition, later on Company informed the client as the staff was Positive in Covid-19 test.
    The client mentioned that the staff was not wearing the mask during the session so the family  was worried if they were considered as the close contact.
  • IMPROVEMENT: The important thing is as you have been already requested is to always wear mask, but if you need to drink or eat during the session, please make sure you have enough distance from the family.
    Especially during the long hours session, just keep the distance and avoid talking while you are not wearing mask.
    There are some clients who might offer you to have snacks and tea with the child from kindness, in this case please politely refuse it since there is also a risk that you might get infected or considered on later as a spreader of Covid-19.