Virtual Babysitter

I spoke to my mom on Skype the other day and a lightbulb went off. Why couldn't I use Skype and my out of town relatives and friends as virtual babysitters?

First of all let me say that Kyle, our oldest, is almost 14 and has been babysitting for us for a while now, so we don't have toddlers or infants or anything. (That would be wrong — child and family services might even be called in this instance.) There is a time though when having Kyle babysit, isn't really like babysitting at all. They all just yell and fight and call us on our cell phones every 10 minutes until we get home.

So, for times like these I think I may set my computer up in one room of the house and call my mom, my sister, my friend Maxine or my in-laws on Skype. It would require my children to sit in the same room the whole time we are gone, but it would allow the "babysitter" to keep an eye on them, yell at them if necessary and send us updates via MMS.

Let's take this a step further.  Maybe I don't even have to work outside the home. I can start my very own virtual babysitting service. People can call my Skype number and I can watch their kids from the comfort of my own home without having to actually do much.

Isn't technology amazing?????