Monday, September 11, 2006
Babysitting
Babysitting is the practice of temporarily leaving a child in the care of someone other than his or her guardians. Babysitting is most commonly performed as an odd job by teenagers for extra money, stereotypically girls. In general, the child being watched is of some family or social relation to the babysitter, although professional babysitting services are also extant.
The term baby-sit from baby plus the agent form of sit first appeared in 1937, and its short-form sitter is attested from 1943. The use of the word sit to abbriviate to baby-sit is recorded from 1966. The term probably originated from the action of the caretaker sitting with the baby in another room, whilst the parents were entertaining or busy in another.
