Babysitting jobs have always been a longstanding tradition among young people in America; a paycheck close to home to earn some extra summer money without the standard pitfalls of a part-time job.  Not long ago, teens would often plan their strategies for summer break  on how best to promote their services, getting as many good quality babysitting jobs as they could manage.  But these days, things have started to change.  Babysitting jobs are beginning to fade.
    As a youth worker, many hours of my week are spent with high school students, who, not that long ago, were the CEO's and Presidents of the babysitting industry.  But out of those I've talked to, only a handful consider it a reasonable option for a job these days, and none of them actively promote themselves.  It surprised me.  It was less than fifteen years ago when babysitting seemed to be a bustling enterprise.  My older sister was one of the many who made a consistent $400 a month from babysitting jobs, which was a huge amount for a high schooler in those days.   
    But something seems to be changing.  Though the need for babysitters seems to never have been greater, the demand for babysitters has most definitely dwindled.  I know this for a fact, being a grown man with two jobs who still is asked occasionally if I would babysit so and so's children.  The only evident, feasible explanation is the growing lack of trust and security in our neighborhoods.  At the time babysitting was in full swing, kids often spent whole days roaming freely in public parks with friends, unsupervised and yet safe all the while.  I myself can still hear the quintessential line called out from my mother as often I would sprint from my house: “Make sure you're home by dinner.” 
    That sort of thing doesn't happen much anymore.  Kids stay close to home, or only go to the park with parents.  With the dwindling of the feeling of security in our neighborhoods, it seems as though babysitting as a viable job is dwindling as well.  And that's not all, it seems.  In the “good-old-days” in America, it was common for neighbors to show up on doorsteps with muffins to welcome newcomers to the neighborhood and get to know them.  Nowadays, with lists of registered sex-offenders available online, thousands of neighborhoods nationwide are frequently put on alert when a dangerous person moves in to the area.  Neighbors are often fearful of others living in their neighborhood, and don't trust hiring someone as a babysitter unless they know them very well.
    Though such caution is warranted, it's a shame to see the impact such things have had on babysitting jobs.  Babysitting is the perfect job for high-schoolers on summer vacation, or those just wanting a little cash without having to look for part-time work.  But it seems like the trend is moving more and more away from the old-fashioned babysitting model toward something new.