Do you remember the first time you baby-sat with children who were not your own brothers or sisters? Or maybe your first babysitting job is just coming up, and it seems a bit frightening. "What if the children won't behave?" "What shall I do if the baby cries?" "I'm not sure I want to be in a strange house all alone."

These suggestions probably come to every new baby-sitter. They came to my friend, Nancy, a Christian Scientist, the first time she took care of a baby.

The evening was not too successful. The parents told her the baby would sleep all evening, but he didn't. In fact, he stood up in his crib and screamed! Nancy tried to calm him, but when he saw her, he screamed even louder. Soon she panicked and in tears rushed to the phone and begged her mother to come over and help.

Her mother did come, and quieted the baby with a few tender words of love. Soon he fell asleep again, and all was calm the rest of the evening.

This experience taught Nancy something. "You have to declare the truth before every experience you have," she told me. "It isn't enough just to ask your mother or a practitioner for help when a crisis comes up. The truth has to be clear in your thought all the time, so it will rush like a flood to you whenever you need it."

Now Nancy prepares for her baby-sitting jobs before she leaves home. This way she is sure she can depend on God's promise: "Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." ^{Isa. 65:24;}

The last time she baby-sat for that first family, there were two babies to care for—and they both woke up and cried! But this time she was calm and unafraid. Both babies responded to her love and poise, and she hasn't had any further trouble in any babysitting situation.

The preparation Nancy makes to go baby-sitting is a spiritual one. She so fills her thought with the awareness of God's love and presence that no evil can enter her thinking to disturb her experience.

Would you like to prepare your thought before you accept the responsibility for other people's children?

You can start with God. It's important to feel God's all-power and tender love for you and every one of His ideas. The Lord's Prayer is a wonderful help, especially with its spiritual interpretation in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy:

This shows that God is the ever-present Father-Mother both of you and the children for whom you are baby-sitting. And God governs. Here! Now!

When you are sure of God's presence, you can see that man, spiritual man, is the image and likeness of God. This means your true selfhood and the true selfhood of the children. As the reflection of God you all express health and obedience to Principle. This is the truth. And if you hold truth firmly in thought, it acts as a law to destroy any disturbing suggestion of evil.

Suppose you are asked to baby-sit for a family for the first time and friends have warned you that they have three rowdy boys and two dogs! Then the time to put down the suggestions of possible disobedience and chaos is before you go.

Error might say that those boys have a reputation for scaring away baby-sitters and that you won't be able to control them. Yet could the gentle, spiritual man of God's creating be disobedient and unruly? Think it through! Be persistent in acknowledging only the presence of obedience and consideration in God's man. If you thoroughly destroy a false belief as thought, it cannot be experienced humanly.

Nor is it necessary to allow the suggestions of sickness to overwhelm you. It is usually wisdom not to accept the care of a sick child. However, should one of the children become ill while you are baby-sitting, it is possible for you to become so aware of God as the only Life of His child that the sickness will yield immediately. At other times your prayer will give you a sure sense of the right person to notify or to give help.

With truth in thought before your job begins, emergencies rarely occur. All fear can be ruled out. No alarming suggestions can touch you when you know that Love is the only surrounding presence. Your only real responsibility is to control your own thinking, to reflect loving and intelligent Mind.

In this way Christian Science helps you become a responsible baby-sitter, considerate of the child's safety and for the orderliness of the home. When the parents return and find that the house is quiet, the phone has not been monopolized, the television programs have been suitable for the children, they will be delighted. They will recommend you to others, and your income will grow. And you will have the joy of knowing that you can qualify for the reward Christ Jesus promised to those who are faithful to their duties: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." ^{Matt. 25:21.}