Babysitting for a toddler who has never had a babysitter
I started babysitting for a family who has a 4 year old. It’s her first time having a sitter since she was a baby. I’ve babysat for her twice and both times she remembers her parents are gone and begins to cry before bed, which is expected bc I can tell she’s tired. I have to carry her upstairs and put her to bed. Her parents say that’s normal of her and to just let her cry it out when she’s in bed and will fall asleep. I felt uncomfortable doing that at first because I’m used to comforting the kids until they sleep or making sure they’re not crying before bed time especially the fact I had to carry her upstairs while she’s crying and just put her in bed and let her cry. Anyways I feel like she will start throwing tantrums sooner or later everytime I come over because she knows her parents are leaving which makes playtime with her harder due to her randomly remembering her parents are gone and throwing a tantrum where she doesn’t want to do anything. The mom said I could come over one day when they’re there just to play with her so she doesn’t associate me with her parents leaving. Here’s the other issue, whenever the parents are there she will play with me but then go back and look for her mom which just makes me look like a bad sitter because I can’t keep her attention. From previous experiences I know that it doesn’t really workout to have parents in the house when babysitting just because the child will always go to the parent. Anyways long rant, just looking for any advice on if I’m doing anything wrong or how I should go about the situation.