mothers of toddlers: be better at what i do?

Question

im a babysitter/mothers helper,

i have been for a couple months now, id like to know how to be better at it.

im babysitting 4-7 kids at a time, youngest 1 oldest 9, its fairly easy, but hectic at times,

so, my normal routine, arrive, entertain/watch/play with 3 kids outside, while we wait for the others to arrive,

then we go inside, and play downstairs, normally just board games, or house or dollies, and this is about when they start getting loud, (like some advice for here)

then we go upstairs and eat dinner, usually well behaved while the parents are around, although im not sure where to set my standards as to how many bites of chicken they must have before they can leave the table, etc,

then we go downstairs, and play games somewhat quietly, this is where it gets somewhat violent, the children hit, and scream, and i try my best, (need advice here)

then its about 10 pm, and its time for 2 of the kids to go home, then we dress the 5 or so children in their

pjs, but some complain and whine, i try my hardest here too, (need more advice here) then the other two go home, and im left with the 3 that live there, they climb into bed, and i go home,

basically, ive pointed out the parts that i need advice, some ideas on how to keep them quiet, how many more bites to take, a walkthrough to discipline, and how to do it effectively.

HELLLLP!

BTW, WHEN I SAY BABYSIT, I MEAN BABYSIT/WATCH, i respond faster via email, [e-mail]

id like to have mothers advice.

fellow babysitters are good too, just please help me!

this period usually goes from 5:30 to 10:00 pm,

Answer 1

Good grief! A nine-year old shouldn't be going home at 10pm at night! That means the kid isn't getting to sleep until around 11 and you have a tired and cranky kid on your hands.
For starters, I don't see any snacks in there. Kids are like little engines. They run on food. When the tank gets low, they get cranky. And loud.
You can program in snack time - fruit or milk and cookies - for the after-school period. And you should also be programming in some quiet time. Reading stories to them is good, quiet games are good (but with that range of ages it's really hard to find games they can all play).
Kids aren't going to sit around and be quiet or be good for indefinite periods of time. They are meant to be active, so take them outside and set up games that involve lots of running around and lots of physical activities. They need to burn off some of their energy. Then when the come back indoors, you can do things like arts and crafts or music with them. Singing, listening to music, working with their hands and creating things.
It's a lot easier to maintain discipline if a child has something constructive to do, has sufficient rest (and yes, even bigger kids need rest periods) and several small meals, rather than going from lunch to dinner with nothing in between.
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I guess you have a lot of free play and activities.. Maybe between the hours of 1-5 the children are getting tired and need some quiet play or story time. I know when my son gets tired he gets kinda mean.. Maybe, it would be good to have the children gather round and read a naptime story.... Or some sort of quiet activity.. So during the morning hours have some sort of craft/color possibly a language learning for anywhere from 10 min-1 hour.. Then have some sort of game or physical activity for an hour before lunch.. After lunch wind the kids down with quiet play- story or movie... Also, maybe singing songs or playing a simple instrument might be fun although noisy.. Activity to pass a few moments..good luck

Answer 3

Time out once in a while, attention for the difficulies of elevating children - however no longer patronising. Time saving merchandise might be well, as good as matters to maintain infants occupied or longer than five seconds!

Answer 4

Be consistent. The same thing every time every day. That way they know you won't budge.