【正文】
en their own occupations, established their own homes and developed their own lifestyles, few American children grow up closely surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins as they do in Italy, Nigeria, or India, for example. This along with the fact that modern American families do not have servants has made the babysitter a vital part of the American scene. A sitter is someone who is hired to care for children for a specific length of timeusually relatively shortwhile the parents are out for an evening, going to a party or a course of study for example. Sometimes the babysitter is also hired for longer period, perhaps when the parents are away for a weekend. In such cases the