Today only one person in five in the United States lives within50 miles of his birthplace.Since the country was first settled,Americans have moved around a great deal, and are often far awayfrom their parents.Because they have broken ties with their past ata young age, chosen their own occupations, established their ownhomes and developed their own lifestyles, few American childrengrow up closely surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles andcousins as they do in Italy, Nigeria, or India, for example.Thisalong with the fact that modern American families do not haveservants has made the babysitter a vital part of the American scene.A sitter is someone who is hired to care for children for a specificlength of timeusually relatively shortwhile the parents are out for anevening, going to a party or a course of study for example.Sometimes the babysitter is also hired for longer period, perhapswhen the parents are away for a weekend.In such cases the sitter islikely to be a mature and motherly woman.For short periods,teenagers, college students, nursing students, and others arecommonly employed on an hourly basis.From the point of view of convenience, the best sitters areoften young peopl