I tried to convince the parents to buy a video monitor but they didn’t understand what they were missing, so they stuck with audio-only. There were so many times I had to peek in because of a sound when it would have been perfectly fine (but I couldn’t know until I peeked!) not to… and the door closing, or the tiny bit of change in light, or the sound of a floorboard squeaking would wake up the child… This conviction was solidified when I nannied for another family who had sound-only monitors. It’s just far too useful to be able to have that little bit of extra information. I knew I would NEED a video monitor when I had children of my own. Or laughing in his sleep at a funny dream. Other times, a sound-only monitor would’ve had me opening the door to check on him unnecessarily! Sometimes it was a bit loud in there, but he was just lying in bed telling his stuffed animal a story. So I’d go check on him, change his diaper, and remind him to lie down in his bed. Usually that meant he needed a diaper change, to be honest. You see, it could be 100% quiet in his room, but he could be going through his dresser, or standing on his bed, or any number of other non-sleep things. Sure it was staticky and only worked with the receiver plugged in (the battery sucked, which I think is pretty common with this type of monitor) but the information gained from being able to SEE the child was so valuable. It was then that I got my first taste of the genius that is the Video Baby Monitor. It has been a resource for thousands of parents through the years, so I finally updated it in June of 2015.īack in 2009, I had the opportunity to babysit for a sweet family with a 2.5 year old boy. This post originally appeared on Joyful Abode in November of 2011.