Parents are now outsourcing some of their parenting duties to strangers online. When pressed for time and busy with work, moms and dads simply go on the internet to hire someone to take over for them.
These outsourced parenting tasks could include picking up or bringing the children to school, buying school supplies, tutoring the kids or helping build a furniture for the children's bedroom. One particular site is called Airtasker, which services Australian web users, but parents are also looking for extra help on Gumtree or Craigslist, The Courier Mail reports.
They find people on these sites who advertise parenting tasks that range from $40 (covering school books) to $150 (shopping). If they cannot find one, it's the parents themselves who advertise about needing to hire someone.
The Daily Telegraph reports that back-to-school season usually brings high traffic to these sites as outsourcing parenting has grown popular among Australians. There have allegedly been 65,000 advertised parenting-related tasks at Airtasker to date.
The internet has indeed provided society with the option to get things done with a few clicks. From shopping, to booking flights and rides, to renting houses, the convenience is all there.
Cyber security experts and even the police, however, are warning parents to be more careful about outsourcing to strangers online. "Online world is very different to the literal world," Claire White of the Victoria Police said in the reports.
In Australia, adults who work with children are required to complete a Working With Children Check. So, if parents still choose to hire people via the internet, it might be prudent to also require the potential worker for his or her Working With Children credentials.
Airtasker head Tim Fung is aware that his site is being used as an outsourcing parenting marketplace. But he himself tells moms and dads to exercise good judgment and caution.
Fung suggests still doing check and balances. Watch the video below on how to use Airtasker properly to lessen the risks.
