Sitter Sources
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Family on Saturday, November 01, 2008 7:00 AM
My sister Erin is the busy mom of two “all boy” sons - Tyler, age two and Evan, age four.
She’s recently been going through a big transition with Evan attending “pre K” at a local Catholic school. This month, she and her husband have found themselves invited to attend important school related events. Unfortunately, Evan and Ty’s presence at these types of things is not always welcomed, so Erin finds herself in need of a competent babysitter.
Back in the day, when my two sons were my nephews’ ages, we were fortunate to have a wonderful babysitting solution. Our local Catholic hospital had a wonderful on site child care center that offered evening and weekend drop in sitting. With only 24 hours notice, we could have the boys stay at the center while we attended our engagements. This pleased my ER doctor husband, who was always very skittish about leaving our sons with anyone outside the family.
Leaving children in the care of others is always a touchy topic, and I hesitated to even broach it here because I don’t really want to venture into any area of controversy. But the reality in many families is that moms who don’t have relatives living nearby may occasionally need to employ a babysitter. For many, this can be a big area of stress, so I thought I’d bring up the discussion and get some input from you as to how you handle these types of situations.
I had a few thoughts on sources for finding good babysitters:
* Try a professional agency like SitterCity.com which will help you in finding and interviewing suitable sitters.
* Network with friends to create a babysitting coop where you swap services with one another.
* Locate local homeschooling families with responsible teenage students who may be available for daytime assignments.
* Consider the possibility of bringing your children with you if the situation permits this, but always call in advance to discuss the logistics and to inform your host of the fact that you will be bringing your children. This will allow them to make babyproofing arrangements if necessary.
What are some of your sources for finding good sitters? What recommendations do you have for moms who may be venturing into the world of babysitting for the first time?
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