The Great Sitter Search

[Eresh]

I'm hoping to get some ideas and feedback from other families that have been there done that with searching for a sitter. DS is over 2 yrs old and we've never had a paid sitter and I think it's time we get one. Partly so DH can enjoy an evening out here and there but also because DH may be taking a job that involves travel and I'll probably need someone to watch DS sometimes when DH is out of town. I'm also expecting DC2 in October and would like to have an established sitter that DS knows well by then.

DH both WOH full time and DS is in a daycare center M-F. The ladies at the daycare are not allowed to babysit outside of daycare and I haven't had any luck getting recommendations. DH and I both work about a 45-1hr commute away so getting recommendations from co-workers is out. I have some local friends but none of them have sitter recommendations. We also are not part of any church or other local groups. Lastly, our neighborhood is entirely young families, a couple of older couples, and a couple of middle-aged single men. There are no teen girls / college aged women that might be looking for occasional employment.

So this is all rather intimidating to me. I could go through something like sittercity.com but I've never talked to anyone who's done that. There's a community college satellite campus about 10 miles away, but I'm not sure how one goes about looking for college students for this kind of employment. So .. I guess I'm looking for suggestions and other people's experiences.

Thanks in advance!

[columbusmomma]

I don't have much advice but I really like the resource www.care.com.
You put in your area and it lists sitters,tutors,caregivers,etc. right in your local area. Background checks are done on all, you can read about the people, see a picture, arrange to meet them, etc.

[mommariffic]

I've had like, 20 babysitters. The best one I found was on Craigslist, which was free to use and she was amazing. A former mom, raised 3 kids, didn't put the TV on ONCE, took DD outside all day, did crafts. I literally cried when she stopped watching Paige 3x per week for a few hours.

I've also used the paid sites and you know what, background checks and all some of my most crappy sitters have come from there I think it's all about interviews, hanging out with a potential sitter, calling references and being patient with your search

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

I've done lots of things to find sitters. Some of my best sources you have already said arean't available to you or haven't worked though. My first thought is -- do you know any of your neighbors with young kids? Ask them for recommendations, even if you only know them to wave at. You are going to want to do your own reference and background checking anyway, but this will give you a way to start.

If you are looking for a high school student, call the local high school and ask if they have a job board you can post on. Ditto the local community college. Ours here have an online database you can enter information into and students check. Even though you aren't part of a church, you might call a local one and ask if they have a board as well -- I know ours does. I have gotten nannies/sitters through both Craigslist and SitterCity. We've had hits and misses on both but they are good ways to generate leads.

No matter where you find the first contact, you will want to talk to the sitter on the phone, meet with her (or him -- one of our best was a guy), ask for references and CHECK them. If they might be driving your child, ask them to bring a DMV report. If you want to go the next step, online sites like SitterCity will do a background check for a fee even if the sitter didn't come from there. Although these really are pretty surface checks and I'm not sure I would put as much faith in them as I would my own reaction to the sitter and the references I got.

For a sitter that I plan on using more than once in a great while, I will also arrange a preliminary time for them to play with the kids while I am "around" but not really paying attention, then ask for the kids feedback. Of course, mine are older and more articulate than a 2 year old, but you might be able to get a good feel for how your child responds to this particular person that way.

[NicaG]

I found our sitter through Craig's List, and she is wonderful! She's a student at a nearby college. I would also try:
-calling or visiting preschools and asking if any of the teachers/aides babysit
-calling nearby YMCAs and asking if they teach a babysitting class (usually includes cpr) and if they keep a list of "graduates" who are interested in babysitting jobs
-online community message boards for your area or town

[One_Girl]

You may be able to post an add through the college career center.

[pranamama]

a lot of community colleges and universities have boards where ads for sitters can be posted. Try to weed out the flaky ones somehow, I've had great luck (smart, responsible, fun) and no-shows from that type of ad.

[Caneel]

my quick thoughts -

Does the college have a teaching and/or early childhood ed program? If so, a call to that department might be a good place to start.

Do any of your DS's school's employees have friends that work at other centers? Those friends might be a good sitter.

[mummyofan]

Honestly?
I hired an agency reccommended to me through a friend and I paid $1,200 and they did it all and found 2 fabulous Nannies, of which I picked mine. She does 15 hours a week so I can take mine to their school and TG (don't know why I added that!)
The previous one, I got though my Step Daughter's school and she was the Principal's Daughter, she left to do TT.
I've heard of good and bad from Craigs List and sitter City, but it's what you're comfortable with and can afford.

Good luck

[VisionaryMom]

We put an ad in the newspaper. Our area is too small for a vibrant CL community. We brought in 5 people and did interviews. We eventually tried out 2 of them, and one became our sitter. She's now our PT nanny. She had great references and had done the Red Cross training for babysitters. She was 15 at the time (now 19).

The biggest thing is to have a trial run. We did a couple of trial runs when we were here and found that some of them just didn't mesh well with our children (well, my son if we're being honest). In our area, mentioning the no TV thing pretty much eliminates many of the potentials.

[mistymama]

We found ours on craigslist ... she's a local college student (pre-med) and it turned out she lives less than a mile from us. She is super sweet, excellent with ds and we just love her!

I like to meet people and go with my gut feeling - I also of course called her references and made sure I was comfortable.

I'm not against ds watching tv or playing some wii --- but I knew I would like her when she said she prefers to play games and cook with the kids instead of vegging out.

[NightOwlwithowlet]

Don't over look other mothers in the neighborhood, we've had good luck with SAHMs who are looking to make some money. Our neighbor watched our son from time to time over the years and now the kids are friends. She let me drop him off at six am when DH was out of town and I had to be at work at 630 am on a Saturday.

[sweetcheeks]

I was just going to say what NightOwl said . . . maybe try to find a SAHM who might be looking to make a few bucks. I take in one of DS1's friends a few mornings/week before school and am contemplating taking his sister in the fall too, if she's in the AM kinder class.

We were fortunate in our sitter search in that we found her very easily. Our sitter is the older sister of one of DS1's friends. She also attends DS1's school and she's 13... so I'm hoping she'll be our sitter for quite a few years. Is there a school nearby? Our school has a board that parents can post things on and I've seen babysitter wanted postings.

[Smithie]

Craigslist + gut instinct has always worked out well for me. (Plus checking references.)

I have had a couple of bad experiences hiring through craigslist (one who couldn't handle my two-year-old, one who was wonderful with the kids but I found out after having her in my life for over a YEAR that her babydaddy was a registered sex offender ). In both of those cases, I ignored initial misgivings because they weren't based on anything "real" - just an impression I couldn't pin down that #1 was a flake and #2 was living with a loser. Wrong wrong wrong. The suspicious judgmental cynical mommy is the mommy who gets a good sitter off of Craigslist.

[phathui5]

The biggest thing is to have a trial run. We did a couple of trial runs when we were here

I do this too and I really recommend it. The two babysitters we use told me we were the only ones that had them do it.

[philomom]

Find your college with the education degree... place ads in their halls and lounge. I prefer young women who have some clue as to what age appropriate child development is all about.