How did you find a babysitter?

489 Views 7 Replies 7 Participants Last post by toddlermama16, Apr 1, 2006

Boadicea

Discussion Starter · Mar 29, 2006

So, here's the thing. We live in a town where neither of us has any family. Nearest family is 9 hours away. I've made a few friends since we've lived here (nearly four years), but most of them are very busy, and a couple are very stressed right now, and some don't have kids and wouldn't know what to do with them if they did ... so, none of them are people I want to leave my children with as a regular thing.

I don't attend church. I do volunteer work, but haven't met a lot of the other people who also volunteer. Neither of my children is in school, so I'm not involved in the PTA or anything like that. The kids are in a few classes/groups (art class, dance class and Itty Bitty sports for DS and the library reading group for DD), and I meet moms there, but again, not someone who can watch my kids on a regular basis.

I told you all that so you'd have some background and know that I have been looking in the usual places ... now, how DO I find a babysitter? I need someone for a couple of hours a day, a couple of days a week, and someone who can be available evenings sometimes and weekends, too. I'm a WAHM mom, but I need to be able to go to some appointments without my kids. Not to mention that I need some me time more often than a couple of hours every two months.

DH works three jobs and is out of town for five days out of every eight, so I can't really count on having him available. He was supposed to be free this Friday night when I have a booking, but now he's not going to be. I've covered for that, but I would like to find someone to be more of an ongoing thing. Any ideas?

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mamanurse

· #2 · Mar 29, 2006

I don't know if there's a nursing school in your town, but I advertised at two local nursing schools. In general, I think nursing students can be trusted. They have to have a clean criminal record (at least pass the fingerprinting and background check) to attend. You can also have one of their Profs write them a letter of rec. and get their phone number to make sure they're reliable and a current student. Also, nursing students are required to have child/infant first aid and cpr certification. Good Luck!

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Boadicea

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 29, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamanurse
I don't know if there's a nursing school in your town, but I advertised at two local nursing schools. In general, I think nursing students can be trusted. They have to have a clean criminal record (at least pass the fingerprinting and background check) to attend. You can also have one of their Profs write them a letter of rec. and get their phone number to make sure they're reliable and a current student. Also, nursing students are required to have child/infant first aid and cpr certification. Good Luck!

That's a wonderful idea! Thank you! We do actually have a nursing school in our town, so I'll start there.

How exactly did you advertise? Did you contact someone in the nursing school and ask if you could place ads on bulletin boards? What did the ad say?

I'm trying to write an ad now ...

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TeaBag

· #4 · Mar 29, 2006

Boadicea, what I would do in your specific town is this. I'd call the FSC. Get a list of all the babysitters that have taken the classes. Last time I got the list 3-4 of them that lived downtown. Call them up. Talk to them. When I did this, I called every single one on the list. Some, I eliminated immediately, just from their attitudes/tone of voice. Others never returned my call. I narrowed it down to three. I had those three come to the house for an interview. Had them come and play with the kids on another occasion. THEN I made my choice. Also, the first one was a mistake.

even with all that, the first time I left her with the kids after dh got home from one of his previous deployments, she was outside with the kids and two boys from her school stopped by.

I didn't hear about this until about 2 weeks later, when dh was out and saw her smoking. So I started shopping again. I had interviewed my current babysitter previously, so I went back to him. THEN his mother told me that she'd seen the boys over here. "So sorry, I meant to tell you, but I got distracted adn then it just slipped my mind" So, that was the final strike against her....and we've had our current one for about 18 months now and we all totally

him!

Call FSC. You can pick up the list or (I think) they can email it to you! Good Luck!

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carolynrosa

· #5 · Mar 30, 2006

As a former nanny, I thought I'd mention that I found a few of my jobs through craigslist. I'd put up an ad, and then people would call to interview me. You can do background checks, if you want to. And don't feel bad asking for a good, long phone interview, if that's easier than a face-to-face while you're deciding who your top few are. Then have them over for a supervised afternoon with the kids.
craigslist, though, is a good resource.

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Alkenny

· #6 · Mar 30, 2006

I haven't done this personally (I have family all over around here), but I have friends who have called the local Vo-Tech school and asked about students in the Early Childhood Education classes and interviewed them.

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OakBerry

· #7 · Mar 31, 2006

Well, this may horrify some people, but I saw a few teenaged girls walking down my street a few times so I stopped them, introduced myself, and asked if any of them babysat. One of them did. Of course, dh and I had a meeting with her and her parents initially. Then I had her come over for a few short stints to hang out with ds while I was home. She worked out great, was a nice kid, polite, well spoken, intelligent, responsible, and great with ds. She was homeschooled, so she was available during the day alot. Alas, she moved.... I am looking for someone else.
A woman at my gym that I know just told me her daughter is looking to babysit, so I may be in luck.
Also, you can try colleges/high schools that have early childhood education classes and put up a sign. As far as the nursing schools, you can try it. Most of them want to work in a medical setting to get some experience though.

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toddlermama16

· #8 · Apr 1, 2006

Quote:

That is a great idea! I would not have thought of it.

Sometimes, even if you don't attend a church, you might still be able to call up the high school youth pastor and get a recomendation for a sitter. Also, I remember taking a babysitting safety course at our local fire department as a young teen. You might check out that route, too. Perhaps see if they could give you a list of names or something.

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