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What's the big secret to finding a babysitter?
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jbrick
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| I have an 11 month old, and we moved here three months ago and have yet to find a babysitter. Where we lived before, her daycare providers moonlighted as babysitters, so it wasn't that hard. But here, no one seems to want to give recommendations. When I answer ads, either here or on craigslist (which makes me incredibly nervous) they either don't respond or don't show up for the meet 'n greet appointments we set. It's not an ideal way to find someone to take care of your child, I get that, but if you're posting an ad that that's what you do, why not show up? What's the big secret? Any ideas? We live in Alexandria. |
Anonymous
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Try college job boards; we've had great luck finding babysitters that way.
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Anonymous
| For occasional babysitters, we've had the most luck with high schoolers in our neighborhood (either by asking on a neighborhood list serv or watching for notices about them there). We also met some nice teens working with kids at the church we're attending, and I think they'll be good contacts for babysitting, too. |
Anonymous
| I was also going to recommend joining a church. I've met great babysitters at mine -- both teens and (youngish) grandparents. If you're not terribly religious, maybe something like the UUs? I checked them out when I was church-shopping. Awesome people, though the "faith" wasn't for me. GL! |
Anonymous
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OP, the first two PP's are accurate. To be honest, I'm surprised anyone came forward. The only thing *worth anything* in this area is information, and people are very stingy with it. The sooner you learn this, the better off you will be. People don't like to admit this. It somehow makes them feel more powerful. To you and me (I came from a really, really nice area with tons of amazing babysitters, even now. Where people don't have to resort to information hoarding) - this comes across as desperate, and it is. We have other things to worry about. This will probably get flamed. So that tells you something. |
Anonymous
i recommend this too. have had great luck doing this. |
Anonymous
| For our neighborhood, the listserve is great for the summer when kids are home from college and parents put you in touch with them. But during the school year is tough, we find that high school students are usually pretty busy with activities in our area. Keep asking around the daycare, our teachers weren't interested, but they finally found me one of the younger teachers who was interested. |
Anonymous
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When we are in the area we use our old nanny. She is fantastic. But I think a lot of people don't share babysitter info because they don't want to lose their babysitter or have to schedule them months in advance. In HS I was often booked 2-3 weeks in advance for Friday and Saturday nights. It was insane.
But we've had a ton of luck on Craigslist, at least finding nannies...and the no-shows are a quick way to cross their name off the list. I once had one call to say she'd be late, then call an hour later to say she was on her way, then never show up. Why bother!!!! It amazes me. |
Anonymous
| There are a ton of notices now on our neighborhood swim club bulletin board. Maybe a local summer camp would have counselors looking for babysitting? |
Anonymous
| I asked a neighbor with young children and then promised that I'd always be "second banana" if we ever needed a sitter for the same time -- hasn't happened, and I got great recommendations. |
Anonymous
| Our local library branch offers babysitter training classes. If yours does as well (or you find one offered elsewhere), contact the instructor and see if you can get some recommendations, or pass your name to the students. We found someone who started out as a mother's helper-- she was only 11 years old-- and would entertain DS while I worked on projects around the house. She later became a very good and trusted sitter. |
Anonymous
While I agree that people aren't too eager to share actual babysitter recommendations, I don't agree that people are so stingy with information that they won't even share tactics. As for babysitters, my guess is that it's because it can be hard to find a good one (in my NW DC neighborhood, for instance, there aren't many HS age kids) and like the PP said, people don't want to have to book weeks in advance. Anyway, we've had luck with SitterCity.com and the georgetownmoms listserve (on yahoo) has a babysitter database that you get access to if you're a member of the listserve. However, it's mostly Georgetown students, and most don't have cars, so my guess is that it's really only helpful if you live near Georgetown. American University has an active and easy-to-use job board, although I haven't tried contacting a sitter through it. |
Anonymous
| OP here, thanks everyone!! I will follow up on these suggestions, and I appreciate everyone's input. |
Anonymous
| I've used sittercity.com. They're kinda pricey but I haven't had luck with other avenues. The sitters are good about meeting with you first and there are dozens to choose from. They even do background checks. Again, it's not cheap but a good source. |
Anonymous
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Do you know how you can tell when you have a new bff? When she give you the digits of her favorite babysitter. Honestly, I have joked with mom friends about how we would prefer our best friends sleep with our husbands than steal our babysitters. I have had people from daycare babysit for us. Now we have a nanny so our nanny has the right of first refusal for all extra babysitting. Our nanny recommended her friend when she couldn't do it and she is lovely so we use her as well. I also have a couple of much younger single friends who will fill in from time to time in exchange for extra cash and the right to wash and dry in our beautiful read free washer and dryer.
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