What's the best way to find a regular afterschool sitter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Care.com, but looks like you have to pay for their account now. Lame.
Any other leads to find sitters that are legit (i.e., don't have predators lurking) and that don't charge a monthly fee forever and ever!?

Pay very well. Like $30.00/ hr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I knew why it was so hard to find. I did this exact job in HS. I did 2x per week for a family, I walked to their house and let myself in, met the girls at the bus stop and hung out with them for 2 hours or so until mom came home. It was great! I made good money for a HS student... Blah blah activities sure, but not all kids are overloaded with activities.

Because parents aren't looking for a high schooler to walk over and sit in the house. They want a 28 year old with a masters in child development or education to drive their SAFE (new and expensive) LARGE (can fit all their kids plus carpool kids) car and pick up the kids at school and shuttle them to various activities.

And people in Hell also want ice water,!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been doing this for years due to a SN kid. Here is the thing — current high schoolers are INCREDIBLY over scheduled. They pretty much never have time for a regular after school gig. Too much homework, sports, competitive dance, etc.

My demographic is college aged women. This crew has maybe 18 hours of class a week. And they have totally dialed back the activity nonsense. They are the ones with time. And I find them on care. You can sign up for care for just a few months until you find the person that works. You have to email about 15 people to interview three to then find one that sticks with you. For me, it is well worth the investment. My current sitter has been with us 6 years — all through undergrad and now a masters program. We will be very sad when she finishes up this year.

+1. I hired a nursing student who took classes during the day and then would come over and help me with my young twins for four hours a day M-F.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I knew why it was so hard to find. I did this exact job in HS. I did 2x per week for a family, I walked to their house and let myself in, met the girls at the bus stop and hung out with them for 2 hours or so until mom came home. It was great! I made good money for a HS student... Blah blah activities sure, but not all kids are overloaded with activities.

Because parents aren't looking for a high schooler to walk over and sit in the house. They want a 28 year old with a masters in child development or education to drive their SAFE (new and expensive) LARGE (can fit all their kids plus carpool kids) car and pick up the kids at school and shuttle them to various activities.

And people in Hell also want ice water,!

Not true that people are unwilling to hire high schoolers. They just aren’t available, just like you don’t see high school boys mowing lawns and shoveling snow as a side job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I knew why it was so hard to find. I did this exact job in HS. I did 2x per week for a family, I walked to their house and let myself in, met the girls at the bus stop and hung out with them for 2 hours or so until mom came home. It was great! I made good money for a HS student... Blah blah activities sure, but not all kids are overloaded with activities.

Because parents aren't looking for a high schooler to walk over and sit in the house. They want a 28 year old with a masters in child development or education to drive their SAFE (new and expensive) LARGE (can fit all their kids plus carpool kids) car and pick up the kids at school and shuttle them to various activities.

And people in Hell also want ice water,!

Not true that people are unwilling to hire high schoolers. They just aren’t available, just like you don’t see high school boys mowing lawns and shoveling snow as a side job.

Boys do that in my neighborhood! Someone actually posted just the other day on our neighborhood facebook group that her son was looking to rake leaves. I also know several teen boys that mow lawns.

I think a lot of parents are not willing to hire high schoolers. If you hire a teen to mow your lawn and he messes up--what's the worst thing that can happen? Your yard looks bad till it grows out?

If you hire a teen to be responsible for your kids and they mess up, what's the worst thing that can happen? Your child dies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I knew why it was so hard to find. I did this exact job in HS. I did 2x per week for a family, I walked to their house and let myself in, met the girls at the bus stop and hung out with them for 2 hours or so until mom came home. It was great! I made good money for a HS student... Blah blah activities sure, but not all kids are overloaded with activities.

Because parents aren't looking for a high schooler to walk over and sit in the house. They want a 28 year old with a masters in child development or education to drive their SAFE (new and expensive) LARGE (can fit all their kids plus carpool kids) car and pick up the kids at school and shuttle them to various activities.

And people in Hell also want ice water,!

Not true that people are unwilling to hire high schoolers. They just aren’t available, just like you don’t see high school boys mowing lawns and shoveling snow as a side job.

Boys do that in my neighborhood! Someone actually posted just the other day on our neighborhood facebook group that her son was looking to rake leaves. I also know several teen boys that mow lawns.

I think a lot of parents are not willing to hire high schoolers. If you hire a teen to mow your lawn and he messes up--what's the worst thing that can happen? Your yard looks bad till it grows out?

If you hire a teen to be responsible for your kids and they mess up, what's the worst thing that can happen? Your child dies?

My nextdoor neighbor hired a high schooler to watch their children one night. She decided to do a Starbucks run with the kids and got locked out of the house because she forgot the key and her cell so she knocked on our door and we were happy to let them hang out til the parents got home. They fired her and gave us a thank you gift.

[Anonymous]

I found someone on SitterCity. The trick is that you have to be willing to pay a lot. I had trouble getting anyone to apply and then I raised my rate. Now I have someone super reliable but I pay her $500/week for 1-2 hours of work a day, 4 days a week. It is a lot of money but it allows me and DH to work and our kids to do the activities they love, so it is worth it to us.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t read through the first page, but college students! Total bonus of being in DC is ready access to so many college kids, and even now being in the suburbs we have college students from UMD, Montgomery College and grad students in the DC programs. They don’t have the issues with HS about their own activities, the ones we use now have their own cars, and they have more control over their schedules (outside of classes that is). I babysat all through college, and those families became critical in facilitating my career, just as I have helped open doors for a few of our sitters. Their schedules do change from semester to semester, and we usually have 2 in rotation (plus one day leave early from work to drive an activity, work from home now and then as kids are on the older side).

[Anonymous]

Answer:
You pay way more than your competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Care.com, but looks like you have to pay for their account now. Lame.
Any other leads to find sitters that are legit (i.e., don't have predators lurking) and that don't charge a monthly fee forever and ever!?

Pay a lot. If you think someone will commit to being paid daily, you are crazy. What do you mean by predators lurking? Your paranoia is scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found someone on SitterCity. The trick is that you have to be willing to pay a lot. I had trouble getting anyone to apply and then I raised my rate. Now I have someone super reliable but I pay her $500/week for 1-2 hours of work a day, 4 days a week. It is a lot of money but it allows me and DH to work and our kids to do the activities they love, so it is worth it to us.

Maybe she could also help "me and DH" with English grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Care.com, but looks like you have to pay for their account now. Lame.
Any other leads to find sitters that are legit (i.e., don't have predators lurking) and that don't charge a monthly fee forever and ever!?

Ideally, you should have a separate nanny for each child. Women who have more than one child have a MMT (Master of Multitasking) degree. You are born with this degree and most of us call it Common Sense. In some cases, it is believed, that CS skips a generation and in your case appears to be true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Care.com, but looks like you have to pay for their account now. Lame.
Any other leads to find sitters that are legit (i.e., don't have predators lurking) and that don't charge a monthly fee forever and ever!?

Of course you have to pay. That's not lame, it's business.

If you're so cheap, just post here and find someone to make a fake google account, LOL!

[Anonymous]

WH Nannies will place part time. You wil definitely be paying $30+ per hour but it will be reliable