How should DD start babysitting?

[Anonymous]

My DD is 14 and is interested in babysitting, yet I don't know how I would get the word out?

[Anonymous]

You wouldn't. She would. She should go to the local library and ask if she can post a babysitting sign. She should go on Next Door and post an ad there. She needs to do this, not you.

[Anonymous]

If she Ned's experience, start her with a friend's kid. You and the parents go out for dinner and the kids stay home. Builds confidence.

[Anonymous]

Have her take the Red Cross babysitting course.

[Anonymous]

Two sisters in my neighborhood made up flyers and put them in the mailboxes of houses they could walk to. They now sit for me. Once DD starts sitting though teach her how to deal with people. I cannot wait a week to find out if a sitter is available.

[Anonymous]

Dd took the Red Cross babysitting course and then a child first aid course. Once she passed those, I posted about her on our town's listserv, and she started working as a mother's helper. She was 12 at the time. Within a short time, people who has employed her as a mother's helper started leaving their kids with her alone, and that turned into babysitting, and they started paying her more. She is 15 and has a list of families who call her now. I think it's totally appropriate for you to post about your daughter and help her find appropriate families but she needs to do the legwork to start with respect to finding the courses to take and writing her own ad. Dd now makes good money in the summers and over school vacations, and it's a very nice little gig she has going. I wish your daughter good luck!

[Anonymous]

My daughter took the course and then advertised on our neighborhood listserv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You wouldn't. She would. She should go to the local library and ask if she can post a babysitting sign. She should go on Next Door and post an ad there. She needs to do this, not you.

Agreed. I hire the ones who do it themselves.

[Anonymous]

Does your HOA have a newsletter? Ours lists the pet and babysitters who are looking for jobs.

[Anonymous]

Put it on local FB page. List a price for babysitting and a much lower price for mother's helper. Include that she would love to meet with families before they have their next sitter need to see if she is a good fit for their family. At that "interview" have her bring something to play with with the kids and engage them.

[Anonymous]

Mine post (or have their parents post) on the neighborhood listserv. I also ask around, so you should put the word out with friends and neighbors, especially if your child has a babysitting friend who's going off to college.

I'm all for interacting with the sitter herself on an ongoing basis, but I have no problem with the initial approach being from the parent.