How do you find an occasional babysitter?

[Anonymous]

DD is 8, but it’s come time to find the occasional date night sitter. My MIL has always insisted upon providing occasional sitting (has to be in our home because of severe asthma and pets at her house), but it would be nice to come home, pay the sitter and get on with our evening, if you know what I mean, without having to have a huge mood-kill conversation once we get home.

I don’t even know where to begin. I know of no teenagers. The local high school thought I was nuts when I asked if they had a list of hopeful babysitters, and Care.com seems like it’s more for long-term care situations. I wouldn’t even know what questions to ask or where to start.

Help!

[Anonymous]

are you on a neighborhood listserv for your community? next door platform? a listserv for moms? you could post there. asking moms you know who they use?

[Anonymous]

Next time you see a nice high school girl in your neighborhood, say "Hey, do you babysit? We live on Clover and are looking..."

[Anonymous]

You can try posting on local FB groups

I also chat up teen neighbors or lifeguards at our summer pool

[Anonymous]

SitterCity or UrbanSitter.com.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Next time you see a nice high school girl in your neighborhood, say "Hey, do you babysit? We live on Clover and are looking..."

This is what I do. I’ve asked girls I’ve seen at my pool and around the neighborhood.
I always see girls looking for babysitting work on NextDoor, too, if you belong?

[Anonymous]

Listserv.
Word of mouth. Who do her friend's parents use?

[Anonymous]

But how do you gauge maturity and trust in random teenagers? I had a friend in HS who would have totally sat for your kids. And she probably would have looked through all your personal belongings and stolen money or CDs or something.

[Anonymous]

All this (high schoolers around the neighborhood) and... are you near a college or community college campus? AU has a job board, and I've had terrific responses and babysitters through that resource too - great for when we're staying out later than a high school kid might be okay with.

[Anonymous]

Definitely look for Facebook groups in your town/area for this specific purpose. I live near a number of universities and have found so many good sitters this way. All of my sitters have been studying for graduate degrees and looking for a way to get paid to study after the kids go to bed. They are always super responsible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But how do you gauge maturity and trust in random teenagers? I had a friend in HS who would have totally sat for your kids. And she probably would have looked through all your personal belongings and stolen money or CDs or something.

ANY time you're leaving someone in your house without you there, you're taking that risk.

[Anonymous]

We use our friend’s nanny as our occasional weekend sitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But how do you gauge maturity and trust in random teenagers? I had a friend in HS who would have totally sat for your kids. And she probably would have looked through all your personal belongings and stolen money or CDs or something.

Np We have video cameras as do a lot of people. They’re triggered by motion if she’s in rooms she normally wouldn’t be in. Both kids rooms have them, our bedroom, basement. I’ve only seen good things on the video footage and really don’t look much.

We found ours off the neighborhood listserve.

[Anonymous]

Neighborhood listserve. We have found several lovely girls who babysit, spike with their parents etc.

[Anonymous]

Do you have any friends, neighbors or co-workers with teenagers?Or just ask around for recommendations. Finding a sitter for an 8yo is a lot easier than finding one you would trust with an infant. Nextdoor is also a good resource (for much more than sitters).