Reply to After-school babysitter -- what's your system?

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "After-school babysitter -- what's your system?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So you expect the sitter to pick both kids up, take them to an activity, drive them home, and then cook them dinner? [/quote]

We did this for YEARS (three kids, first two 23 mos apart, then 20 mos between second two). When kids were 2-1/2, 4 and 6, our long-time nanny retired, and we shifted to older 20-somethings sitters who had grad school or work schedules (one was an actress!) allowing them to pick up at 2:45 (nursery school) and 3:15 (elementary) each day, drive to activity (not too many of them at that stage) and handle lunchbox clean-out, snacks, and kid-friendly dinner, and start baths.

Sitters used our station wagon with built-in booster seats and installed car seat, as well as rear-facing third-row seat for extra kids coming along for playdates. As kids got older, we began using American University undergrad students (we live in DC) - again, always using our station wagon. DH and I used the other car which is manual shift which sitters don't seem to know how to drive, plus I have an old Miata that I could use if needed - or else we walk/bike (me) or taxi/uber (DH) or  traveled a lot for work (both). A few of our sitters began having their own cars and didn't mind having an extra booster seat in their car as going directly to the school without coming to our house first to get the car was often more convenient. Downside of college students is winter and spring breaks, but we usually managed (other students who grew up locally were home on break), and our AU student sitters often had friends who babysat and were taking summer classes.

Some nanny-type sitters have their own cars/minivans because they have their own kids or grandkids, and you can specify you need a sitter with her (his) own vehicle. You do limit your available pool in this case, and you may need to pay a higher rate or provide a stipend to cover vehicle costs. We were fine with making our one automatic transmission car the one that always stayed with the kids, and we knew it was current on safety and service. Sitters all had keys to our house and would go there first, get the car key and then do the pick-ups. If a child was left at an activity that extended into dinner hour, DH and I would often do that that pick-up so the sitter could keep the routine in motion at home.

Kind of glad those days are (mostly) behind us - we do carpools a lot more, our tweens take Metrobus to activities, we have used Uber, and our 5th and 3rd graders walk home from school on their own each day.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics