CHILDCARE/BABYSITTERS – and the lack of….what to do?
Hi,I did the following:
CHILDCARE/BABYSITTERS – and the lack of….what to do?
So, I can count on one hand the number of times me and my husband have had a night out since my daughter was born (she is almost 3 now), and I say it is wayyyy past due that we have another night out. WELLLL, I am not so fortunate enough to have relatives (grandparents, siblings, cousins, etc.) who can watch my daughter for me – we have no relatives around us at all, or even friends who would babysit for us. The couple times we did go out a relative DID watch my daughter and has since made no offers and practically ignored my daughter and us, so that relative is out of the question. So, I have been looking for a babysitter and have found only teenagers with almost no experience with children (let alone toddlers w/ the “terrible two’s” in full swing), so decided to give up on that idea. I work full time and my daughter does have a regular day care she goes to, which is great, except they arent open evenings or weekends. I finally decide to try out the hourly drop-in daycare, only to find out both that were in the area have CLOSED. Then, I find ONE measily drop-in daycare that JUST opened and they close at 6pm on weekdays and 5pm on weekends!! What the heck kinda drop-in center are they!?!? Do they not realize the child care need for evenings and weekends? I am so FRUSTRATED!!!! I am a very over-protective parent and cannot trust just any random person who says they will babysit!!! I figured I would feel a little better having my daughter in an actual daycare type environment with more than a couple people around just in case the caregiver turns out to be some pyscho!! What is a burnt-out, in-need-of-night-out parent to do? Do I have to do a full background check to find a person I can trust? How do other parents do it??? What should I do?
Also, when and IF I do ever find an actual babysitter, do I need to ask for references and do a criminal background check or is that a little over the top? I would love someone with CPR training, is that too much to ask?
Please help!!
Since your daughter already goes to daycare, why not ask around to see if any of the teachers there babysit on the side. I worked in a daycare and there were quite a few teachers there that babysat kids from the center.
Another idea would be to post something at one of your local colleges. College kids always need some extra money and they are (hopefully) more mature and responsible than a high school kid. You could even put on your ad that you would prefer someone with experience and CPR training. Maybe you could find someone studying to work with children.
Once you find someone you think might work. Set up a time to come over to meet with you, your husband, and your daughter. That way you can see how he or she interacts with your daughter.
Once you find someone you like, make sure you pay them well, they will be more willing to do it again in the future.
Good luck!
There are babysitting agencies, sometimes run out of colleges. If you want a part-time babysitter, a college student may be your best bet. Some colleges have students who teach in daycares, etc, who are trained in interacting with toddlers.
That being said, a background check is a little much. Why don’t you plan to pay the babysitter to come over while you’re planning on staying home, so you can observe how she interacts with your children? Also, you are going to want to make sure your child is comfortable with the sitter before you leave her alone with them.
CPR training would be wonderful, but remember that 1. people get trained on adults, not children (who are much more fragile) and this may be hard to come by.
Good luck!
I am like you with no family. My daughter does go to preschool though and it has been recommended to me to see if anyone from the preschool, perhaps bible school or in the children’s rooms during services, might be interested. Churches are always a safe bet. Also the advice of asking around at the daycare and even asking some of the mom’s in your daughter’s class who they use and would they mind sharing the information. It’s funny, women are so tacky sometimes that the whole babysitter thing can become quite territorial and you might find people wh aren’t willing to give out the information. good luck.
There is a great site that you can look for sitters in your area(you put in your zip code and a list will come up) – you can read about them before contacting them, and the site also has tips for parents on how to interview a potential babysitter – questions to ask etc, and also about payment. A friend told me about it and I have found the site very interesting though have yet to use it since I do have free babysitting in family and a young teenage girl next door. But if I had to look I would look on this site. These are people looking to babysit, so your chances of finding a good one are great. Though I would do an interview and visit with them first and see how they interact with your child.
Good luck – It is important to get out and have a child free night.
http://www.babysitters.com/default.aspx
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