Babysitters

TheTamedShrew

How often have you left LO with a paid sitter? (Not including free sitters like grandparents/family)

ColieAnn31

We have only left him with family or a close friend of mine that wouldn't except payment so I took her a couple bottles of wine we plan nights out around if we can get someone in our families to watch Grayson.

Monkeybutt80

We don't have any family nearby so we use a sitter for date nights and to see friends. Id say maybe once a month or so.
We also only get sitters for Friday or Saturday nights so we never ask our friends.

Western Diva

I said SS but I do have a sitter for 3 hours every week while I teach - I'm just still at home. We have left both boys several times whether sitters as well when we go out, but not as regularly as I'd like. It get expensive and we don't have any family here.

CoffeeBeanFiend91

Not yet. I won't until she's older and at least talking clearly. I've seen too many nanny cams. I only leave DD with DH and MIL if it's more than an hour

lioness13

VASC said:

34 votes and I'm the only one who marked a regular basis?? We have four sitters who rotate to relieve DH three times a week while he teaches for two hours.

That's more like a daycare/nanny situation though since it's a permanent arrangement out of necessity, not for occasional events.

lioness13

We have enough close friends that volunteer so we haven't had to seek out a paid situation yet. We take advantage about once a month.

ilovemarfa

Never- ds is 3 and we have yet to leave him with a sitter either. It is weird because I was babysitting kids who were 6 months old when I was 16. I grew up in an affluent community and these mothers didn't think twice about leaving their kids with me for hours at that age. Now I look at 16 year olds and would never leave them with my kids. I think I may be overprotective.

BC&LM

Other than daycare, we have only ever left him with family.  I honestly don't think we will ever use a paid babysitter.  We rarely go out without him, and when we do, family usually jumps at the chance to babysit him.

cafecreme

once so far, for a little over an hour. She's a local college student, and one of my cousin's closest friends, so I fully trust her with C. 

kh59

Our closest family members are 2500 miles away, so we have used sitters occasionally.  Really only for work-related things so far, though.  I think our only dates have been when my mom or my SIL was in town to visit. 

KEK1025

We have date night once a month just us and sometimes a second time with friends. We have zero family in the area so have found two babysitters we are comfortable with. One is a college age daughter of a co-worker and the other is an old teacher of DS from our daycare who left to nanny for a family but we loved.

numbersgirl08

Every single day with the nanny.  And the nanny used to come once every couple of weeks at night for a date night.  The poll didn't specify that day-time care didn't count.

I don't think we've left her with anyone paid besides the nanny though.