Toddlers: 24 Months+
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RE: Hiring a babysitter from the internet...
Duuuuude... who the HELL would hire a complete and utter stranger to babysit their DC???
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Re: RE: Hiring a babysitter from the internet...
The people at daycare centers are technically strangers too. Did you hear about the boy who just died at day care? https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Daycare-Worker-.html
I don't think sittercity is all that much 'worse' than any other childcare option.
I'm not sure what the other options are for people who don't have family nearby and willing to sit.
I've found my babysitters through advertising in a college newspaper. We did background checks and reference checks and they've been great babysitters. We've also used a babysitting service when we traveled to another city for a wedding and knew no one there. The babysitter was bonded and insured and I felt comfortable leaving my kids with her.
Guess I'm a bad mom. :::shrugs:::
ditto...
we just moved here last summer. no connections. we find students through the college... but I'd be willing to look through sittercity. I looked at some applicants off of craigslist... interviewed a few. you do what you gotta. you interview... give dc time to get to know the person.. watch the interaction... just like you would for daycare.
It's like anything else, you have to check carefully and meet them in person and you still never know. The internet does add a certain air of uncertainty though.?
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That story about the daycare worker is terrible. There was someone else in the room! ?
Not implying that at all... you did your research and watched their interaction so that's good IMO. I'm talking about how on their web site (after clicking and clicking and clicking) I ended up at a part that said something like basically, "You can call today and we'll send *someone* to your house tonight so you can enjoy a night on the town." To me, that's a complete and utter stranger leaving no time for observing the person, observing their interaction with your DC, etc. To me, THAT is strange...
Uhhh..I would. Twice! Love both of them - used sitterycity for one.
Are all the people who use daycares, nannies, sitters, etc. hiring someone they have known for years? really?
Do you not know anyone who has ever used a hotel sitter while on vacation? Or a sitter provide by the bride and groom at a wedding? That is really common - most people I know have done that. We almost usd a hotel sitter last summer for a night but ended up not having to.
Uh, I guess that would be me. I hired a nanny off Craigslist last year. She was awesome. We even let her stay at our house and watch Kate while we went away for the weekend.
Whatever. I think it is WAY more strange that what seems like a majority of people on here only leave their kids with family or never, ever go out without kids for YEARS. I babysat in HS and college and people felt comfortable leaving their kids with me. What's the difference?
We've used friend's sitters, sitters we found from the local college, neighborhood HS kids, and, like I said above, Craigslist.
Dh's employer gave us a membership to a reputable drop-in nanny service, & you basically called them, gave them your date/time needed & they sent someone from the agency. ?All of their nannies were pre-screened & references checked by the agency. ?We'd lived in WA less than 3 years when the twins were born (the few friends we'd made there had NO experience w/kids, LOL!) & all our family/friends lived in VA. ?Basically these services are for people in this kind of situation. ?You cannot yourself check the references b/c then every single person who hires them for one night will be flooding their references w/calls & their references won't want to be references any more! ?Having said this, I never felt comfortable using the nanny service. ?I called them once & the nanny that I matched with called me, sounded really young, didn't give me her last name, & only gave me her cell phone number...just not something that I felt comfortable with personally. ?However, many people use these agencies, & if horrible things happened, they would be liable & their business shut down, so I assume that they're very careful. ?
Instead, I borrowed a friend's nanny...still a complete stranger, but at least my friend had checked her out! ?I also left my kids at 4m old w/a couple that I'd been introduced to through my Dr.'s nurse, & I'd only met them in person once! ?I'd been to their house though & they had 4-yo twins & seemed perfectly normal. ?Dh & I went out to dinner...it was the first time dh & I had been out since the kids were born. ?I also hired a mother's helper through craigslist. ?I interviewed people & called her references (one was a daycare center that she used to work for) before hiring her. ?She was so amazing & the kids LOVED her.