How do you find a good babysitter?

auburnbride2be

We rely on family right now, but it's hard b/c they are out of town a lot and busy themselves. So, how do you go about finding someone you can trust to babysit? I thought about contacting a local high school or college. Also, maybe the Red Cross since they do those babysitting classes. I live in a decent size neighborhood. Thought about trying to find someone with flyers or something. I don't know. I'm obviously going to be picky and would probably have the person spend time with DD while I'm home first just to see. Did anyone else have this issue?

Kristin125

Although we're not supposed to (I guess for insurance/liability reasons) we use sitters from DS's daycare...we just do it on the down low.  He knows them and I trust them.  Also nice that they're CPR, first aid certified. We've only done it a few times and usually just use our families although they are OOT.

doctryan

We used sittercity.com and were very pleased with the sitter we found.  We interviewed a couple and ended up with a great person that we have used her on several occassions.

Summerflo

Have you tried looking on www.care.com. I recommended it to my sister who needed to find some babysitting help quick in her local area. It's nice because you can see pictures and read about their backgrounds. It could be a useful tool to try. Good luck with you search!?????

hthomas02

we found our original sitter from the neighborhood mommy listserv and then we now use her and her friends and since then we've found others through the mommy listserv.  I agree with sittercity, I know alot of people who have had great luck with that, that is actually how we found our nanny.  I'd also say talk to other moms in your hood, though I know sometimes moms are reluctant to give up their sitters info because they don't want too many people using them so they aren't available for them anymore, LOL!  but give sittercity a try!

Kim&Dan

I babysit for the family that I nannied for before going back to school. I also watch my neighbor's son. Last spring I babysit for a family that received my contact info from my friend's mothers group. I'm available to babysit when I'm not in class, I also live in Marietta and can provide you with references.