Does sitter drive your LO around?

KDR1979

We are in the process of hiring a babysitter. I work 2 days/week. My mom has been watching the babies for us, but it's getting to be too much b/c we don't live close to each other (~30 miles away). I think I have found someone and have her coming over 4 times in the next 2 weeks to watch her with the babies and get to know her better. Her kids are 7&8 and she'll be bringing them to our house this summer while she watches the twins. When school starts back up, she usually drives her kids to and from school. We live in the same school district, so their school is probably 3 miles from our house. Would you let your sitter drive your kids to and from school? What would you do about car seats? I really don't want to take my car seats in and out (we had the fire dept install them). DH does have 2 cheaper car seats (from Costco) b/c the babies don't ride with him much. But those seats are huge and I can't imagine she'd (the sitter) want to keep them in her car the 5 days/week she isn't watching the babies. But, I'm not sure she'd want to install them every week either.

What would you do?

Thanks!

MrsBreezer80

Sounds kind of like a nanny situation, in which case, yes, our nanny drives the kids. To play groups, libraries, and to preschool. We did a full background check which included a driving record.

 We also bought her cheap car seats -- they're actually much smaller than our Graco ones. She keeps them in her car.

jstrat53

We have a nanny and she doesn't drive LO around too much anymore but when we first started with her, she was taking her son to eye therapy once a week and she had to take LO with her.  I bought her a carseat to keep because I didn't want to take mine in and out all the time.  Even though she isn't taking him to therapy anymore, she still has the carseat just in case of emergencies or on the occasion that she has to pick her son up from school early or drop him off if he misses the bus in the morning.   

SusieBW

We have two different babysitters for weekdays while we're at work (one is DH's aunt and the other is a good friend of ours who happens to be a SAHM).  They both have always driven DD around.  We gave DH's aunt a base for DD's infant seat when she was tiny, and our friend would just install the infant seat using the seatbelt.  When we switched DD to her convertible seat at 6 months, we bought both babysitters inexpensive convertibles for their cars.  I think they're Cosco brand, and they were about $65 each.

I think you need to talk with the potential babysitter about this situation and see what she is willing to do, and you need to be open to the idea of either buying her a couple of carseats to leave in her car or giving her your DH's seats to use.  If she's going to be putting the seats in and out of her car, just make sure that you are comfortable that she is doing a good job of putting them back in.

PhoebeJones3

I AM the sitter - I'm a SAHM and watch another boy the same age as my 20 month old son. Even with the other children I've watched prior to being a SAHM most parents haven't had a problem with me driving their children. I have a spotless driving record and a very safe car. 

 

As for the car seats, provide her what she will need and let her deal with if she wants them in her car the other five days, or if she will take them out and put them in as needed. 

90% of the time B's carseat is in my car when I'm not watching him - I only have to take it out occasionally. This past weekend we had a wedding to attend and had friends car pool with us, so I simply took it out. its not that big of a deal, especially with the LATCH system.

 

lageorgiapaperie

I nannied when I was 17. I drove the kids around as needed. One of the kids was 18 months or so and I would put the car seat in every time we needed it, I didn't keep it. I'm sure I put that thing in wrong every time. It scares me to think about it now. 

If you want her to drive I'd buy her a seat she can keep in the car. And have her get it checked too so she knows how to install it if she wants to take it out and put it back in. 

tarajayne

Mine doesn't.  She has her own son and can't keep 2 carseats in her car, and I don't want them taken in and out (plus we really can't afford additional ones). 

Huahine

Yes.  She uses my car to do so.

For those of you whose nanny/sitter drives your kid around in her own car, do you reimburse for gas/mileage?

 

BiscuitEater21

I am the babysitter/nanny. I'm not really sure what the difference really is. 

I'm a SAHM and watch kids out of our home, but I was taking LO with me to watch kids at their own home before and would drive them wherever needed.

I'm 20 years old, and my son is 13 months old, but I was driving him and the children I babysat around when he was 8 months old. I would have continued that job, but I couldn't afford it when she couldn't afford to pay me the same amount. It was just too hard to continue.

But I would still drive others kids around if they needed to be somewhere! It's not a problem if everything is included in the pay...I don't make anyone pay me extra for gas, but I was only being paid $5/hour and then had to drive across town and back twice a day to take him to school. It would have ended up costing me money out of my pocket, and I want to help families when cheaper babysitting/nanny costs, but I need the money too.

I even like taking the kids to do things and get them prizes or an ice cream cone on a nice, hot day. That would have been made impossible to do if I had taken the lower pay  

PhoebeJones3

Huahine:

Yes.  She uses my car to do so.

For those of you whose nanny/sitter drives your kid around in her own car, do you reimburse for gas/mileage?

 

 

The mom offers, but honestly its usually out to the park or zoo, and its not very far, its somewhere I would go just with my son anyways. If she had me running errands or doing errands for her, then I would think about reimbursement.