Talk to me about babysitters

Re: Talk to me about babysitters

• libbyann member

  January 2010

  I don't think we'll use a non-family or very close friend babysitter for a long, long time. I just don't feel comfortable with it - it's hard enough for me to leave him with my mom, let alone someone I don't know very well. I'm serious - we probably won't leave him (or our other kids) until they're well into grade school, if ever, with a hired babysitter. We're incredibly lucky and blessed to have family that live mere minutes away and I am so thankful for that!
  

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• userdeleted member

  January 2010

  libbyann:

  I don't think we'll use a non-family or very close friend babysitter for a long, long time. I just don't feel comfortable with it - it's hard enough for me to leave him with my mom, let alone someone I don't know very well. I'm serious - we probably won't leave him (or our other kids) until they're well into grade school, if ever, with a hired babysitter. We're incredibly lucky and blessed to have family that live mere minutes away and I am so thankful for that!
  

  I know, it makes me feel kind of weird too - I haven't even left him in the church nursery yet! We were going to once, but when we got there all the other kids were so much older...I lied and said that I had forgotten my cell phone so we "had" to bring him into church with us (wow, I am so lame, lol!). 

  I really wish we had family around. I was so hoping my ILs were going to move here but MIL couldn't find a teaching job

  Part of me thinks we should just take advantage of when relatives are visiting and forget about hiring a babysitter. Another part thinks that we need a date night every now and then. 
  

  

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• Emer member

  January 2010

  We just left the kids with a babysitter for the first time 2 weeks ago- DS is 1 and DD is 2 1/2.  She was someone we know well, but the kids weren't familiar with her.  I am just not comfortable with the idea of hiring a stranger at this point, so I don't think you are neurotic at all.  I will say, though, our night out was glorious.  I underestimated the cost of a babysitter for 2 kids and we were gone for 7 hours, but it was still worth it.

  I have a friend who really like sittercity.com and I would ask for recs from nesties or other mom friends.
  

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• smb29

  January 2010

  We left DS with a hired sitter at not quite 3 months.  We don't have family in town so if we need/want to do something during the week, we have to hire someone.  I got recommendations from my neighbors, checked references, etc.  It was fine.  To make you more comfortable, you might consider hiring the babysitter to come for an afternoon while you are there, so that you can observe her and get to know her a little before you leave her alone with your kids.

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• Emer member

  January 2010

  Ditto smb about spending some time with the sitter at home.  We had ours come over about 2 hours before we were supposed to leave to help with the transition. 
  

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• jakbtx

  January 2010

  having a regular babysitter has changed our lives! my parents live here but they don't like to come to our house to babysit, esp at night, so date nights w/them babysitting haven't worked for us. we found our sitter (who we've been using over 2yrs!) through my oldest son's MDO that he was originally in, he was his teacher and I also knew him through several other moms, who all raved of his awesome babysitting prowess. and he's awesome. but anyway...i've had the best luck through referral from friends. and I've always done test runs first where the person has come over and met me, my sons, etc. I've only used a few other than our main guy, and i know how nerve wracking it is. my oldest son especially had a lot of separation anxiety b/t age 1.5-2.5, it was really hard to leave him. but, it has made our life sane (date nights....and now we do them regularly). not much help, i know! i guess my main point is i've had the most luck through friends/word of mouth.?

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• ali-1411 member

  January 2010

  I started leaving Jakob with a sitter when he was about a year old.  I had two regular girls who were my mom's friend's daughters (follow that?).  They were 14 and 12 years old when I first hired them. 

  We just started using a new girl who is 15 years old.  I'm friends with her mom and they live on our street.  Layna is 15 months old.  We also left them with a sitter over the summer when Layna was 9 months old.  

  I wouldn't call you neurotic, my sister is the same way.  They won't leave my nephew with anyone but family.  I don't understand it, my kids love their babysitters and we love our nights out.  But to each their own, I guess.

  Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml

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• jml5q

  January 2010

  we started using a babysitter around 9 months maybe. We found a 16 year old girl who lives a couple houses down from us. Actually I met her mom walking around the neighborhood when i was pregnant and we'd always talk when we saw each other. It helps that when she's babysitting i know her parents are right down the street should she need any help. and i just really like the girl, she just seems like a very responsible 16 year old.

  i also interviewed a few babysitters that put ads in our neighborhood newsletter but i haven't used any of them yet, but i probably will if our usual can't do it for some reason.

  also, the first few times she babysat, we'd go out after dd was already asleep so the babysitter literally just had to sit there while we were out. now that dd is a little older and we're more comfortable with the babysitter we'll leave after dinner and bath, and all she has to do is play some, give the last bottle/drink and put dd to bed.

  

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• MrsAJL member

  January 2010

  We didn't use a non-family babysitter until Ben was about 10 months old and then that babysitter was actually one of his Montessori guides who he saw every day and was very familiar with. 

  I only have 1 non-family babysitter and we only use her rarely, such as when we want to do a non-kid family event. I don't think you're being neurotic at all. 
  

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• sundot

  January 2010

  I started using an adult babysitter when (I think) dd was about 9 months old. This was someone I had met several times and I knew she had lots of experience with her own nieces and nephews. Of course, I was worried but I knew I needed the time out of the house with my dh. Right now I have three babysitters, 2 adult (in their 30s) and 1 college student who nannies part-time (found her through sittercity.com). The ONLY reason DH is okay with the college student is because she is a professional nanny and he researched her references. I actually interviewed three nannies from sittercity.com and had them play/interact with the kids while I was working on lunch/dinner or laundry. We really liked one in particular so I booked her for 1-2 nights a month. I'm not sure if we'll be comfortable having a babysitter for three kids come June...I'm thinking I may just have to have two sitters for the three kids! ($$$$)    HTH...

   

  Jennifer--
  
  

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• aras3k

  January 2010

  We've just recently started leaving DD with sitters. We don't have family in town and our friends have their own kids to worry about. We got some recs from friends but I didn't feel comfortable leaving her with a teenager so we got a subscription to sittercity and then went off of recommendations from moms in my mom's group who have used it. The first one was terrible. DD was fine but we didn't like her personality. We loved the second sitter and will definitely call her again. It just gets really expensive and DD cries the whole time we're gone when we leave her with someone she doesn't know so even though we have someone we like, we're still hesitant to take advantage of it. We usually wait until family comes to visit. Sorry I'm not much help, but I don't think you're nuts.
  

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