Minnesota Babies
Spockles
member
Options
Babysitters?
Spockles
member
Where do you find a good babysitter? Anyone know of a good babysitter they'd be willing to pass along the info?
It's getting to be too hard to depend on family to babysit for us occasionally so we can go out.
Thanks!!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Babysitters?
Besides family, we have used daycare teachers and a 'little' girl that I used to nanny for (gah, how did she get old enough to baby-sit?!?!).
One time I tried a teenager from down the street and it was a disaster. (thank god I did a 'trial run' while I did some stuff around the house)
What area of the cities do you live in? That might help with suggestions.
Otherwise, I agree with PP, sometimes it works well (and is cheaper) to swap services with other moms.
A Little Bird and a Monkey Butt
I've always swapped services with other moms but then found out the moms were too fun to go out without them! So there goes all my sitters... haha.
Right now, we're using a local high school girl who we love, but we definitely would like a backup because she's not always available. We also use a local drop-in child care but they're starting to make us really mad; they require that kids are 16 months or older before going to them. Our youngest is 21 months, but he doesn't walk or talk, doesn't point or communicate and barely feeds himself and they're starting to complain about it. Ridiculous. If they wanted to ensure they'd only get kids who could do all those things, they should say THAT, not just kids 16 months+. So I don't know if we're going to use them much anymore, we're tired of the run-around and letting them make us feel BAD for bringing our kid there.
I'd love to find an older nanny-type person to help us out a couple days a week, but good ones are hard to come by!
That is horrible that they are making you feel badly for bringing your son there!
Are you using Club Kid? (or similar type place?)
I have experience in management of an hourly child-care center, and there are definitely better ways to approach the situation than it sounds like they are.
Reality is, that for the age group they are taking on, their adult to child ratio is 1:7. It sounds like perhaps your son might need a bit more attention than their ratio allows, and isn't thriving in a group childcare setting. The fact that they are making you feel badly and giving you the run around is horrible, but I am willing to bet that their program simply isn't set-up to properly care for a child that isn't mobile and can't communicate. It isn't that they don't want to care for your son (or they would've turned you away at the door), it is that they can't care for your son without compromising the care of the other kids. If it was a school or full-time care center, I would totally suggest working with them on it, but the accommodations that would be needed in drop-off care just aren't realistic.
I really hope that you can find something that works for you AND for both of your boys. Not having quality & reliable child care stinks!
A Little Bird and a Monkey Butt
We asked another couple at our church if they could recommend someone they used, and we got the name of a great teenage girl from church.
We also have a regular sitter who lives down the street. I was out for a walk with DD and met her mom, who mentioned that she had a daughter who would be a great babysitter. She didn't have a lot of experience, but she's doing a great job so far with DD and we felt comfortable since her parents are right down the street if there is an emergency.