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Stay at Home Moms
JCM
member
(Desperately) Seeking a Sitter ;-)
JCM
member
I have been saying I'm going to find DD a sitter since she was about 6 months old & have yet to do so. I have looked at places like Care.com & Sittercity.com but something in my head just doesn't get why a 30+ something women with children of her own would want to leave them to come to my house and watch my child. Then on the other hand I think does a late teen/early 20 something have the skills to deal with my child or will they just text & talk to their friends all night?! I know I'm over analyzing this but just can't seem to get past it. How did you find a sitter (one that you had to seek out & didn't know) & how what made you comfortable leaving your LO(s) with them?
I have my mom & she watches DD from time to time but I have to take her to her house & pick her up so a night out with DH is pretty much out of the question (think 5 date night since DD's arrival). My step father really doesn't like her spending the night (he wants his weekends to himself & my mom even though my mom doesn't seem to see it) & DD's not the kind of child that could be woken up & easily transported back home after bedtime.
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Re: (Desperately) Seeking a Sitter ;-)
Jordan is 18, a freshman in college and she has been babysitting for years. She gets rave reviews from the women whose kids she watches (one of them is my good friend) and she doesn't sit and text/talk to her friends all night. When the kids are awake, she's interacting with them and taking care of them. After they are asleep, then she'll do her homework or talk/text with her boyfriend/a friend. But she knows that when the kids are awake, they are the priority and get her attention. I think you are generalizing. Sure there are kids out there who will do this, but not all.
Have you thought about contacting a local college and see if they have students who are interested in babysitting? They are college students and always looking for money, so I have to imagine that there are at least a few who would be interested.
Look at your local college.
Easiest place to find experiened sitters
DS is 6.5 months and we have zero family in our city, they are all out of state. It took me forever to find a sitter that I felt comfortable with, but I did find one through a recommendation from the mom group we go to. Basically, one of my neighbors who is also in the mom group goes to the gym near us. The gym has a daycare and that is where she found this sitter. She's a 50 something year old lady who nannies during the weekdays, works an afternoon a week at the gym daycare, and takes random sitting requests for the evenings. I received references and also considered that the gym daycare already ran the background check for me. She has a good track record there since she's been working there for 6 years.
Is this something you can look into? I also have a list of college students who are highly recommended from their professors (they are majoring in early childhood education).
My sister babysits and advertised on sittercity. She graduated with an early ed. degree, teaches preschool and babysits on the side for extra cash....so it's not necessarily that those 20-somethings are lacking "skills to deal with my child" as you put it.
It's important that you find someone you're comfortable with. Why not take a leap of faith and just meet one of the people to see if they click with you and your LO. There's no obligation there. Good lucK!
I don't know where in Dallas you are but I used a girl from UTD/Callier center (communication disorders graduate students) and when I was there (as a student) we frequently got emails for this exact thing. UNT education, comm d, psych, or behavior analysis departments are used to this too. It is a great gig for college students who are working with kids.