babysitter Q

addam&tara · February 2013

Would you use a friends babysitter you have never met to go out with people Saturday night?

I have mixed feelings about this. I know DD will be sleeping but I've never met this lady. I wouldn't be able to meet her beforehand.

MrsJetSet · February 2013

It would depend on how well I know the friend and how well they know the babysitter. It would probably make me uncomfortable.

addam&tara · February 2013

I've met the friend about 3 times. We're new to the area so we are just getting to know people.

I have no idea how long they've had this sitter....at least a few months...goes to show how well I know them.

lindslalala · February 2013

I'm honestly not comfortable leaving DS with anyone other than family at this point. But we have a ton of family in the area so it hasn't been an issue to find a sitter for us yet.

If you don't have the option to use family, which it sounds like you may not, you have to be willing to trust a sitter at some point. And if your friend uses and trusts this sitter, I would say it might be worth it to give it a shot. You could end up really liking them and be able to use them in the future. If you aren't comfortable, just come home early.

BellaOso · February 2013

Ask for the sitter's phone number, call her and talk to her for a few minutes about her experience and ask if she has an professional references. Tell her you are hoping to make this a regular thing, so you want to make sure you do the leg work.

If she is at all professional she shouldn't mind.

KariK81 · February 2013

How old is the sitter? High school or 30's? I ran into issues booking high school sitters for friends who came to my wedding. One tried to bring her bf even after she was told that was NOT exceptable. My MIL ended up leaving the wedding to watch my niece (which she loved, but still, that was not the point). I agree with PP that if you don't have family near you, you're going to have to build up trust with other people and feel comfortable leaving them with your LO. Would it be possible for the sitter to come over like 20 minutes early so you can go over everything (like the what if's... LO wakes up, is upset, is wet, etc) and feel better? I'd probably try to not be gone for more than 2 hrs this first time, if possible (not sure what y'all have planned). Good luck!! I need to find a sitter as well, but have a feeling it might be a challenge out in the country.

joyfullyfound · February 2013

Nope. I guess it would depend on how well you know this friend, but I'd lean strongly towards no.

MrsJetSet · February 2013

Is your dd in daycare? If so, that might be a good source of sitters who already know her. That is where we found our sitter. It is nice too because I have no worries about dd not clicking when them because I have already seen them interact.

I get that you will eventually have to have a sitter - Until December we were several states from any family. I would just be particularly uncomfortable with not being able to meet the sitter first - especially since you don't know about the history of the sitter with the family.

mcgeeva · March 2013

If you really trust your friend and she has used the same person for a while then yes. But I would ask her to come a bit before you leave so you can meet her and you child get to know them before you leave.