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Vent: Finding an occassional babysitter

rubber_chickenrubber_chicken member
in Working Moms
DH and I had plans to go out Saturday night - our dear friends are moving out of state and a bunch of us are throwing them a farewell party.  We had arranged to drop off DD and her pack and play with a friend - our kids are the same age, and we've traded babysitting in the past.  I just got an email from her that her LO is sick with a stomach bug - she'll still watch DD if we want, but she wanted to give us a heads up.

Blergh!  DD has some important appointments next week with various specialists, and we can't afford for her to be sick and have to reschedule them.  Unfortunately, we don't have anyone else we can call - my sister just moved out of state, and DH's sister lives an hour away.  We don't have a regular babysitter - we don't go out regularly. And anyway, the teenagers in our town are getting $20 AN HOUR, although none of them have any first aid training or know how to administer an epi-pen. 

I think one of us is going to have to bail and stay home.  Sigh. 


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Re: Vent: Finding an occassional babysitter

  • dglvrk2dglvrk2 member
    PrivacyWanted said:

    It is really hard to find occasional care that's good, affordable and reliable. IF you're at a daycare can you ask one of the teachers? 

    This!  I couple of the assistants at DD's DC will babysit.  I thought coming up with reliable but not crazy expensive baby sitters for nights out etc would be easy......Wow!  Was I wrong.  We have no family in the area.  When our parents visit, they always watch DD for a date night, but that's liek four times a year.  I've been asking everywhere for over a year.....mom's group, my neighbors with kids, the neighborhood association.  I finally have three that I can go to and usually one is free.  Nevertheless, it takes work.  Call a local high school or girl scout (Cadette or Senior) troop and see if there are any girls looking for babysitting gigs.  Churches and temples will often help you get the word out too. 

    Good luck!

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  • shannmshannm member
    I use teachers that I met through daycare and I do pay 20/hour because 1) I want them to want to work for us and 2) I know they have better things to do with their free time.
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  • MamaAllisonMamaAllison member
    Might not help in this situation but DH and I just joined the Y and they have parents night out once or twice a month. Might be worth looking into. I also second PPs advice that ask your LOs daycare teachers if they are up for it!!
    DD1 - Evelyn Riley - 9/30/11
    DD2 - Charlotte Avery - 1/27/14




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  • laurakaz13laurakaz13 member
    shannm said:
    I use teachers that I met through daycare and I do pay 20/hour because 1) I want them to want to work for us and 2) I know they have better things to do with their free time.


    This.  We pay our sitters $15/hour.  They are CPR certified and we pay them well so that they want to work for us.  Unfortunately, the good, trained sitters out there make really good money. 

    We used Care.com and Sittercity.com to find our amazing girls.  Good luck!

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  • rubber_chickenrubber_chicken member
    I wish the daycare teachers were an option, but they're not allowed to babysit for daycare families outside of work!  It's in their contract.  I don't know if it's a liability issue or if the director was losing teachers to become nannies, but apparently they take it very seriously and we could all get in Big Trouble. 
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