Tips For Finding and Screening Occasional Babysitters
Are you ready for a date night and can't get a friend or relative to babysit for you? Or do you need to run to a doctor's appointment in the middle of the day or run errands for a few hours on the weekend? If you need a babysitter, where do you start and how do you choose someone that is both reliable and compatible with your child care needs? Here are some tips to help find and screen the ideal babysitter:
Finding A Sitter:
Use a site like sittercity.com. This site is free to sign up on and charge a small fee for a more advanced search option. What's helpful is several babysitters already have background checks and you can run checks if they don't have one already. Another nice feature is several babysitters have reviews from fellow parents as to their experience with that particular sitter.
Talk to friends in your area: Ask your friends if they know of a good sitter. Chances are they won't give up their prized sitter, but if they like their sitter, they can ask if she or he has friends that babysits. I have found responsible babysitters usually have responsible good babysitter friends.
Scout the neighborhood: If you are new to a neighborhood or lost your recent occasional sitter, ask your neighbors if they know of anyone in the neighborhood who babysits or maybe they have a child who does. Also, if your neighborhood has a Facebook page or a newsletter, post that you are in need of a sitter.
Try local colleges: If you have a college near you, get on their website and see if they have a list where you can post a babysitter job. A local college near us actually has a list of babysitters with emails addresses you can contact.
Daycare and kid activities: If your children go to daycare during the day, ask the employees if they babysit on weekends or can recommend someone who does. Another option is if your child is in sports or another after school activity ask the person running the class if they babysit on weekends. I know a friend who uses their daycare providers for date nights and another friends who uses their child's swim instructor.
Screening babysitter:
After eight years of finding and losing babysitter due to moving, college and other life changes, this is the process I use. I treat finding a babysit that same as I did when I was interviewing potential job candidates for work. Your children are your most precious treasures so finding the right sitter is key!
Collect Applicants: I personally use sittercity.com because I have found the best babysitter matches for our family. The first thing I do is sign up for the advanced search and set my filter to pull a key college near me and make sure they have a car as well. The reason I like college students is they often times are already working with kids as part of their major, have transportation and have flexible hours between classes and evenings. If I need to run to the doctor in the middle of the day, they often have holes in their schedules.
Email Applicants: After you have searched for the key components you want in sitters, email the candidates you are interested in. Make sure you put in this initial email your fee you are going to pay them per hour, (if you are unsure of what to pay ask friends within your town or check care.com which has a nice feature for average pay for sitters.) the days and times generally you are looking for a sitter and where you are in a town. The reason I mention this town issue is because if you live in a larger city or town, saying exactly where you are located, will help the babysitter determine if you are too far for them to travel to on an ongoing basis.
Call Applicants: Once you have a list of interested sitters who fit your criteria, call them and ask any additional questions you have. See if they have any questions for you as well. Questions like: food allergies, kids with special needs, helping with homework, etc. Also, confirm they are okay with the fee per hour, location to travel and comfortable with the number of kids they will be watching.
Babysit No End Time Given: The first time I actually have a sitter come over, I show them around our house and have them meet our children. I think it's a good idea to see how they interact with your children right away. Tell the babysitter you just need to run a few errands and that you are not sure when you will be home. I like to just leave for an hour the first time someone babysits for us and come back unexpectedly. It will give you a good idea how they are with your children and how the house has fared in you absence.
Do you have any tips you use in finding and securing an occasional babysitter? Please comment below and add your method.
