Why is it so hard to find a babysitter?

[Hillbeans]

I have been in the same situation as you, trying to find a babysitter for an occasional night out or party with DH. We have neighbors who are teenagers but they are so busy and don't really want to babysit on the weekends.

I found a sitter on Craigslist - it may not be the most favorite way to find someone but I interviewed her prior to the date I needed and she's worked out well. We've had her a few times and the kids love her.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I usually find them through people I know or homeschool groups. With the latter, there is always teens that are happy to work with children. So if you know a homeschooler--maybe go from there.

There is also a national babysitting service--I forget their name. But they have screened applicants and you can interview them and everything to try and find a sitter that you will be pleased with.

We are in a new area--so the fun for a sitter begins. We do know a family with a daughter that is a highschool freshman and is homeschooled. So I am hoping to maybe utilize her in a year or two. (or maybe sooner.) She seems very sweet and is the oldest of 6. Her dad works at the same company as my husband and they go to our church. So it is a trifecta of a contact. I have no idea if she would be up for it though.

 

[jodifla]

I've used Sittercity for more than a year. I've gotten so really good sitters on it.

You can type in your ZIP code to get an idea of how many sitters there are in your area, to see if it would be worth it for you.

 

[phorsenuf]

Could you call your local Red Cross chapter? Ours offers a babysitting course which includes training the kids in first aid and CPR.

 

[bookgirl]

Forget the kids and find a grandma! Expecially the ones at churches, they love kids, they could really use the extra income if they're trying to get by on SS, and if you get them from a church then they usually have really good charecter references. Added plus is they usually don't invite boys over and they know that microwaving in a metal bowl is a really bad idea.

 

[mjkacmom]

I've found that the younger teens have more free time, and are better with the kids. Dd14 wants more babysitting jobs. Sure, she's never home to sit for me (she came home 20 minutes ago from the beach, and is now at a friend's house), but she'll gladly give up time to sit for others (maybe I should pay her more than $5 an hour, since I pay others $10 ).

 

[PigletsMommy]

I started babysitting at age 11. By 13, my best friend & I had a monopoly on babysitting jobs in our area of town (a very small town). I would say, somewhere between 15-20 families between the 2 of us. Occasionally we would pass a babysitting job onto another classmates. At 14 I had a full time babysitting job (M-F, 7am-4pm)for the entire summer for a 3 year old & infant.

Never once invited boys over or catch anything on fire.

There are some very responsible younger teens who do not overload their schedule with extra curricular activities. Word of mouth is your best bet. Can you ask your nieces for recommendations. Do any of their friends have younger siblings who may be interested? I also 2nd looking into babysitting classes...hospitals, schools, churches...

Oh and BTW... Craigslist could be your friend. I use it occasionally to advertise myself as a babysitter. SAHM who is looking to make some extra money. I interviewed just the same as a you would any other babysitter or daycare.

 

[disfan07]

I've been baysitting for 9 years (since I was 12). I never take on more than 3 or maybe 4 families at a time. I find that with more than that, I end up with a lot of conflicting dates and I hate having ot tell families that I cant sit.

I am having the opposite problem right now. I am leaving for school in 4 weeks and I am trying to figure out how I am going to find families who need a sitter since i know absolutely no one where I am going to school.

The famlies I babysit for are willing to give other families my name for babysitting as long as it's not for a regular schedule because than they lose possible times. But my name is a babysitting list that circulates our syangogue and is available to any of the members so if someone there wanted to call me, they would.

If you look at colleges, oyou dont have to necessarily narrow your search to just Early Childhood majors. I am a Psychology major and this is one of the things that concerns me about advertising at the school. Parents just sticking with Early childhood majors. I have a few friends that are early childhood majors and I have more experience with kids than all of them combined.

 

[debster812]

Good idea! My little one is starting daycare on the 7th of September so I will check there when she starts.

DS is 13, but when he was little, we always used girls from his Day Care Center. The upsides for us were that he already knew them, so he was comfortable. They were generally college-aged, and had already had background checks run on them. They were also 1st Aid and CPR certified. And they generally ALWAYS arrived with a bag of 'stuff' (games, toys, activities) so he wasn't bored either.

 

[NMAmy]

Do you or your spouse work with anyone that has teens who would be interested in babysitting? That's how dd got the majority of her babysitting jobs--between my ex's coworkers and mine, she had a pretty full babysitting schedule all the way through high school.

 

[mom2travel]

I have been using DS a few years to watch DD so haven't had to deal with this for a while, but I know several of the teachers at our elementary school babysit - will you have a child in school this year, or just little ones? Just another thought... good luck!

 

[ilovesugar]

Well, I ended up finding one in the most unusal place, our dogsitter! She is a single mom with two kids and I happened to ask her about it yesterday when we were talking about her watching our dog this weekend. She was THRILLED and was so excited to do it. She has a daughter who is about 12 or so who wants to get into babysitting so she is going to bring her along and show her the ropes of how to babysit. So it worked out!

 

[5lilfish]

Ok, but you are having a hard time finding someone now that they aren't available, what if you gave their name out to someone and that person took them away from you and you wouldn't be able to use them again??

Honestly, the best babysitters we had were 7th and 8th grade girls and they were more than capable of taking care of babies. When the twins were babies we would have 2 girls that were friends come over and babysit. It worked great and they played with the kids.

I agree. 13 - 15 yr olds have always been our best sitters. They WANT to come play with the kids and they don't have as big of a social life yet. Right now we are lucky to have a pool of kids this age that really want to babysit.

Our first 3 kids are 13, 12 and 10. We also have 3 yr old twins. Our sticky situation now is that the 13 yr old isn't really ready to babysit for more than 2 hrs (he gets bored and frustrated with the demands after that). I can't exactly hire a 13 or 14 yr old girls if my 13 yr old son is going to be home (although there are a couple kids that I can do this with). That's practically like providing him with a date. My 12 yr old is a great sitter. She is very capable, but she is 12 (just turning 12). I feel funny leaving her in charge for more than a couple hrs. Of course, if both the 13 and 12 yr old are home, I am fine (12 yr old is good to watch twins...13 yr old helps as needed and gives me an older child there for peace of mind). Unfortnately, the 13 yr old and the 10 yr old bicker. That complicates things too.

As for sharing the sitter....I have to agree that I would be a little worried about sharing my info with someone that wants to set up regular babysitting jobs. I think that may be the OP's problem to begin with. My guess is that most kids do not want to commit to something that regular. I bet they are thinking...what happens if I get a chance to go out and do this or that and I'm locked in to sitting next weekend. I know the OP said she is flexible..but I bet she might do better just trying to build up a pool of sitters than trying to get one kid to say she is available every other weekend.

Jess

 

[SC Minnie]

When she was young and we had just moved here away from family I asked the youth director for the middle and high school ages if any of the girls did babysitting. This way I got to see the girls and got to know their parents.

DD16 found her babysitting jobs through people at church. Now DD gets jobs from people at church.

 

[RadioNate]

Let me know how it goes, I am curious if it is worth the money.

Good luck to you and I have my fingers crossed that you find a good one (or two!).

I just wanted to update on my interviews last night. Both were great. They both brought references and were super nice. One also has a pet sitting business that she is licensed and bonded though.

We are going to use one of the girls tomorrow night for Back to School night. It is only about an hour and a half and there will be no bed times, etc.

This girl was a long shot to me. She didn't have everything I was looking for and was already a professional in a career. However, I noticed on her resume where she went to college and decided to interview her. My FIL is a dean at that college and my DH went there so I thought I'd give a fellow alumni a chance. Turns out she went to HS with my 13 years younger SIL. She walked into our house, saw a photo and said "wait, I know her! Didn't she go to HS, I was in choir with her!" She and my DH grew up in the same town and knew several of the same families. Small world, right?

Here is why I don't like Jr High aged babysitters. There is a less than 5 year difference between them and my oldest. Also, there are events we go to that sometimes last until VERY late. I'm talking 1-2am. There is no way I'd be comfortable leaving a 13 year old alone that late nor would I expect their parents to be ok with that.

We had a 15 year old and an 18 year old in Florida. Both were ok. Neither was great.