Some days I wish we had family living close by. I never imagined that I'd get to a place in my life where it would be so important to me. And by that I mean, I never gave it a thought. But now that we have LT, it sure would be nice to just drop her off at my mom's house when we had something to do.
We essentially have two sitters. Our #1 sitter is a grad student, very mature, and LT really likes her. She was referred by a close friend, so the only drawback is that when we have social events that involve these friends, we have to defer to the friends to call her first. Sitter #1 has been very available.
Sitter #2 is a college student. She is very sweet, religious, and LT likes her as well. She goes home for holidays and summers though. And when do we often need a sitter? Holidays and summers.
So we have plans Saturday night. And no sitter. Seems that Sitter #1 has taken on a seasonal job, and Sitter #2 will be out celebrating her birthday. We also have an afternoon event coming up on the 15th, and no sitter. It's an adoption related event that I'd really like to attend. Alas.
Other than these sitters, we have no on on the bench. We have close friends who will watch LT in a pinch, but I like to save these favors for real emergencies. You know, like ER type emergencies.
I suppose this is no one's fault but my own, but I'm a little down about this. It's frustrating. It's so hard to find a good sitter and break her in. And then when they aren't available - it's really disappointing. How do you all find good babysitters? Who do you ask for help in a pinch?
Oh well, we'll just have to do something fabulous and kid-friendly on Saturday. Any ideas?
Good sitters are hard to find. It used to be that every girl I knew also knew how to take care of children. I started sitting when I was 11 years old. I watched the 5 kids who lived next door. And the 3 who lived on the other side. When I was a kid, adults thought children could think and problem solve. They allowed children to be independent and be responsible for real household tasks so I had had a lot of experience by the time I was 11 taking care of children while there were adults nearby. I was around children all my life, playing with them, changing diapers, feeding them, bathing them, rocking them to sleep, pushing them in the baby carriage. Many people today are never around children, they have no knowledge of children nor experience making decisions about them. They certainly don't let other children take on some of the tasks of caring for the younger ones. It makes it hard to find good sitters today.
Posted by: carosgram | December 03, 2007 at 05:44 PM
I am in your boat exactly, except we really only have one sitter. And she's coming back from college in a couple of weeks. Yippee!! I think Carosgram is exactly right. As per usual... ;-)
I started my babysitting career around 12 or 13 and by the end of my first year of highschool I had made cash from my many sitting gigs. My sister who is 7 years younger than I? I don't think she babysat once in her life. Amazing how radically things changed in that brief time.
Which doesn't help you and your current dilemma. I even joined a local moms group thinking it would be a good way to network for child care. Alas the organization doesn't really interest me and I haven't any headway on the sitter front. I keep saying I'm going to just bite the bullet and jump in somehow. New Year's resolution?....
Posted by: figlet | December 03, 2007 at 08:00 PM
I hear you...in fact, this was a big part of our recent move from the City to the 'burbs - to be closer to my family, and to ease with the babysitting woes. I am hoping by being part of a smaller community, it will be easier to find trustworthy people to take care of my kids. Not that the burbs has more trustworthy people, but in the City we didn't have those kinds of interactions, neighbors didn't get to know neighbors in the same way.
We rarely go out (either since moving here or when we were in the City)...when we do, family sits for us. We've never "hired" a babysitter other than the boys' daytime full-time sitter we had in the City. I don't know how to go about finding them either, other than asking close friends who they use, and asking permission to occasionally "borrow".
Posted by: Carolyn | December 09, 2007 at 07:52 AM
No surprise, it has been a struggle for us too. I have occasionally guilted my parents into driving 7 hours just to babysit. That's the kind of daughter I am. Just this semester I finally found a babysitter to come to our house one night a week. I teach and my husband is out of town through the week, so no other option. The first babysitter lived across the street. She was sweet and I felt comfortable with her because I knew her well. The HBB loved her. Then she moved to Switzerland. Next we hired a babysitter who works at the daycare the HBB attends. She is AMAZING. She has tons of energy and she comes up with very creative ideas every week. She is also tough. If I give her some guidelines she really knows how to enforce them. With babysitter #1 it was basically all-you-can-eat treats and apple juice flowing like water. The current babysitter really knows how to put her foot down, and I love it. Sadly she is in high demand. And she is graduating in the spring and moving away. So I just have her through the semester and maybe occasionally in the spring. After she graduates, I'll try using the list from the daycare again, since this has worked out well.
Posted by: Heather | December 09, 2007 at 06:52 PM
I just started reading your blog so forgive me if this is redundant and not helpful. I'm a grad student that survives off babysitting. Most of the moms I sit for have found me by posting a job on the campus job board or through sittercity.com. I don't know where you live but maybe one of those options would help? I know that is time consuming so may not help for the impending jobs but maybe for the next time...
Posted by: Meagan | December 10, 2007 at 12:15 PM
It's hard as hell. I really understand your stuggle. I am looking for a nanny and am so unimpressed by the people I've talked to. Man, it's hard. We also have two sitters, college-aged. I use them a lot and don't quite know what I would do without them. If and when one of them departs, I will be screwed! I wish I still had a Chicago resource for you - I do have a friend in the city who might have a network. I can ask.
Posted by: Jo | December 15, 2007 at 07:39 AM
Hi! I just started reading your blog, after noticing it on another blog I was reading. I am a child care provider in Chicago, have worked with young children (under 3) for about three years. I work full time in a child care center, which means I have been finger printed and back ground checked as well as have extensive CPR and other trainings. I have a BA in early childhood ed, an advanced certificate in Infants studies and work with a few families on weekend as an occasional sitter. I also nanny for a family with two older children during the week. I would be happy to talk to you in more detail, and even if we are not a good fit I may know others from my work who cold be of use for you. I know the internet does not lend it's self to trust, but I have worked with a few families from Craig's list and have had all good interactions. Feel free to email me if you are interested...
hager0@gmail.com
Posted by: joey | January 26, 2008 at 11:41 AM