Finding Babysitters...

How do you all go about finding babysitters? Not for the days when I'm at work, but for nights when DH and I want to go out to the movies or to dinner or something?

I used to have my sister babysit, but she just went to college upstate, and so have the majority of her friends. My mom babysits sometimes but I feel bad staying out late with her becuase it's a long ride back to their house in Suffolk and she has a lot of eye problems and shouldn't drive at night anyway.

I used to babysit all the time in HS -- as did many of my friends. How would I go about finding a responsible HS girl to babysit for a few hours on the weekends? I got most of my jobs through word of mouth but we just don't know enough people out here in Nassau to do that.

Melissa

Re: Finding Babysitters...

Are there any teenagers in the neighbourhood? My next door neighbours middle girl is 16 and I have asked her to babysit in the daytime or to help me out. In my group of Mommy friends we have a Babysitting Co-op set up where we all sit for each other and spend/earn points, so we put our own babies to bed and one of the other ladies comes round and watches tv or whatever while the baby is asleep...

Thats all the advice I can give ya...
I am so wary about people I don't really know in the house alone though...who knows what they might find!

Re: Finding Babysitters...

I am not too worried about what they'd find .... because honestly there isn't anything all that exciting here, unless they really like to snoop through people's tupperware bowls!

We don't really know any teenagers. Well, that's a lie. My DH's cousin has teenage girls, one is 19 andthe other is 16 and they've both offered to babysit MANY times but they are both total FLAKES! I don't think I'd trust them -- they don't seem responsible at all.

We live on a short block and all of the kids on this block are in the 9year old age range -- way too young to babysit. There are some girls that look like HS'ers at the end of the block but we don't talk to them at all and they seem like they are always partying--

Re: Finding Babysitters...

Message edited 2/8/2007 3:02:55 PM.

Re: Finding Babysitters...

you can FM me! I could you some extra $$ for the wedding

Re: Finding Babysitters...

My neighbor actually found someone on craigslist by putting up an ad for a mother's helper. I actually used her also to help packing with our move and would totally trust her to babysit if I needed someone. I know my neighbor met with her in a public place, got a resume, and maybe called references as well. She's not in HS though. She's actually a college graduate.