Spinoff - non family babysitter...

How did you find yours? Currently we only use family DS is 2. But I know there is a chance we will have something to attend where all of the people we use would be invited as well.

Besides, it would be nice to have someone as a back up.

What questions do you ask while interviewing? What is the average hourly rate?

TIA!

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

My sister and I have a pretty good age difference between us. I asked her for recommendations and we hired a friend of hers, that we've known for a long time.
We used her Jan--May, once a week.
We Paid her $10 p/hour.
Kids were fed, showered, and in PJs by the time she got here and they'd be in bed by 8/815.

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

MIL is a teacher and recommended a young teacher from her school. We met her and hit it off. We used her as a nanny three days last week and will use her going forward for occasional weekends. I pay her $15/hour for my 7 month old twins.

Our neighbors have a 16 year old that I am also considering using if we go out after the boys are in bed. I would pay her $10/hour I think.

Are you friendly with any neighbors that use someone regularly?

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

i babysat in college and the person found me via craigslist.

i went there for an "interview" at first... then I probably went 4-5 times as a "mother's helper" while the mom was home and busy around the house. once we had developed a good relationship and she felt she could trust me, then she started having me babysit while she was gone.

not sure if that's something you are comfortable doing, but it worked for us! i ended up babysitting their first child, through mom's second pregnancy, and then their 2 children!

i actually just found the mom on FB after losing touch after my DH was in an accident and then we moved to CA.... and now i see she has 3 kids and we chat occasionally :)

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

We use one of the girls at DCs day care-she has worked in both their rooms before (she's a floater) and the kids know her.

She is the daughter of the director, she's 21 and in college, she lives in our neighborhood. It was meant to be!

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

I use one of the teachers at DD's daycare.

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

We also use the girls from day care.

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

I found someone from sittercity.com
You have to get a memership to contact the babysitters. They do have a free week so I put an ad on there that said if anyone was interested to email me and out of about 30 replies only 2 girls actually emailed me their info. I found a girl who just graduated college and is going on for her masters. She actually brought her dad with her to the interview just for safety which I liked b/c I got to meet part of her family.

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

LIF .

The only 2 non-family members to have babysat for DS were from here BUT I knew them both for years first!!!!!

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

My neighbors teenage daughters We are really pretty close and I started to break them in while I was home when they were 12-13 and slowly bulit up to leaving them alone when they were older.

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

First, we had daycare teachers (mainly college students, early education) watch them. $11/hour.

Then I scammed of my teenage nephew for his girlfriends. But he breaks up with people too quick & I"m left with my daughter attached to them.

I've just started using my friend's daughter.

One way to find them is to get involved in your community. I volunteered for a soccer league & got to know some parents with older kids. It was helpful because they knew the ins & outs of elementary school, which dance studio gymnastics, swimming programs they thought were better.

You can also talk to your library about their babysitting course. Many libraries have them.

Re: Spinoff - non family babysitter...

We mostly use a teenager that was recommended to us through a friend, athough she hasn't watched T during the day yet, only when he's already gone to sleep. She's the daughter of a prenatal class teacher, so you know if anything goes wrong, she'll just call her mom!

You might also want to ask mommy friends that you might have. My friend came over one night to watch Tristan while DH and I went out and then I reciprocated for her and her DH one night.

One of our neighbors also has a 14 year old daughter and I'm waiting for the right moment to ask if she'd like to be a mother's helper occasionally over the summer.

When I was a teenager I babysat mostly for extended family, but I also did neighbors and friends/colleagues of my mom.