Babysitters

my wife and i don’t really have relatives nearby who can watch our 4-year-old, but no other way to get out of the house unless he’s watched…

how do you find your babysitter? what do you do?

craigslist.

(no, not really).

Rimbo, why are you typing without caps about babysitters…?

Advertise for a cute blonde with checkable references (short skirt optional)
Always offer to drive her home at the end of the evening.

Friends who have kids. Workers who keep the kids at the Gym we belong to.

craigslist->services->erotic

Friends with kids that have babysitters or nannies, craigslist, agencies, call a nearby college and ask the child development department if there’s a directory or billboard you can post in.

We’ve had great luck with the teachers at the day care and pre-schools our kids have gone to, to babysit when needed.

Also not to start a P&R thread but your local church may provide daycare during services and could possibly provide a few references…

Same here. However, know that some of those facilities require the teacher to sign a waiver saying something to the effect that the person does not represent the day care/school when performing services outside their duties as an employee…blah, blah, blah. So check and see if there is such a thing. Don’t want to get anyone in trouble.

I find myself constantly assessing whether the kids on my block would make good babysitters. My kids are almost eleven now and can be left home alone for hours at a time, but I still do it. My guess is you will get better at it. It is a skill you develop, like purchasing ripe vegtables or fruit. In the past, I have had the best luck finding babysitters from daycare providers and friends of friends. I know some parents pay the kids really well and can be very competitive and territorial about sitters, but I haven’t gone down that road. Is this your first child? With our first sitters my wife and I were very rigorous, but as the kids got older and we got more desperate, our standards relaxed. So far there have been no terrible sitters, but we don’t get out much either. We have been known to cycle through matinees–each of us going alone to a movie we both want to see–if there is no other way to get out. It’s not perfect, but it works. Good luck!

Stop off in the parking lot of your local Home Depot early in the morning and you’ll have the pick of the finest, cheapest babysitters in the city.

We also had trouble finding a sitter for our 2 year old twins. My wife ended up sending an email to one of the heads of the childhood education department of a nearby college. She in turn forwarded that onto students, and we literally had 12 people wanting to babysit for us. Might be worth looking into.

Damn, that dog crate picture makes me want to get a baby bumper for our one dachshunds that is still in the crate. They love curling up with something on their sides.

My niece actually likes getting in her dogs crate which looks just like the above. She gets in, shuts the door, and I have a pic with her hands holding on to the bars as if she is incarcerated. She was 2 at the time. If it were my kid, I would post the pic, but not sure my in-laws would approve.

Hang out in front of high schools and ask the cute girls if they wanna make a quick buck.

Look up the local mormon church and call them and ask for the Young Women’s President. There is bound to be one of the 12-14 year old girls who needs extra cash and most of them are great babysitters.

Swing by the local church of your choice and get a copy of their bulletin or look for bulletin boards. A lot of potential babysitters advertise there. Also, we use an agency (found in the phone book) that can get us a screened and qualified babysitter with just 24 hours notice. They’re a little more expensive, but we like them because they tend to be either older ladies or college students instead of 14 year old neighborhood girls looking to score some weed money.

what’s wrong with weed?