I am in need of a babysitter for occasional evening and weekends. I am on a pretty tight budget so I am looking for a service that will not charge me an arm and a leg but I prefer a service that does the background checks and checks references already. My son has ADHD so I need a person who knows how to deal with that although it will mostly be at night while I have a night out so he will already be settled and in the bed watching a movie or on his way to sleep. Has anyone used any of the online services. I know that they charge a fee and I want to get some feedback before I pay the fee. Thanks in advance.
We used care.com. I think it was 10 or 15 a month, but once we found a sitter we liked we canceled the service and I just e-mail with our sitter directly. You can use it for free, but you have to pay the monthly fee for the background checks. They have a section in there for special needs as well, and you can look at everyones qualifications for why they are good special needs babysitter. We used that for our son. She is awesome!
My work contracts w/ Sitter City and although I haven't used them for childcare, I did use them for pet sitting. They also have elder care sitters.
You can check their online site; each sitter lays out their philosophy, whether they specialize in autistic or ADHD kids, etc. and they all have their own rates, as well. Families that they've worked with in the past may also have left reviews.
I wish I could help. If you were up here in Mid-Missouri, I'd just tell you to drop him off to play with my two ADHD boys.
I suggest that you start with asking friends in the area, and look on Sittercity.com.
Best of luck!
I would ask around at school, the parents of your son's friends. There must be some high school or college sitters nearby. They are not only less expensive but more fun (in general) with the kids, especially high energy kids. I often used the teens sibs of my kids' friends, and once found a regular, longer term sitter by placing an job listing at our local college. My teenagers now babysit for others in our community, it's worked out well for all!
WE've been really happy with Mom's Best Friend.
Get a high school or college kid from your neighborhood.
What about looking around in your neighborhood with people you know and who know you?
Your child's school is a great place to start.. ask other parents, teachers, etc for references.
When we had our daughter, we started out with a service in Dallas that was called AAA and we used that service while she was very young and had the same person every week for our date night. Yes, they had higher fees but we knew whe was well cared for.
After she was a little older, I found teens in the neighborhood and still paid VERY WELL to keep them interested in babysitting. We had 1 family who had 3 daughters and we used all 3 daughters... as 1 would move on to college, the next in line became our sitter..
Our daughter is now 18 and she babysits regularly in our neighborhood. Also, our HOA has a website where teens and adults can advertise sitting services, etc.
Try to find someone local that you know or know through someone else.
Good luck.
