Babysitters or Nannies

When my children were babies, we used a "high end" nanny agency. Expensive but the nannies were very well screened and career nannies. We had fantastic luck. So that's another option.

Get a recommendation from other moms in your area. We have always got our sitters through family friends, other parent recommendations, or recommendations from church. Another idea is to contact a local church in your area if you are already not part of one and tell them you are looking for childcare. Also you can contact your local high school or college to see if there are recommendations. Sometime college education departments have students looking get some experience with working with children.

get and check references to start with. we used teen babysitters, but only ones who came highly recommended from other parents.
and don't shy away from starting out with a mother's helper situation, even with a professional nanny or childcare provider. nothing wrong with having your prospective sitter work with you for several shifts so they can get to know you and your kids, and you can build familiarity with them. plan an afternoon where you've got something to accomplish that you need to focus on, and have your sitter come watch the kids while you're still home but otherwise occupied. that will help you build your comfort level with them while you're still there to intervene in the unlikely occasion it's necessary.
khairete
S.

We live a plane ticket away from relatives as well. I know the struggle of finding a good sitter.

We made it a priority to have weekly date nights.

In the beginning when daughter was very young, I used a Nanny service in Dallas .... I think it was AAA but I am not positive because daughter is 19 now. Anyway, the first person they sent was like a grandmother and we loved her. We used her for 2yrs and then I started using neighborhood sitters.

I found my neighborhood sitters through references of other moms. There was 1 family who had 3 girls. We were fortunate to have the oldest girl from high school until she went to college, then her sister stepped in until she went to college then sister #3 stepped in until we really didn't need a sitter anymore.

I am in Plano and I know the Sr high schools have child care programs for students interested in teaching and child care. McKinney more than likely has programs similar or even Collin College has programs where you might get a referral for reliable sitters.

Another option might be to reach out to child care centers to see if some of their employees who you know are background checked are looking for extra hours by sitting for private families.

Our neighborhood HOA has a website and FB page where people can find sitters. My daughter got her summer sitting job from our HOA FB page.

The Dallas Child magazine has nanny companies advertising in the magazine as well. That is where I found the company I used for the first 2 yrs. The monthly magazine is free, usually around bookstores and where you can pick up free magazines at the grocery, etc.

Good luck to you.

I have had a great experience with my care.com nanny. She has never missed a day in 2 years, never stolen anything, or been shady. I wouldn't let the whole bunch of great nannies on care.com be spoiled by a bad experience. I interviewed lots of nannies before I picked her and checked references. I wouldn't just hire the first or second person you meet. Good luck. Finding childcare is stressful.

You can get recommendations from other parents.

You can also call the churches in your area. You don't need to belong to them. Just call the office and ask them if they have a list of babysitters. If they do, those teens should only be on the list if members of the church staff can recommend them.

I used to work at a church, and I knew all the teens that were on the list. Our Youth Minister knew them as well. If we didn't think they would be good with kids, they wouldn't be on the list.

I babysat for several of my mom's friends while I was in college. With the one that I kept the most (several days a week for 2 years), the mom had me come to take care of the kiddos while she was home for the first couple weeks so they could get used to me, and she could make sure it was a good fit. I'd try to ask around other parents and see if they have suggestions, personal recommendations can go a long way.

I babysat for several of my mom's friends while I was in college. With the one that I kept the most (several days a week for 2 years), the mom had me come to take care of the kiddos while she was home for the first couple weeks so they could get used to me, and she could make sure it was a good fit. I'd try to ask around other parents and see if they have suggestions, personal recommendations can go a long way.

We are a military family, so we're looking for new sitters every time we move. We start with people at church and school. At our last duty station, we got a recommendation from a mom at our school for another mom who would babysit on occasion. Her daughter (17) also babysat. We also used a neighbor girl who was in college living at home--she's now married with a baby on the way living in our house (we rented it out when we moved) because she wanted to be next door to her parents.

We moved last year and found a sitter through my son's preschool. His preschool teacher is 25 and not married/no kids. She is working on her Master's Degree, works during the day (preschool), and babysits for extra money. The school does background checks, so that helps with knowing you're getting a decent person.

Are your kids school-aged? Ask in the office if any teachers/aides babysit. The ladies in the front office usually know everything!!

Good luck!

what kind of care are you looking for? Date nights? Day care? Either way I think referrals are the way to go. Ask around for referrals from your friends for specific individuals/locations based on your needs.

Just because you had a bad personal experience with a neighborhood teen doesn't mean they are all bad.

We get to know our neighborhood teens and rely on them. And you can do things like come home early the first few times unexpectedly to see how things are going. Once your kids are old enough to talk, of course you should ask them what they did, etc, after every visit.

nannies and weekly babysitters are tough to find. If someone wants to take care of kids full time they will often work at a preschool or daycare center. High cost agencies is where people get nannies.

Do you belong to a church of place of worship? Usually it a good way to find a babysitter for occasional sitting. My daughter has gotten all of her babysitting jobs becuse she helps in Sunday school for the little ones and that's where I got our babysitter when our kids were young - or from their daycare center.

One of the reasons people like daycare and preschool situations is becuase there's an accountability of the staff to eachother. Most people won't tolerate someone treating a child badly so any sub-par people are weeded out pretty quickly. it's something to consider...

Hi M.,

I've been Leary about leaving my children alone with a solo caregiver.

My solution was to find a center or preschool where there are several adults milling about at any given time, where the caregiver has accountability to other adults and/or a supervisor.

It's not paranoia, it's doing what we have to do in order to protect our helpless young ones. There are too many ugly news stories out there about caregivers.

Good luck. I hope you find someone you completely trust and who loves your child.

Do you belong to a church? Talk to the youth group leader. They'll know who the best babysitters are. That might not work for weekly daycare, but it could for nights out.

I agree that other moms are great resources for this.
We've had our nanny for 6 years and she is amazing (too bad we live in Chicago!). She's leaving us next month because my kids will be in school and we don't need her anymore.

We have a long set of interview questions that we used to evaluate candidates, and then she signed a contract. I'd be happy to share that if you'd like to PM me your email address.

I would say, that you can have bad experiences everywhere. I personally have used care.com to find our babysitters and have had wonderful experiences with everyone we have found. You need to be specific in your expectations of care for your children, and also recognize your own parenting style, to find someone that aligns with you.

We found ours by word of mouth. We have a full time in home daycare for my daughter, that my son goes to when he is not in school or swim lessons.

My husbands bosses wife, gave us a name and that person gave us a name. All knew where this started. My hubbys boss if well known and well used in the area so sterring us wrong would lead to issues.

We have been blessed.

Now my son is 5 and he went to the YMCA for after care (since the in home daycare is too far from our home). We are very blessed, YMCA knows kids, trains people well and what a huge difference from things in the past.

For a weekend sitter, My Brothers wife's son is older and he has a girlfriend and she watches my kiddos. It works out well.

Good luck

Do you and your kids participate in any mom-and-me types of classes or activities? Those are of course great for the kids, and also a great way to meet other parents whose children are of ages similar to your own kids' ages. You can ask them about how they find their sitters. Be warned, though, that some parents will go very quiet when asked about sitters and might not share much, out of worries that you will poach their sitters!

We found our main sitter (for weekend going out types of things, not a nanny) through the instructor for a kids' music class we took with our daughter. The instructor loved this college girl who was their sitter and mentioned to me that the girl was looking for more work at that time, so we hired her occasionally and she was great. I really liked and respected the music teacher so the fact that she trusted the young lady with her own kids meant a lot to me.

Another option is checking with local colleges and universities. Sometimes they have "job exchange" listings at the student activity center or in the student paper where college students are seeking babysitting work. Of course there is no guarantee about their backgrounds-- you might have to figure out how to check that and certainly you'd want references.

If you have school-age kids: Ask the Girl Scout leaders of troops in your school. Those leaders may know of girls in older troops who would like to babysit.

word of mouth, church, ask moms from school/playgroups/sports teams about who they recommend