I was wondering if anyone has suggestions how to go about finding a babysitter for occasional nights and weekends in the St. Charles area. We recently moved to the area and don't know many people and have a 4 month old daughter.
Hi M.,
I am not sure if you belong to a church in the area yet. Some churches have a babysitting list. You might want to check there. I have often gotten sitters from neighbors. I ask who others in the area use or if they have anyone in their family that babysits. Good luck.
M.,
I've just had the greatest experience with a St. Louis-based company called SittersLink at www.SittersLink.com. There are tons of sitters who have signed up on the site from St. Charles County. I'm sure you'll see many right near your house.
I'm very struck by the fact so many of the sitters are highly qualified, in college or with college degrees. There are childcare majors, nursing students, nurses, too, which is great if you have a baby as you do. I've hired a nanny and weekend sitters from them and they've all been just fabulous. You get detailed profiles and references on every sitter on the site. It costs about $40 to join for THREE months, which is a steal when I think of all the money I blew before on weak sitters.
Also, I just read someone else's letter about a service called TLC. I almost fainted when I saw that TLC charges an annual fee plus $15 every time you hire a sitter. As much sitters as we'd have to use, I'd go broke! I forgot to say that after you play the flat fee for 3 months, there are NO other fees at SittersLink. Plus, you can continue your membership at the same resonable rate or you can cancel with no strings at SittersLink.
You won't be sorry. Try them (www.SittersLink.com).
Sincerely,
Ann
Clayton, MO
Not sure if you ever heard of CAFEMOM.com great place to meet moms in your area. The group I am in is full right now but you can try to join and see what happens, says they arent accepting anymore but things could change. St Charles MO stay at home mommies.
I use a service called TLC to find occasional babysitters when no one else can do it. ###-###-####. I've used them on and off for the last 9 years. You pay an annual fee, then you pay $10/hour for one child, plus the agency fee of $15, I think, per time. There's a 4 hour minimum and if you cancel at the last minute (or after they've set it up for you) then you pay the whole thing anyway. I've had pretty good experiences. If I don't care much for one sitter then they note it in my computer file that I don't want a particular person again. You can request the same person again. I also keep track of who I've used and who I like and then I know who to ask for next time. You can call way ahead of time, or as late as Wednesday for a Saturday night. I've even used them in a pince at the last minute (maybe an extra charge). I also had them send me 2 girls once for a big party we were having when we would be home, but having lots of families over with all ages of kids. Good luck. There's also an another service called Childcare Solutions. I think it's the same idea, but I've only used them once for a long-term, part-time nanny. I have 4 kids ranging from 3-10 years old.
