Where to Find a PT Sitter?

I would look for a stay-at-home-mom. I did babysitting jobs like this when I was home with my own kids. I didn't make a lot of money, but I was home with kids anyway, and my kids enjoyed having extra kids around to play with.

I second Canuck's suggestion. Or even a grandmother/retired woman.

College students wouldn't be a good resource, not many people can coordinate their schedule to be free for the entire afternoon every day of the week.

Good luck! T.

Church? The office staff at the nearby school? Word of mouth from neighbors?

I think that I would prefer an older, retired woman like Tara suggested.

I was going to suggest a college student, that's what we did, but it sounds like that won't work if there's no college nearby.
I would just start asking around, other moms you know, parents of your kids' friends, neighbors, people at church, the gym, anyone you know in the community, really. Maybe you can find a stay at home mom looking to earn some extra money. I'm sure those websites are fine but I really like getting sitters by word of mouth. Good luck!

In some places high school seniors get out at 12:20 or 12:40. That's who I look for for after school nannies. YOu don't even have a community college nearby?

Do you have friends? Do you have neighbors? Do you live near child care facilities? Do you go to church? Are there SAHM's in your circle of friends or acquaintances?

There is your babysitting pool.

Depending on the age of your child it could be easy to find care or harder. Not many people want to be tied down to a newborn but might not find it hard to take on a 4 year old. I'd rather have the bigger kid. My hubby would rather take on the baby.

I never use anyone but licensed child care if I don't have anyone I trust. I have paid friends and family but have always had child care for free when I applied for child care assistance through the state. Our income, even when hubby was working, always allowed for at least half of it being paid for.

Go online to your state agency that licenses child care and get a list of the child care facilities in your area. Call each one to find out if they take part time kids, that means 4 hours or less which is what you have.

The purpose of this calling around is to give you a couple of information things. You'll be able to find out if it's available. Then you'll also find out how much it costs. You don't want to underpay someone and you don't want to overpay them either.

Don't pay them more than the child care would cost you. They are not trained professional care givers, they haven't spent hours and hours caring for other peoples children and they probably don't have CPR/First Aid certification.

So don't pay a private person a lot of money. They aren't supposed to make minimum wage for babysitting or anywhere near that much.

Network with your friends and neighbors for recommendations. Word of mouth is great for obtaining a good sitter.

You need someone who can commit to your hours.

I know from experience with my daughter that her high school years ( junior and senior) were swamped because not only was she in Cheer ( Captain) and training 2-3 hours a day ( even with early release) she was also studying a lot with AP classes. I don't know about your area but most jr/sr students here are focused on the college applications and making choices for schools. My daughter only babysat on sat nights and was ( still is) paid well.

She's in her Sophomore year of college now and works at least one weekend night weekly but only with regular clients.

FWIW.... That's my two cents with high schoolers.

You might find a sahm or retiree who could be more reliable with hours and needs the extra cash.

Good luck!