Day away from kids s/o

[nicolewi]

Do you have any non-family people you can use as daytime sitters? My kids are (just turned) 7, 5, 3 and 1. MIL helps out sometimes but they are in FL for the winter. DH has a somewhat flexible schedule this time of year but it's not always reliable, and other times he's totally unavailable. I.e. in fall/spring I can't really schedule anything b/c he is usually totally unavailable, including evenings/weekends. I have been considering posting on Care.com to get some people I could potentially use for occasional daytime help. I.e. if I have a doctor or dentist appt, or haircut, or need to take one of the kids to an event one-on-one, or it's my day to be preschool helper or Girl Scout volunteer, want to take just the baby to get photos taken, want to do a zoo class with one of the kids, etc. I keep being on the verge of doing it and maybe just should before we get stuck and have no one we can call.

We used care.com in the past for nannies when I was working (mixed results). 

[Deleted]

We tried sitter city and had good luck. If you have any colleges nearby, you will typically find students on sitter city. We have 3 different girls, 1 who comes home for summer and breaks, and 2 who attend school nearby and rotate or use whoever is available. It's nice to have some options. I highly recommend college students between 19-22, they charge a fair rate and are usually flexible and glad for the work. Also, if you find a good one, she might have friends who want to sit too. That's how we got one of our sitters

[lala]

I second checking with local colleges. That's how I baby sat in college and so did everyone else I knew.

[quesyrah]

Nope. I don't have non-family day or night sitters. MIL will watch the kids occasionally- mainly if it's a special event we really want/need to go to. My parents for a variety of reasons don't baby sit. I don't have any other family nearby.

We've thought about looking for a sitter for the occasional night out but when I talked to some friends, the going rate here for 2 kids is $15/hr which is hard to swallow.

I live amongst a cluster of small private colleges so I've been thinking of posting an ad and seeing if I can get someone for $10/hr for daytime. Since I'm within walking distance I'm thinking I could get someone for a few hours here and there which would really be nice

[abs]

We do not have any non-family sitters. Right now my mom is pretty flexible and she can step in at the last minute if needed. MIL is further away but she loves having DD at her house for a weekend. She would seriously do it every weekend if we let her (and we don't--once every 6-8 weeks is more like it). We do need to find a non-family babysitter now that DD is older and can tell me everything happening. It's really hard to swallow the $10-$15 range though--by the time we pay for a babysitter we'd be eating fast food!

[momin2013]

Nope, we do not. My parents are also in FL for the winter, but even when they're here they live 2 hours away, so aren't really able to help with spur of the moment-type stuff. Sometimes they'll come for a visit or we'll go there for a weekend, and that's when DH and I get to go on dates.

My doctor is in the same city as my parents, so they'll watch him when I have an appointment there, but dentist I pretty much only book on an evening when I know DH will be home. Anything else like haircuts etc. I always book on the weekend.

[gastro]

My parents babysit for us - probably 3 to 4 times a month so I can run errands or have dinner out. They travel a lot so we usually plan a few months out when I might need them. My mom watches the baby every Thursday morning for about 4 hours when I go to help out DS1s school.
Last year DS1 had a babysitter once a week that I shared with a friend. The going rate here is about $20 and hour, but for two kids she would do it for $24 so we split it and switched who's house she would come to. We found her on care.com
I'm looking for a sitter again for a few hours a week but probably will find someone through one of the parents at DS1s school. It's a coop so I know the parents well and we are always exchanging emails.

[courtdizzle]

I have a weekly sitter that comes for a full day. Same day every week 8:30-5. I found her on care.com. I love it because I know that I have help and can schedule things for that day. I also run all my errands that day.

[quesyrah]

Feb 10, 2016 13:35:02 GMT -5 courtdizzle said:

I have a weekly sitter that comes for a full day. Same day every week 8:30-5. I found her on care.com. I love it because I know that I have help and can schedule things for that day. I also run all my errands that day.

I would love this.

[thecheshirekat]

Yes, I have one non-family sitter who I can call if my parents aren't available. I found her through a recommendation from my moms club and she is great. She also only charges $10/hr for all three of my kids. I've also heard people recommend asking around at your kid's preschool, as sometimes the teachers are willing to babysit on their weekends and evenings.

[cabbagecabbage]

I have one awesome neighbor friend. We trade free sitting here and there and it's been great. She is a huge part of my village. I also have another mom acquaintance in the neighborhood who I've paid to watch DD.

[mamaalysson]

We have so much local family, that it's usually a non issue. But, I do have some SAHM friends that watch DS for me during the day, if needed. There are also a few neighborhood high school girls that we have used in a pinch for evenings or weekends. They are great, and I found them by asking in our neighborhood FB page.