How Does One Find a Sitter?

Updated on February 19, 2012
C.S. asks from Palos Park, IL
9 answers

I'm a SAHM to a 19 mth old and hoping to begin my own work from home business. There is no way I will be able to get this going without help a couple days a week. Can anyone suggest how to go about finding someone to care for her in my home? Thanks!

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K.E.

answers from Chicago on

Contact the Career Services Department at local colleges. Often they can post positions and sometimes have a babysitter list.

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H.D.

answers from Dallas on

Well, are you looking for someone to help you for like 8 hours on those days you work or just a couple of hours? I think if you are looking for someone who can do longer hours, maybe going through sittercity.com may be helpful. If it's just a couple of hours, if you attend a church, ask around for any college student referrals or maybe a high school student after school. I had a mothers helper every morning at 7am when I had my third child. I found her through my church and basically told her this was a job and I expected her to be on time and take it seriously. High school in my area doesn't start until 9am so she helped me from 7am-8:30 M-F. Do you know many of your neighbors? Maybe you could also pass a flier around in your neighborhood stating you are looking for help a couple day a week. Who knows, you may get another SAHM that needs to make some extra money herself and would be happy to help you out.

1 mom found this helpful

D.H.

answers from New York on

Inquire at local houses of worship...

M.D.

answers from Washington DC on

Our daycare we found on a local news site...people post all sorts of things on there. Come to find out, she was a nanny for friends of friends, who are both State Troopers. Needless to say, her background check came out fine :).

Our morning sitter, I found on sittercity.com. She's great, most of the time, with our kiddo's during the challenging morning hours.

Our summer sitter, is one of my mom's college students, and she came highly recommended!

Updated

Our daycare we found on a local news site...people post all sorts of things on there. Come to find out, she was a nanny for friends of friends, who are both State Troopers. Needless to say, her background check came out fine :).

Our morning sitter, I found on sittercity.com. She's great, most of the time, with our kiddo's during the challenging morning hours.

Our summer sitter, is one of my mom's college students, and she came highly recommended!

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D.M.

answers from Chicago on

Hi,

There is a website called Sittercity.com. It is a great source for finding local sitters. There is a fee for the parents and free for the sitters. The sitters have an option of having a background check done on them. If you find someone who doesn't already have this you can ask her to. I am a sitter/nanny who found a great family this way. There is also Craigslist but I would be more comfortable using sittercity, with that said I have in the past secured jobs through craigslist, I also met some questionable contacts. Otherwise there are agencies they tend to be much higher. Good luck.
D.

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K.R.

answers from Chicago on

I've found SitterCity to be a helpful resource. It does have a minimal monthly fee to access the sitters available, but it will provide you with several people to interview and could be a good starting place.

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P.H.

answers from Chicago on

I would just add that your local park district probably has baby sitting classes for kids and they could recommend someone they have trained.

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R.K.

answers from Chicago on

I am a stay at home Mom but needed a little help thruout the week and I used SitterCity. I interviewed 5 people and found the Perfect Sitter! She has been with us since August and she loves my daughter! They are very comfortable with each other even though the sitter just comes 1 or 2 days a week. No matter where you look for a sitter- always go with your gut instinct when interviewing!

Good Luck!

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N.P.

answers from Chicago on

care.com
craigslist
daycarebear.com
or just google daycare and your city or home daycare and your city

colleges are a GREAT place to find sitters cause they can usually work it around their classes

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