babysitters

mudd1118 · #1 July 1st, 2011, 08:26 AM

Does anyone else just seem to have rotten luck with babysitters? This might just be the worst part of parenthood!

~Lindsay~ · #2 July 1st, 2011, 08:33 AM

I actually haven't gone down this road yet. But I am sure it will be terrible when the time comes. lol

slyrket · #3 July 1st, 2011, 08:33 AM

I <3 my babysitter. She's my best friend since high school who is a SAHM to her 2 boys.

razzledobe · #4 July 1st, 2011, 08:37 AM

My babysitter is adventure kids a drop in day-care open until 11pm on weekends! He loves it there and they do a good job and no messy personal relationships to deal with LOL....

mudd1118 · #5 July 1st, 2011, 08:40 AM

My core group of babysitters (well, that would be my mom and sister) are GREAT!

Last month when my MIL was with the boys, she dropped Jonah on his head (aw, baby's first CT scan...)... on Monday another little girl dropped Jonah against a table... then Tuesday morning a different sitter called at 8am (she was scheduled to come over at 10am) and cancelled...

pain. in. my. *****!

.h00dihoo.this. · #6 July 1st, 2011, 10:15 AM

the only person to have ever watched my kids was my mom.. it took me until hunter was 18 months old to even grow enough kahunas to have her watch them.. my DH and i need a WELL deserved break and my friend since junior high happens to live in Sac as well and she offered to watch the kids for us on the 17th so DH and i can go to a Kathy Griffin show.. im really nervous about it but at the same time, it is only for a couple of hours

KDD · #7 July 1st, 2011, 11:24 AM

My problem is a severe absence of babysitters. We have no family here and our friends all work, and their kids are all too young

Nikki. · #8 July 1st, 2011, 11:33 AM

I've never hired a babysitter... The only people I've ever left with my kids with are my mother and grandmother.

BigGrin · #9 July 1st, 2011, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KDD

My problem is a severe absence of babysitters. We have no family here and our friends all work, and their kids are all too young

That about sums it up for me too. I was very fortunate to find a great nanny when I was living away from DH. Now that we are living in the same apartment (different state) there is literally no one. I am a SAHM for now but it would be nice just to go on a date for a few hours just the two of us.

jjc99 · #10 July 1st, 2011, 11:56 AM

I've had a friend and my boss watch Vivien in the evening. My daycare sitter has offered for the evening, but I just haven't asked yet.

funny, I don't know if I would leave her with my Mom or Dad. DH has left her with his mom for an hour or two. (i probably wouldn't have, but I wasn't there).

Smashie · #11 July 1st, 2011, 12:02 PM

We use gals who work at Hunter's daycare. Upside: they know him and vice versa. Downside: they're 20-something which means we can't schedule them more than a day or so in advance or they'll get a better social opportunity and cancel on us.
Ah, to be young and clueless. We missed a big charity benefit that way.

DH's family live in town and were totally stoked about the birth of their first nephew/grandson, but they haven't been much help. His sister offers to babysit once in a blue moon, but only for an hour or two. Big disappointment there. We were counting on more support from family.

PS - With twins it must be even harder to find good babysitters! Don't you wish all us December mommies lived close enough to help each other out?

smika · #12 July 1st, 2011, 05:35 PM

I sure do Smashie! I've only left Derek with my sister and his godmother, when DH and I had a dinner for the fire dept to attend and I went to my cousins wedding when we were in a rush to get the big things done in the new house, so DH couldn't stay with him. My mother will be watching him on the 16th when we go to DH's good friends wedding. MIL wants to watch him but I'm not so sure. She tells me to let him CIO because he isnt on the "right" schedule, I should only feed him at certian times, and NEVER in between. Plus she likes to give him food... Like chocolate ice cream when he was only 2 months old!

angeleyes04 · #13 July 1st, 2011, 05:43 PM

I LOVE our daycare lady. She has even offered to take all three girls on a Saturday or Friday night so DH and I can have a date night. She even kept Olivia for a full weekend when the twins were in the hospital with RSV. She didn't charge us for that either. She has helped us more than my IL's and I trust her more than I trust them.

I don't feel comfortable having anyone younger than 18 babysit my kids. lol. I used to have my co-worker's 16 year old daughter babysit Olivia once and a while then I found out her mom (my co-worker) did most of the work. So I was paying her for nothing and that was the end of that.

martilynne · #14 July 1st, 2011, 08:06 PM

My parents watch Jax all the time, I don't know what we would do without them.

stiritup · #15 July 1st, 2011, 10:28 PM

Wow Lindsey sounds like you've got an awesome daycare lady!! I have no sitter. My mom has watched the kids at her house while i've run to the store for milk before. And my sister watched the twins for a prenatal appt once (I was not about to take them to an ultrasound & NST alone!!). But they both live 45 mins away & work fulltime. I have no idea where to even begin to find a sitter. And if i get a young lady do I get more than one to handle the triple threat????

LoLo'sMama · #16 July 2nd, 2011, 02:58 AM

none here either, at least for after hours! we have a nanny/sitter who comes to the house, but only when I have appointments. at 12 bucks an hour, we can't afford her for date night!

hearts.0nfire · #17 July 2nd, 2011, 03:05 AM

The only people that have watched Darcy is my Mom, dh's cousin, and for a few minutes my neighbor who also has a 1 year old. Except for dh's cousin, I don't trust anybody else with watching her since i've seen how they watch kids and it's not great.

Chloebearsmomma · #18 July 2nd, 2011, 03:22 AM

My mom is the only one who has stayed with Chloe besides DH and that was for 20 minutes while I went to the post office for her! Lol. Other than that she's never been away from me or DH. I hope that my sisters will want to babysit when she is a bit older. I totally trust them.

angeleyes04 · #19 July 2nd, 2011, 06:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stiritup

Wow Lindsey sounds like you've got an awesome daycare lady!! I have no sitter. My mom has watched the kids at her house while i've run to the store for milk before. And my sister watched the twins for a prenatal appt once (I was not about to take them to an ultrasound & NST alone!!). But they both live 45 mins away & work fulltime. I have no idea where to even begin to find a sitter. And if i get a young lady do I get more than one to handle the triple threat????

Thanks, she is AWESOME! Like I said, she has been there for us more than my IL's. My parents live too far away so she is basically like the girls' adoptive Grandma. I couldn't have asked for a better daycare.

I know what you mean about having one girl handle all three kids. That is our dilemma too... maybe when Maddie and Malia get older we'll be more comfortable leaving them with someone younger. Do you have nieces or cousins that would be willing to watch all three?

jml · #20 July 2nd, 2011, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smashie

We use gals who work at Hunter's daycare. Upside: they know him and vice versa. Downside: they're 20-something which means we can't schedule them more than a day or so in advance or they'll get a better social opportunity and cancel on us.
Ah, to be young and clueless. We missed a big charity benefit that way.

Ok that is SO not professional! Not all sitters are that incompetent! I babysat my way through high school and a little into university and I would NEVER dream of cancelling on a family unless of course I was seriously ill or something... I would never ever ever ever cancel because of a "better social opportunity". That is just plain wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stiritup

And if i get a young lady do I get more than one to handle the triple threat????

I don't think you should have to. If you can find a good sitter, they should be able to handle 3 kids at once.... and should have a sense of humor and patience enough to handle 3 that young..

. I used to sit for a family and they had a 4 yr old, a 2.5 yr old and a 10 month old.. and I used to watch them all at the same time. It was fun