babysitting problem...

[pinklilith]

Hi, I don't know if you can help, I need a babysitter, not a regular one, but just for now and then. Thing is I don't know anyone who can do it for me, and I'm not sure how to go about getting one I feel I can trust. Any advice?

Could try Sitters? They only use registered carers, CMs or nursery nurses I think.

Alternatively, how about doing swaps with a friend or 2, or fionding if there is a local babysitting circle?

I looked at sitters but they want a credit card or debit card number and I have neither. I'll look out for the babysitting circle. I'm more concerned because my youngest is only 6 months.

I am also looking for sitters and I have found a website called findasitter.co.uk, try this, wish u luck !!

Do you live in a village? If so, why dont you put an ad in the village noticeboard/shop? We have and asked for 2 references. We had a 17 year old girl call up, I spoke to her mum...turns out she (the mum)has a child at the village school where my son goes. Met her at the gates (recognised her), had a chat, the daughter works at the shop. Got references, and the first time we used her we went down the local pub for a few hours so we were only 2 mins down the road. She seems lovely and the boys like her. I now have a babysitter I can call when the grandparents cant!

DO you have a local college which has nursery/childcare/nursing courses? You could always contact the college to see if you could help each other out. Just an idea!!!

Hi! Whereabouts are you?

I'm in Winchester, Hants. I live on a council estate, not a bad one, I just don't know many people on it.

What about putting an ad up either at the local 6th form college - my niece went to Peter Symonds in Winchester and she and her friends often used to babysit.

Or if you want someone a bit older maybe try the university. Winchester runs teacher training courses so chances are you'd find someone who's got childcare experience and most likely is also police checked. Students are great because they're desperate for cash and if you also leave them a decent meal they're bound to be your friend for life!

Good Luck!

I can't help then, sorry, I'm in Cheshire!

Put an ad up in the Sainsburys in town. Or the Tescos.

thanks for the advice. Ill give them a try.

As your youngest is a baby, I would suggest that you try if you are able to find someone with experience of caring for babies/toddlers. Having someone with childcare experience will with luck give you greater confidence in their abilities and thus make you more relaxed about leaving your children in their care.

As has already been suggested, local colleges can be a useful source of babysitters, especially those colleges that run childcare courses.

You can also try to contact local nannies and other childcare workers, via internet sites such as findasitter.co.uk and nannyjob.co.uk

Local advertising in newsagents/shops can also work, though seems to me to be harder to find places that permit classified ads these days.

However you end up finding someone, you want to feel you can trust them... so you need to do a sort of interview. It need not be a full nanny interview, but a shortened version may work well. I would strongly suggest that the person meets your children before they babysit for the first time. This will enable you to see how they interact with your children, plus your children will give you feedback regarding how much they liked, or disliked the person.

Thats great Nannynick, thank you!