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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

What are the expectations about the babysitter getting home these days?

42 replies

MsFogi · 07/10/2022 23:50

I'm interested to know if there is a consensus on expectations around babysitters getting home these days - when I was a student one of the parents would drop me home (or I would stay over if it was going to be a late one/so they could drink). Dd is a sixth former and has started babysitting and people seem to either expect her to walk home or that they will put her in an uber (which I don't really feel comfortable with given that she will be a young girl getting in a car with a random man late at night). I'd be interested to hear what mners do with their babysitters (we always dropped ours home when the dcs were younger).

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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SarahWoodruff · 07/10/2022 23:53

We always call an Uber/cab, since neither of us can drive. But we only use adult babysitters.

redbigbananafeet · 07/10/2022 23:56

I think with alcohol driving levels being so much stricter now parents would be less like to drive a babysitter home. When we were younger you could drive after a drink but no longer. If parents are having a special night out and hiring a sitter it's likely they'll be having a glass of wine or two

DaisyChristina · 07/10/2022 23:58

I don't drink so no problem dropping them at home.

If this was not the case, no to walking home alone/Uber. A well recognised local taxi firm only.

dalmatianmad · 08/10/2022 00:04

Surely an Uber is safer than a local Taxi firm? All of the drivers details are recorded

minipie · 08/10/2022 00:05

We wouldn’t give a lift as both of us will have had something to drink. We will always offer an uber if they don’t live very close. But tbh we only use teenage babysitters if they live very very close (like up the road).

There are no “well recognised local taxi firms” any more near us (London) it’s all uber or similar apps.

If you’re not comfortable with uber then I think you’d need to pick her up yourself or say no babysitting. I don’t think being driven home by one of the parents is the norm now that views have changed on drink driving.

AsItWas22 · 08/10/2022 00:06

Uber is safer than a normal taxi. You have their name, reg number and you can track the journey/share with a friend.

SpinningFloppa · 08/10/2022 00:06

This is why I couldn’t afford a baby sitter times have changed so much you are not only expected to pay them but to buy take away for them then pay for them to get home, how anyone can afford one I don’t know. I don’t drive so would order a cab but like another poster said I would only use adult babysitters

Overthebow · 08/10/2022 00:08

I’ve ne er used a babysitter who couldn’t drive and don’t think I would. Can you pick her up?

DaisyChristina · 08/10/2022 00:29

dalmatianmad · 08/10/2022 00:04

Surely an Uber is safer than a local Taxi firm? All of the drivers details are recorded

There are no ubers where I live, only local taxi firms.

Our council woudn't allow them for some reason.

saraclara · 08/10/2022 00:31

dalmatianmad · 08/10/2022 00:04

Surely an Uber is safer than a local Taxi firm? All of the drivers details are recorded

That. As a single woman I'd always choose an uber over a taxi firm. They detail about the driver and the car is recorded, and accessible by the passenger to share with someone at their destination if they choose.

You've no idea if a taxi pulling up is actually from the firm you called, and you've no idea who the driver is. And only the taxi firm has the details. If my daughter was babysitting I'd want an uber rather than a taxi firm bringing her back.

QuitWhileAhead · 08/10/2022 00:40

Can you or your partner ( if you have one) collect her? I used to be happy to facilitate my kids part time jobs.
I sometimes used to get driven home by parents when I used to babysit as a teen in the 80's - not only was there some drink driving but I also got to experience letchy husbands trying to chat me up. 🤮🤮

HighlandPony · 08/10/2022 00:40

I live in the same village I was born in so they walk home. Sometimes if they’re really young and it’s dark and they’re the other end of the village I might Chuck the baby monitor next door for five minutes till I walk them to the other side but it’s pretty safe here. Probably wouldn’t have the freedom to live like this in bigger towns or cities

MaChienEstUnDick · 08/10/2022 00:45

I think any young person is safer with an Uber driver or a generic taxi driver than they are with a (potentially drunk) random dude. That said, our babysitters usually lived very close by us.

We did get offers of sitters that we refused because were in the wrong part of our town, so it would have meant one of us doing an hour's round trip to walk them or not drinking (which would have impacted our night out. Our local taxi service is really only two cars and it's impossible to book them on a Friday or Saturday night.

We also live in Scotland where the drink driving limits are much stricter so it really would mean no alcohol at all, not even one glass of wine.

Original poster

MsFogi · 08/10/2022 00:46

Sorry I was not entirely clear - all the babysitting is within a 5-10 min walk of where we live. So far we have walked to get her when a taxi is suggested but when our dcs were younger we would walk our babysitters home (rather than expect their parents to do so and we never thought of putting them in an uber).

OP posts:

Boxofsockss · 08/10/2022 00:51

id think it’s like any other job surely? I don’t expect my place of work to get me home or take me to work.

MarmiteCoriander · 08/10/2022 00:58

Boxofsockss · 08/10/2022 00:51

id think it’s like any other job surely? I don’t expect my place of work to get me home or take me to work.

I was thinking the exact same!

SE13Mummy · 08/10/2022 01:13

My sixth-former DD babysits for a number of local families. Those within about 15 minutes walk from our home either walk her back or she walks back alone. The one who lives a bit further - and necessitates a less safe-feeling journey -tends to book her an uber.

lickenchugget · 08/10/2022 05:06

I babysat 5-10 mins away and always walked home alone.

saraclara · 08/10/2022 08:10

Boxofsockss · 08/10/2022 00:51

id think it’s like any other job surely? I don’t expect my place of work to get me home or take me to work.

Most teenaged baby sitters don't yet drive. And most jobs that young people have don't end at midnight and without public transport.

School aged babysitting has come with a duty of care for their return home since I was a baby sitter in the early '70s.

Randomcommentary · 08/10/2022 08:58

Boxofsockss · 08/10/2022 00:51

id think it’s like any other job surely? I don’t expect my place of work to get me home or take me to work.

If you pay at least minimum wage, sick and holiday pay etc. to your baby sitter. Then it’s a normal job.

missbipolar · 08/10/2022 09:01

We pay for a taxi/uber on the rear occasion we can't use family

AquaticSewingMachine · 08/10/2022 09:34

We've always used adults, but we pay them an Uber home.

I don't know why people think a "local taxi firm" is safer than an Uber, or less likely to employ pervy randos. An Uber is almost certainly safer than either a local taxi firm or being driven home by the "random" couple, especially if the driver's had a drink at all.

underneaththeash · 08/10/2022 10:20

Surely they can't drive her home as they'd have been out and had a drink? I'm not comfortable driving even having one drink and I certainly wouldn't drive someone else's child.

Ours just walked home.

NurseryNurse10 · 08/10/2022 18:51

I go back by bus but am much older than your DD.
For a teen, I would expect either the parent to drop home or you to get her x

NurseryNurse10 · 08/10/2022 18:56

Even though I am a fully grown adult woman, I have still had parents of the kids say to me that I shouldn't be walking or using public transport which I find ridiculous and also patronising as I would feel better doing that then getting in an uber. Even if they are safer, I just prefer making my own way back.

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