How do you find a babysitter?

[flamebat]

I have my mum, and my friend... when I want to go out with my mum, and my friend is unavailable - I'm screwed!

How do you go about finding a babysitter? How do you know who to trust?

I dont, I have my mum and thats it. If shes not available we dont go out.

My family and dh's all live miles away so we only have one babysitter - a good friend from work. I trust her because she used to be a nanny and has younger siblings and is brilliant with kids!!

Please let me know if you find out!!

If you use a nursery, then one of th gorls from there?

Neighbour?

I am no use as we have no babysitter close by, or else only ones with their own children.

yep, someone from the nursery/friend's nursery whatever. Needs to be someone you trust instinctively. Stay local, at least the first few times then you're less likely to panic and can come back & check if you feel you need to.

im in the same boat as u but i went to play group the other day n there was a girl doing work experiance n she asked about baby sittin so where in middle of sorting things out with her

Oooh good point about nursery - she hasn't started yet, but I remember around the wedding that my mum was talking about using one of the girls from the one at the school she works at... I'll ask her if she's still interested.

We have no family at all near us, so use Sitters. They are not cheap but you get people who have been police checked for working with children, have their own transport etc etc.

I've had some good people from Sitters, but that was a while back when DD was less vocal in objecting to strangers. They're not cheap, but they do seem to be high quality people.

we don't. Parents live miles away, they babysit approx 3 times a year, and a friend babysits 1 - 2 times a year.
We'll have to wait until the kids are older before we get to go out regularly again. We have takeaways, DVD nights with wine, and meals out with the kids.

same as you daisy - go out about 3 or 4 times a year - onlyhave my mum as everyone else is always too busy - so when mum isnt out partying/working/in marbella/in magaluf, she may occasionally have my dd for a bit.

Dont think i could ever ask someone i didnt know - my dd would be up til about 9pm and she wakes during the night. What are they like? do they have certain rules etc?

im in the same boat really. im on my own and if i want to go out i have to try and convince my parents who live 40 odd miles away. so if they agree (they also still have my younger siblings at home, youngest being 4 so younger than ds)
i have to take the kids all the way over there and then go collect them in the morning or whenever.

thankfully i have no social life so its not too much of an issue

We were registered with Sitters but they haven't been able to get anyone for us for the last three weeks. In desperation I trolled round local newsagents with 'babysitter wanted' cards. Popped into our local school uniform shop to put card in their window and was talking to woman who works there and would you believe it someone walked in that she knew (very small town), was until recently working in a nursery (so checked etc) and is now our sitter! If that had failed next step was to see if school would run small ad in weekly newsletter.

If I go out dh stays in. If dh goes out I stay in.
Don't have much opportunity to go out together. I have no mum and my dad is not well. No fil and mil usually out or babysitting for dh brothers families and they don't 'do' babysitting.
Eldest ds is at uni. Not really anyone else that we trust who isn't busy themselves and we wouldn't like to put upon them.

I use local teenagers. Lovely every one of them. Cheap too!

i wanna local cheap teenager not fair!

Word of mouth or friends' kids - most of them seem to have got around to having children way before me!

I babysit and live in Glasgow!!

Am I near anyone?