Need Help! - Jacksonville, NC

Do you know other families in the area? Friends of your children? What we do is swap. This way you already know the people watching your kids, and your kids know the people who are watching them. There is no paying a babysitter, or worring.. The kids are happy (its so hard getting used to a new sitter). Then just offer the service in return to your friend that watched your children.. if that makes sense? It works great for us!

Hi,

We found our fist babysitter at church. In fact, she does daycare for us sometimes, when i need a few hours alone. As long as you find someone responsible with good references, that is important. You can go to craig's list and find babysitters. I would interview them, with your husband and find someone you both feel comfortable with. We don't have family here either. However, we have a great church family and many friends. Sometimes our daughter's Godparents watch her too. Hope my suggestions are helpful...

K

S., we were unwilling to give the child we had waited 23 years for, into a 16 year old's care! The 16 year olds suddenly all appeared to be immature, untrustworthy, possible drug addicts ---even though I myself had been an extremely concientious teen age baby sitter!

So we solved our problem by joining up with 2 other pairs of parents for joint babysitting. Each Sunday night, at 5:00p.m. two 18 month-old babies were fed, changed, THEN dropped off at our house until 8:00. Our daughter had two friends to play with, and two adults could handle playing with 3 babies. This earned us the next two Sunday nights with a 3 hour block of time while our daughter was visiting the other families. As we got more experienced and confident, the feed-them-and-change-them-before-you- get-here rule relaxed and the time stretched out. We looked forward to our Sunday nights "In" with the girls almost as much as our Sunday nights "out".

Hope this idea helps.

K.

I see that your children go to daycare. Do you like any of the people that work there? Maybe if you talk to one of them they might be willing to come to your house for the evening and watch your kids. Also, it would be a familiar face to your children. Just an idea.. :)

We also ask the women who work at our daycare to sit. This is great because 1) they are all vetted by our daycare, so they've already had background checks and CPR training, and most of them have or are in the process of getting their degrees in early childhood education, and 2) my child already knows and likes them! I really trust all of them too, after seeing them care for my boy during the week.

If you figure this one out let me know. My husband was in the air force but has recently gotten out. We stayed here by Edwards air force base and I dont know anyone. I dont want to leave my 3 1/2 year old with anyone BUT I think we also need our time. So if you figure this one out please get back to me.

I read your post.This is my idea and Im trying to put it into action for me to.I have three boys 7,4,1 and I need a date night too and dont trust the people in my area.Im in springfield.Id like to find some moms who can have a calling tree.No payment but just a trade.One eveing of sitting for another.That way is cuts down on cost and stress.I think that tradeing night of sitting for each others friends kids is a good idea.How to make it work I dont know yet mabey you can help me.My name is R. and I'd like to find someone who would like to start a child sitting tree!!

"GoGo Menlo! For everything else..." provides exactly what you are
looking for! There babysitters bring "GoGo activity buckets" with age appropriate
projects and games for the kids which are always a big hit! They
provide safety and CPR training for babysitters and they carry small
first aid kits for quick fixes as needed. Kids love having "GoGo's"
come babysit!

The benefit of how they operate is that on-call and part-time placements
are what they do and since this is there focus (rather than permanent
placements) you can have consistency with the same sitters even for
sporadic appointments and you don't have to deal with paying the sitters and paying the agency etc.

Also, if you need your "GoGo" to run errands or help organize your
garage/office/house while they are there you can have them multi-task
and get more done.

They do not have a membership or any other hidden fees. The hourly
rates range between $21-27 per hour depending on how many hours you
need. (The more you buy the greater the discount). They can even help you with last minute or same day appointments when you are in a bind.

Hello S., well i am also 25 and have one daughter... and i remember when i was young the way that i got people to ask me to babysit was because i went to church... so if you go to church, their might be some your girls there that would like to babysit...also are there any kids that your daughter goes to school with that have older children that might like to babysit for just a few hours... also remind your husband that you 2 are only going out for a few hours... not a week...i hope that i have given some advice that will help...good luck...

I haven't used them yet but plan on in the future is www.SitterCity.com. They are a professional service that allows sitters to register on their site. Each sitter has to post at least 2 references that you can actually call to verify and they also post any education they have (first aid and CPR). The company has been promoted on the Today Show and you can check the Better Business Bureau to find they are rated highly. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Ha Ha. He is just protective of his little babes! Cute! HOWEVER...he does need to make sure he pays attention to his marriage. Just because he is a father does not mean he quit being a husband. :)

My advice is that you ask your girlfriends around that have kids of their own. Maybe you guys can do a date daycare swap. I think your hubby would feel more comfortable of it were an adult rather than a teenager. Also, where your kids are so young, I wouldn't necessarily recommend a teenager either as your first choice.

In respecting him, you should try this... find a babysitter / friend that will do this (without your hubby knowing). Tell your husband that you need to meet him somewhere. Then maybe you two can have a night out. This might backfire if he is only concerned about the kids though. So, I guess maybe you should work WITH HIM to find the right daycare person for the job. :)

Sorry...wishy washy answers, but I don't know your hubby.

Good luck!

Hi Stacy,

Wow we have alot in common. When I started reading your profile I thought it was mine for a minute lol :).

I wish I had some good advice for you to tell your husband to get him to agree. Have you tried telling him that you will just go out after the kids go to bed?? When we first started going out without our kids to feel comfortable we just put our kids to bed and had the babysitter just be here if they were to wake up but they never do. Have you tried getting recommenations from other people in your neighborhood as to who they use for babysitters? Maybe he will agree if he gets a good referral from someone else that truts their children with a teenager. Good luck!

Hi S., My family has the same problem as you, And asking friends to sit just makes me feel bad. I have been told to call the Church you belong to (if you belong to one) and ask them to recommend a kid (teen) that the church looks highly on. Or call a high school and they might be able to recommend a scholar that is trust worthy. But when you do find someone you just have to get to know them I guess. Or you might want to look into join a mommy's group (if you have anytime) and get to know someone who would swap babysitting with you. But trust me I totally know how stressful it is to find a sitter you can trust your little ones with. Well I hope this helps. Good luck.