I have 2 kids- a 2.5y/o and a 3 month old. I desperately want a middle school aged babysitter to come play with my toddler (and maybe make funny faces at my baby for like, 2 hours in the afternoon once a week or so, so I can get stuff done. It is SO HARD TO FIND! There are lots of adults, nannies etc but I would really like a 12 year old…
I have 2 kids- a 2.5y/o and a 3 month old. I desperately want a middle school aged babysitter to come play with my toddler (and maybe make funny faces at my baby for like, 2 hours in the afternoon once a week or so, so I can get stuff done. It is SO HARD TO FIND! There are lots of adults, nannies etc but I would really like a 12 year old because so often older teens and adults aren’t willing to be silly! Plus it seems like middle school is the sweet spot before they’re just on their phones all the time (she says while typing this on a phone)? But howww do I find someone? I’ll be home the whole time so it doesn’t need to be someone super experienced, just someone who can play with my kids while keeping them alive. I will stay out of the way!
Also can we talk about the fact that I found a regular babysitter/nanny for the summer- she’s starting grad school next fall and is looking for something to fill between leaving her job and moving- and I feel like we are the same age because I feel like I’m also 23 inside but I am absolutely not (I’m 29 and feel extremely old and very young at the same time, sometimes? Like how am I supposed to know what to do with my life and also I am exhausted because I have 2 babies).
Yes, this is a familiar problem! I was like, howwwww do I meet a teen?? What I did was I actually printed up some "Babysitter Needed" flyers (with limited information) and stuck a couple on telephone poles in my neighborhood, plus one on the bulletin board in the public library. It worked! Now I have contact info for 3 neighborhood teens with varying availability. (As soon as I got a couple responses, I went around and took my posters down, and I started by meeting at a park.)
That was a great idea, especially about meeting them first. I think it’s important to meet THEIR parent too—cuz in a pinch some day, that kid is likely going to call their mom (I know I called my mom when I wasn’t sure about something), and you want to know who they are.
yes! That was actually my favorite part, meeting the moms and being like, "okay, she seems like a rational and trustworthy adult, I feel comfortable having her as backup," plus, now I have talked to a couple more neighbors who I otherwise wouldn't have met.
I was nervous about the poster idea, but I'm glad I did it. The poster was mostly a QR code to a google form, and the information on the google form was just what anybody could reasonably have guessed from seeing us out walking the dogs.
I’m older now (36), but was 28 with my first and 31 with my second. They are almost 5 and 8 now.
1. You will meet young teenagers as your kids get older. They will be older sibs of your kids friends.
2. I know you will be around, but I think many parents of young tweens would be cautious for their own tween feeling responsible for 2 under 3. It’s a demanding stage, as you know! From a setting up the sitter for success, perspective, I would want my (future) 12 year old to start with 4-8 year olds who are fully potty trained. There are just a lot of variables and judgement calls with the under 3 set that are hard to anticipate.
Also, you will age into big sister/wise mentor role for the younger sitters and that is such a fulfilling relationship! Having been on both sides of it, it is one of my favorite flavors of femine bonding.
I feel like babysitters in the past were mainly found word-of-mouth. Our babysitter lived next door. The kids I babysat myself in the 80s: 1. lived around the corner, or 2. were related to someone a relative knew, or 3. were younger cousins. When my son was little (early 2000s), I found his babysitters via church bulletin (she had put a little ad in it, saying she’d taken a babysitting course) and via my town’s ‘Rent a Kid’ program. (Not sure if the do that anymore though).
Maybe see if your area offers a babysitting course of some kind and if they do, reach out for referrals?
You’re looking more for a mother’s helper since you’ll be home (that’s what I had—I never actually left my son alone with a babysitter, though I was alone with kids when I babysat). Since you’re looking for middle school, you’re likely looking for someone who hasn’t had any babysitting experience and maybe hasn’t taken a babysitting class but instead maybe has younger siblings and so knows how to play with kids? Maybe you can find someone via a local Boys and Girls Club, or the Y, Girl Scouts, Church, local mom’s club. I wouldn’t advertise for one per se (maybe that’s just my own prudence talking).
I have 2 kids- a 2.5y/o and a 3 month old. I desperately want a middle school aged babysitter to come play with my toddler (and maybe make funny faces at my baby for like, 2 hours in the afternoon once a week or so, so I can get stuff done. It is SO HARD TO FIND! There are lots of adults, nannies etc but I would really like a 12 year old because so often older teens and adults aren’t willing to be silly! Plus it seems like middle school is the sweet spot before they’re just on their phones all the time (she says while typing this on a phone)? But howww do I find someone? I’ll be home the whole time so it doesn’t need to be someone super experienced, just someone who can play with my kids while keeping them alive. I will stay out of the way!
Also can we talk about the fact that I found a regular babysitter/nanny for the summer- she’s starting grad school next fall and is looking for something to fill between leaving her job and moving- and I feel like we are the same age because I feel like I’m also 23 inside but I am absolutely not (I’m 29 and feel extremely old and very young at the same time, sometimes? Like how am I supposed to know what to do with my life and also I am exhausted because I have 2 babies).
Yes, this is a familiar problem! I was like, howwwww do I meet a teen?? What I did was I actually printed up some "Babysitter Needed" flyers (with limited information) and stuck a couple on telephone poles in my neighborhood, plus one on the bulletin board in the public library. It worked! Now I have contact info for 3 neighborhood teens with varying availability. (As soon as I got a couple responses, I went around and took my posters down, and I started by meeting at a park.)
That was a great idea, especially about meeting them first. I think it’s important to meet THEIR parent too—cuz in a pinch some day, that kid is likely going to call their mom (I know I called my mom when I wasn’t sure about something), and you want to know who they are.
yes! That was actually my favorite part, meeting the moms and being like, "okay, she seems like a rational and trustworthy adult, I feel comfortable having her as backup," plus, now I have talked to a couple more neighbors who I otherwise wouldn't have met.
I was nervous about the poster idea, but I'm glad I did it. The poster was mostly a QR code to a google form, and the information on the google form was just what anybody could reasonably have guessed from seeing us out walking the dogs.
I’m older now (36), but was 28 with my first and 31 with my second. They are almost 5 and 8 now.
1. You will meet young teenagers as your kids get older. They will be older sibs of your kids friends.
2. I know you will be around, but I think many parents of young tweens would be cautious for their own tween feeling responsible for 2 under 3. It’s a demanding stage, as you know! From a setting up the sitter for success, perspective, I would want my (future) 12 year old to start with 4-8 year olds who are fully potty trained. There are just a lot of variables and judgement calls with the under 3 set that are hard to anticipate.
Also, you will age into big sister/wise mentor role for the younger sitters and that is such a fulfilling relationship! Having been on both sides of it, it is one of my favorite flavors of femine bonding.
I feel like babysitters in the past were mainly found word-of-mouth. Our babysitter lived next door. The kids I babysat myself in the 80s: 1. lived around the corner, or 2. were related to someone a relative knew, or 3. were younger cousins. When my son was little (early 2000s), I found his babysitters via church bulletin (she had put a little ad in it, saying she’d taken a babysitting course) and via my town’s ‘Rent a Kid’ program. (Not sure if the do that anymore though).
Maybe see if your area offers a babysitting course of some kind and if they do, reach out for referrals?
You’re looking more for a mother’s helper since you’ll be home (that’s what I had—I never actually left my son alone with a babysitter, though I was alone with kids when I babysat). Since you’re looking for middle school, you’re likely looking for someone who hasn’t had any babysitting experience and maybe hasn’t taken a babysitting class but instead maybe has younger siblings and so knows how to play with kids? Maybe you can find someone via a local Boys and Girls Club, or the Y, Girl Scouts, Church, local mom’s club. I wouldn’t advertise for one per se (maybe that’s just my own prudence talking).
Yes to hard to find! My mom found all of my babysitters through our church, and I’m not religious.