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…
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.
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.