My Babysitter Musts
I am hardly one to complain about military life, but if there is one thing that drives me crazy, it’s constantly having to find a new sitter. Not only do we have to find a new sitter each time we move, but considering that many of the sitters in the area are often connected to the military as well, the search commences each time one of them move as well.
Just recently, we lost our usual sitter. We started with a friend’s back up sitter last month, but in just a few months, she’ll be gone as well. So, back to the grind we go.
We’ve used Care.com and SitterCity.com (which offer discounts to military families, btw), which allow me to filter qualifications and “musts” for my sitters. I don’t think I’m too picky, but here are my preferences in my search for a babysitter.
Transportation
I think first a foremost, I need a sitter who has their own reliable transportation. I don’t want to have to deal with the sitter not getting a ride to our house, or someone having to pick her up when we get home late at night.
References
This one has been important for me. I want to know that the sitter is someone I can depend on, so references, whether they’re from families they’ve babysat for, or from an unrelated job, are a must.
Military ID
Normally, I wouldn’t care about this, but since we live on base, the sitter needs to have easy access. Although, you don’t need to have a military to get on base, those without a military id need to go through a process to get on base. Sometimes the line gets astronomically long, and I don’t want any unforeseen delays.
Experience
My girls can be a handful, so experience with dealing with 3+ kids is a plus! Veronica is finally getting to the age where she doesn’t require as much attention, which means eventually I can be more lenient with this requirement.
Female
Call me sexist, but I don’t care. The sitter has to be a female. I always get creeped out when I see guys on babysitter sites. Yes, I know that women can prey on children too.
Not a mom
I hate to take a mama away from her babies, so no mama’s for us. Plus, I don’t want to have to compete with other scheduling conflicts due to their children’s events.
Close proximity
This one isn’t a deal breaker, but I prefer that the sitter live close by. Traffic can be a killer here, and I feel bad about having someone sit in traffic or drive a long distance and not get paid for that time.
Age
The sitter has to be younger than me. Preferably in the 20-23 age range. I’d feel like I was talking down to the sitter and trying to teach them how to parent if they were my age or older.
Nothing too crazy, right?!
And it would only makes sense that I’m kinda picky about the information sheet that I leave for the sitter. There are TONS of them on Pinterest, but I’m sharing one that I made for our family (printable pdf here). It has plenty of space for all of the information that I want to leave for our babysitter.
