how did you find your babysitters?

Sallysore

I was wondering how I'd go about finding a trustworthy reliable babysitter for my 11 month old daughter? I haven't left her with anyone yet and we need to get out now for a break some night. Are there Garda vetted girls or how do I find them? Do I look for a neighbour or is there a website people use? What do all of you parents do when you need a babysitter? I live in Dublin south. Thanks a lot and appreciate any help with this

January

Family mostly here. My parents mind them if we're going out solo, if there's a family event then the girl who runs the playschool I sent all of mine to asks her daughter and she comes up (we pay 50 euro, we'd usually be out from 7pm - 1am at most). For my wedding I found a lady on a different forum, she has 5 kids of her own and was garda vetted and first aid trained. I paid over 200 euro for her to mind the kids from 9pm that night until 10am the next morning (4 kids).

Sallysore

Anybody else who uses someone other than family? Anyone I could rely on to babysit the odd weekend night (9pm-3am)

Big Bag of Chips

Have you any friends with sensible teenage daughters?

0lordy

Have a chat with a local secondary school teacher, they should be able to recommend a good pupil in the area.

Sallysore

0lordy wrote: »

Have a chat with a local secondary school teacher, they should be able to recommend a good pupil in the area.

Thanks but is a secondary school child not a bit young?

Sallysore

Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

Have you any friends with sensible teenage daughters?

No I'm only 27 so none of my friends have kids

beechwood55

Sallysore wrote: »

Thanks but is a secondary school child not a bit young?

My daughter is 16 and babysits pretty regularly. As do her friends.
Do you have neighbours with teenage daughters? When my girl babysits I am always at home so if anything crops up she can call me (if the parents are not contactable!).

Big Bag of Chips

Secondary school "kids" can be up to 19! Do you work? Have you colleagues who would help? Or colleagues who have children (teenagers/young adults) who would do it?

BrianBoru00

Plenty of College kids would be delighted with the opportunity to earn some money and even a "break" from their parents!!!
Re: Garda vetting - you would need to go through an agency for that as the vetting is done be each individual organisation and not by individuals. They may however have garda vetting through a GAA or Soccer club or youth club for example.
At the end of the day the garda vetting isn't really worth the paper its written on.
Advertise in the local paper. Talk to them / interview them on the phone and if you like them - bring them in on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon while your there and see how they deal with the child.

At the end of the day your gut instinct is better than any vetting or qualifications.

livinsane

If you use Facebook, maybe put a post on your own page. That way your potential babysitter is someone who most likely will be a friend of family/a friend and someone you can get a decent character reference for. This is how I found my part-time childminder, who has done a few nights for us. She went to college with my cousin, who referred me to her.

D0NNELLY

Even if your child inst in a crèche, knock in and ask if anyone does nixers..

eviltwin

The staff in my son's creche do babysitting nixers. They will all be garda vetted, fully trained etc. Might be worth checking out. Don't rule out a reliable teenager especially one with younger siblings who might have experience. My daughter was babysitting her brother from 16 and was more capable than some adults I know.

deisemum

Ask your neighbours if they know any local teenagers that babysit or who might be interested in babysitting.

Our first babysitter when we moved here was the teenage girl who lived next door to my inlaws, then we got a girl who lived across the road from us and she did it until she got a social life, after that we got the teenage boy next door who's about 4 or 5 years older than my older lad and he was by far my lads favourite babysitter plus his mother used to pop in to check all was well. My own lads have done the odd bit of babysitting for people we know.

pwurple

The staff at our local creche do babysitting. Trained in first aid, garda vetted and all the rest. Ideal.

RentDayBlues

Sallysore wrote: »

I was wondering how I'd go about finding a trustworthy reliable babysitter for my 11 month old daughter? I haven't left her with anyone yet and we need to get out now for a break some night. Are there Garda vetted girls or how do I find them? Do I look for a neighbour or is there a website people use? What do all of you parents do when you need a babysitter? I live in Dublin south. Thanks a lot and appreciate any help with this

I found a wonderful babysitter through mindme.ie

She has childcare education and work experience. She had good references and is very reasonable for the service she offers

jester77

We get one of the neighbour daughters to look after ours. Over here the teenagers do a childminder course and get a qualification at the end. I don't know if there is anything like that in Ireland?

At least that way, you can be confident that they know how to handle situations that may arise.