Sure, how extravagant, a stay at home mom wanting to hire someone to do my job. But really there are times when I need the help. I have three kids ages four and under, and there are times when I just have to ask myself, how did my mom do it with five? My friend that just went back to work a few weeks ago, solved this problem temporarily for me, we did a babysitting co-op. She would watch two, sometimes all three of my kids, while I went and did a few things without little ones in tow. But now she is back to work full time and I feel that my "village" (from Hillary Clinton's book It Takes a Village) has packed up and moved.
Now, I'm not talking full time, or even part time, but I would love to have someone to watch my kids when I have an ob-gyn appointment, a dentist appointment, or maybe even to clean my house while the kids are out taking a walk. So I got proactive- I answered an ad on Craig's List. Babysitter looking for part time or full time work. Everyone knows my love of Craig's List, so how could this be wrong? I interviewed Amber and she seemed nice enough. Basically, I was satisfied upon meeting her, she didn't look like a child killer, or someone that would steel my kids- because of course I do know what that person looks like- right? So what more could I need?
So I was telling a friend about Amber- a friend whose husband works every day and night, so she has steady part time help for her three under 5. And all she said was, "hmmmm, that's interesting, finding a babysitter on Craigs List". And that was it. I started questioning my choice. Amber kept me up to date on dates she was available to start, what the hours were at her main babysitting gig, so really, I received plenty of communication up until I asked for her references. During her interview she promised to send the number of the family that she watched for the last year, and now I have not heard from her since. Why do I feel liked I dodged a bullet? Most likely nothing would have happened to my children, maybe she would have taken a dollar left sitting on the dryer after months of working for us, but for some reason I am now terrified that she is a criminal that almost entered our lives because I almost didn't do my homework. References, although they can't tell you everything, it's always a good thing to check. Am I going crazy? Did she just figure the new family she is babysitting is keeping her busy enough, so why bother sending an email with references, most likely but I'll never know, since I'm now back to needing the occasional babysitter, but I'm not willing to find her on Craig's List, or the Newspaper either. You just can't be to careful.
2 comments:
I have friends who've used the Xavier University Career Center to post babysitting jobs. They've had great luck finding quality sitters by listing what they were looking for and when. Most of the time they had a regular schedule, but some of the students just wanted babysitting gigs whenever they could get them. I think you have to pay a little more for college age students, but a. they can drive themselves, and b. they can probably safely heat up food on the stove (not to mention putting leftovers away!). I'm sure that UC's Career Development Center has some similar feature. Good luck. My mom had five kids too, and I think cigarettes and a lot of coffee helped.
Thanks for the suggestion. As always, I will wait until I need someone immediately, since last minute is when the crazy folks seem to come looking for employment. Jayne, thanks for the Xavier suggestion, and of course the coffee and smokes. I couldn't live without my PEET's coffee.
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