How old's your child before you entrust him/her to a babysitter?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Inspired by this thread, but from the other side of the fence…

Some may remember that Bricker Jr was born in September of last year. He’s ten months old, and crawling around the house like a … a … well, like a ten month old crawling baby. He pulls himself up to stand next to anything vertical and taller than he is, and if anything is visible and movable, he’s got to grab it and play with it. Step one of the playing, of course, is the taste test.

My wife gave me a dour look when, after watching her battle to get our son to eat his evening meal, I suggested we simply place it on the floor or a table, since he will be absolutely guaranteed to eat it if he finds it there.

Anyway, we’re lucky in that we live close to my mom, and she’s been willing to come over for short stints to watch the baby while we go to church, or to a Knights’ event, etc. But my mom is 75, and she doesn’t have the energy to keep up with this whirling bundle of energy for longer than three or four hours. As a result, we take him with us on a lot of longer errands, and forgo entirely things like the opera.

This fall, La Boheme will be here in DC. Now, I’ve seen La Boheme a zillion times… but I really want to make it a zillion-and-one, and Mrs. Bricker has never seen it. Also this fall, the Knights have a special, reserved-all-to-ourselves day at Kings Dominion. I’m not too old to be want to to this. But both of these events longer than we thik my mom can handle Bricker Jr.

So… the question: how old was your child when you entrusted his/her care to a babysitter? How did you find the babysitter, and ensure that said babysitter wasn’t a psychopathic arsonist chainsawing menace? How did you convince your spouse to trust a stranger with your youngster?

Help.

  • Rick
2

Me and the wife are in the same boat. Miller is now ten months old also. We have only left him alone with his Grandmothers, and only once at their home. We have decided to just take him with us everwhere, and since he is the perfect child, we have been able to do this. We decided to only leave him with Grannys or maybe my sister-in-law (and I’m not fully comfortabe with this) for the forseeable future. I can’t imagine leaving him with anybody else for a very long time.

WOW! What a “non-answer” to the OP! I’m a complete waste of bandwidth, me!

She said she loved me like a brother. She’s from Arkansas, hence the Joy!

3

My son was one year old in late March.

Between my mother (this is the first grandbaby and the first boy in the family) and my five sisters, it’s usually not hard to find someone to watch him for me when I need a sitter. And he’s actually been spending every other Saturday night at my mom’s since he was only a couple months old. That way, she gets her Busha fix, and I get to have some semblance of a social life.
So obviously, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with leaving the kid behind and enjoying a little adult time. IMO it’s actually quite a necessity when it comes to new parents retaining their sanity.

As for finding a sitter cold–ask around. I know I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving babybella with someone unless I’d heard good things about them from someone I trust. Does anyone you work with have teenage kids who babysit? Are there neighbors with small children? Ask them who they use. If there’s a university in your area, the infant development or education departments might even be able to give you a couple names.

And perhaps you could start small to ease the transition. Have the sitter come once the baby’s already down for the night, so the wife can adjust to leaving him behind without stressing too much over how he’s taking it. Work your way from there, and before you know it you’ll be watching La Boheme and feeling like a real live grown-up again. :slight_smile:

bella

4

Kid Elf is 18 months old. Until she was a year, we only left her with the grandparents or her daycare provider. Since then, a couple of friends from work have babysat for her. Both are women in their late twenties/early thirties that are good friends and have plenty of experience with children.

I’m actually more comfortable leaving her with them than with my parents, who aren’t as capable of running after an active toddler.

I’ve put off finding a teenage babysitter. One of my work friends who has babysat has a 17 year old niece who lives near me and who she says is very responsible. Still, I just can’t seem to bring myself to call her.

So, I guess I understand how you’re feeling. I wouldn’t leave her with someone I didn’t know very well, or who I didn’t feel could handle an emergency situation. Do you have any adult friends you would feel comfortable having watch your bambino?

5

Ten months? I was a very popular babysitter when I was in high school and watched infants as young as three months.

I relied on word of mouth–I started sitting when I was 13 and had completed a babysitting training course at the local hospital (basic first aid as well as what to expect developmentally from kids) as well as Red Cross first aid & CPR courses for infants & children. That was a big reassurance for my initial clients.

Just caught sight of something in the OP–you appear to live in DC. So do I! Seriously, if you want to work something out, let me know–I can easily supply references and I’m no longer a teenager :slight_smile:

6

What helps Airman and me out is that we’re going to be living near his family, which means Gramma and Grampa and aunts, uncles, cousins, great-grandparents, Uncle Zappo, and other assorted people. So there’s no reason for us to worry about a sitter, because Aaron will be among familiar people anyway.

And until then, I’m going to be living with my parents, so at least I can nap and stuff and not have to worry (unless he gets hungry; I’m planning to nurse).

Robin

7

I never actually had to find a babysitter- between parent’s ,siblings and assorted relatives (including some much younger cousins) we’ve only had to go outside of family twice in 12 years - my best friend once and his the other. But when I think of who I babysat for as a teenager, aside from the much younger cousins, it was usually the children of my mother’s coworkers, who didn’t actually know me, but knew my mother and that she lived close to their homes in case of emergency.

8

If you are worried about leaving your darling with some potential wack-job, what you can do is have the sitter and Grandma. That way the sitter is there to keep up with your baby, and Grandma is there to keep an eye on the sitter.

Twiddle

9

The only people I trust, at the moment, with my kid is family members. If a family member can’t watch WV_Toddler, then we either take her with us or don’t go.

I don’t know anyone in this area who has enough of my trust to hand her over to them for a few hours.

10

Baby Kate was two months when she started daycare.

And we first left her with the grams at about 7 months. But we’ve only done it a few times all told.