Finding a Sitter Is Not Child’s Play
February 23, 2008
By Emily Parks
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Jennifer Pyne has spent the better part of her Tuesday night looking for a babysitter, without much luck. She and her husband, Greg, need someone to watch their two children, ages 3 and 1½, on a Saturday night two weeks from now and she’s afraid she’s waited too long to start calling. “It’s really hard to find an older teenager to babysit,” the Towson mother says. “As they get older, they get jobs and want to spend time with their own friends. They get active lives of their own and don’t want to babysit anymore.” Pyne says she has better luck finding younger girls to sit, but she says most people she knows prefer older teens. “I think some parents are more comfortable with a 17-year-old babysitter because they can drive,” she says. “But they are a lot harder to come by.”
Aimee Sirmon of Federal Hill also found that if she and her husband, Ron, don’t give their regular babysitter plenty of notice, they’re often out of luck. “The best way we found is scheduling her super-far in advance — like months,” she says. “If we know we have an event three months from now, we book her.” When they’ve tried to schedule the babysitter at the last minute, they’ve wound up staying home with their 20-month-old daughter.
When parents do manage to find a babysitter, the help does not come cheap. Sirmon pays $10 an hour. Pyne pays $8 an hour for a sitter to watch her two kids, but she has heard of parents who pay between $12 and $15 per hour.
According to Kay Burd, consultant at Runzheimer International, an international management consulting firm specializing in transportation, travel and living-cost information, it is not surprising that Baltimore-area parents pay relatively high rates for babysitters. In 2006, the average hourly rate for a sitter in Baltimore was $7.13, with the national average at $6.89. (Babysitting rates are based on an average hourly rate for the supervision of one 4-year-old child by a teenager in the pre-midnight evening hours.) Burd notes that, based on her preliminary review of hourly rates for 2007, babysitting costs have gone up considerably in Baltimore.
Demographics explain why teenage babysitters, especially older teens, can be so hard to find. According to U.S. Census projections for 2007, the nation has about 40 million children under 10. The population of older teens — those 15 to 19 years old — is about 21 million. There just aren’t enough of them to babysit all those little kids. And, with today’s fierce competition to get into a good college, high school students don’t have the time to babysit that they did 20 or 30 years ago. They’re often too busy with schoolwork and extracurricular activities.
Given these demographic and social forces, parents have been forced to get creative if they want to enjoy a night out now and then. Some trade babysitting services with another family; others split the cost of a babysitter with friends; yet others join babysitting co-ops.
Alexandra Clough, the mother of a 7-month-old boy, swaps babysitting duties with another mom in her Federal Hill neighborhood. “One night a month, my friend comes over while my husband and I go out,” she says. “When it’s her night out, I’ll go to her house to stay with her daughter. That way the babies are in their own beds and don’t need to go anywhere.”
Splitting the cost of a babysitter has worked well for Claudia Gerardo, also of Federal Hill. Gerardo and a neighbor, who both have 4-year-old daughters, have the babysitter come to one of their homes to babysit both girls. The two families split the $10 to $12 per hour cost. “This is great because the children play all night together,” Gerardo says.
Leeann Adams of Oakenshawe finds a babysitter for her 3-year-old son through a babysitting co-op in her neighborhood. The co-op was established as a barter system, which allows families to swap babysitting
services with no money involved. A baby-sitter banks one “baby buck” every 15 minutes for one child, with an extra buck per hour for each extra youngster. (So, if Mrs. Jones watches Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s two children for three hours, Mrs. Jones earns 15 baby bucks, which she can use when her own children need a babysitter.) New families hear about the system through word of mouth but must be voted in. They are then given a charter that outlines the barter system, as well as information on the group’s annual meeting and liability issues. “It’s worked out well,” Adams says. “I don’t have to call around for a babysitter; I just post my need on the group website and collect responses.” Social events are held regularly so members can meet.
Parents need childcare for more than just nights out. Some trade babysitting stints to achieve their fitness goals. Federal Hill mothers Kelly O’Brian Nelson, who has a 21-month-old son, and Allison Jethwa, who has a 2-year-old daughter, are both training to run a marathon. They take turns babysitting so they can go on their long training runs. Meanwhile, their children have become friends and playmates. “My son tells me he ‘misses Molly,’” Nelson says. “They really are good buddies.”
When it comes to starting a co-op or a more informal babysitting arrangement with other families, parents advise just picking up the phone. “It’s OK to call,” Nelson says. “Don’t be afraid to ask someone if they might be interested.”
For Babysitting Help, try these Online resources:
- To start a babysitting co-op, log on to www.BabySittingCoop.com, which provides information and forms for setting up a co-op.
- Websites like www.sittercity.com list babysitters in your area.
- Most neighborhood associations have a web group or an e-mail list, which often include a database of area sitters.
