Moms: Gordon College and WVIS Good Ways to Find Babysitters

Hamilton-Wenham Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in Hamilton and Wenham.

Each week in , local mothers take your questions, give advice and share solutions.

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in to read this week's question. Below is how local mothers answered, but we want to hear from you. Leave a comment in the comment box below and share your thoughts.

Question: This week on Patch we have the , which brings up the questions:

What are the best ways locally to find a trustworthy and reliable babysitter? How/where have you found a reliable babysitter? What are some things to look out for and ask about when selecting a babysitter?

If your children babysit themselves, where do they find work?

: The best way to find a sitter is through friends and neighbors. We often swap care with other families - our son would rather be with friends than home alone with a sitter. We have also had great luck with students.

: Although I haven’t used a babysitter for about seven years, when I did use them, I was always fortunate to find reliable babysitters from or from the youth at our church. At that time, you could post a help wanted ad on Gordon College’s website.

As far as what to look for - someone who enjoys children, has younger brothers or sisters and reliable. Although having someone to babysit who went through a program such as the Red Cross Babysitting Program was always nice, I wasn’t as concerned about that as much as I was for someone who could call 911 under pressure since we live in a community with great first responders!

My 13-year-old daughter is just starting to babysit and to help her find jobs, I’ve been telling friends with younger children and younger moms that I meet through work that she is available. Another way for the youth to find babysitting jobs is to get involved with one of our local park programs during the summer.

: The provides a list of councilors and CITs interested in babysitting. Since they work with the kids and know them, I cherish that list. It's a great benefit to the program.

We also like to use high school students that live in the neighborhood or older siblings of our kids’ friends. When my kids were very little, I posted on the Gordon College website.

The best babysitters like to play with the kids and leave the house cleaner than you left it. That's a rare find!

: Easy answer for me - I use www.gordon.edu and “Post a Job.”

The kids we have found from Gordon have all been wonderful. We hire babysitters, lawn/gardening help, painting, moving furniture and more. I highly recommend this option. I also have heard of myhometownlink.com. I don't have any reviews about it but it looks great!