Where do you find (very) part-time or occasional babysitters?
Does anyone have some good East Bay resources (for reference, I'm in El Cerrito) to post jobs or find occasional babysitters? I have been using Sittercity.com, but finding that most of that site is geared toward identifying career nannies. I need to find regular, after work childcare for a couple hours, a couple days a week.. are there message boards for local community colleges or the universities that anyone has found successful? Other sites? Or is it all word-of-mouth and friends-of-friends? TIA for any ideas.
[Moderator note] The listing "Nannies & Sitters available" on BPN's website contains posts from babysitters currently offering care - BPN has more than 350 nanny subscribers and 200 college students who subscribe. Parents can also post a message to the listing to look for childcare.
Parent Replies
I've used the app urban sitter to do occasional date night babysitting. It does have a fee, I can't remember how much. Now that I've found a great sitter of the app, we just use her each time since shes typically available.
Care.com and UrbanSitter are similar. I haven't been on them in a while but I think they typically skew toward folks looking for occasional babysitting (vs. career gigs). I wonder if the balance has tipped over the past year due to COVID (former career nannies lost their jobs when parents went remote and went on those sites to look for new ones; occasional babysitters dropped off because fewer people were hiring for that). Hopefully it swings back in the coming months!
I would also suggest posting your specific needs (hours, days) to both BPN and to the Bananas childcare forum if you haven't already.
Hi! I got a great list from the Kensington Community center, all had been counselors at summer camps in years past. So far every sitter on the list has been great.