For those of you who use babysitters.. A couple of ?

Ok - It's time.

I need to find someone to watch DS who is NOT my mom - who I won't feel guilty about leaving him with if I'm running 1/2 hour late.

The receptionist at our pedi office lives a few houses away from us and she has a 15 year old daughter that I'm considering...... I'm gonna see if she wants to come play with DS first for an hour or soo - just to see how they interact.

How old was your DC when you left them with a babysitter for the first time?

How old is the babysitter that you used? (I'm not looking for rec's - I live up in Massachusetts.)

If it's a teenager - did you set any ground rules? (Like, no friends, cell phone calls, computer)

Thanks so much. I'm a nervous wreck about this but I know it needs to get done soon. I love my mom and she's great with him but she has her own schedule sometimes and there are days where I have to go get some stuff done and it'd be SO much easier if I didn't have DS with me.

Re: For those of you who use babysitters.. A couple of ?

I've only used two non-immediate family members as sitters --- one is DH's cousin who is 19 and the other is a young woman who used to work at the kids' daycare center (she's 23, I think).

We didn't set rules, but I guess we could/should have. Both young ladies have boyfriends but it was mutually understood that our children would be played with (ie walks to the beach, play outside on the swingset, ride the toy car things in the backyard)-- which meant there'd be no time for boyfriends. We asked them not to watch TV, but we so rarely get a sitter that it was OK with both DH and me that if they were desperate they could put on some Thomas shows we had DVR'd. (Thankfully, DS still considered Thomas shows to be a special treat).

Personally, I wouldn't go any younger than 16, but it really depends on the kids being watched and the maturity level of the babysitter. For ex., I was at the beach this morning and saw two teenage girls watching two different sets of children. One sitter seemed fantastic -- I saw her put sunscreen on the kids, lay out the blankets, position the blankets in a way that she could see the playground AND the beach, and she was talking to the kids nicely but firmly.

Another sitter (who seemed the same age as the nice one above), left her charges alone on the playground, left the stroller about 100 yards away from where the kids were playing, was texting frequently. Obviously these two sitters don't have the same maturity level.

I must say I noticed this because I'm trying to keep my eyes out for another part-time sitter for the summer -- maybe it was me being too nosey, but the kids who were left alone on the playground made me nervous so I kept watching where the sitter was.

Sorry for the long reply - my goodness!! HTH.

Re: For those of you who use babysitters.. A couple of ?

We normally use my MIL, but we do have an occassional babysitter.

I will not use a teenager, it's just not my within my comfort level. DD does go to daycare 2 days a week, and two of the teachers in her class babysit after hours/weekends. So we use one of her teachers who also happens to live 2 blocks from us.