Conference moira::parenting

    Other than family members, I have had luck with children of co-workers
    here at DEC.  Additionally, I belong to a mom's group where I made a
    friend.  Between the four parents we swap taking care of each other's 
    kids so parents can have evenings out.

Do you know other people in your neighborhood with young children?  If so,
ask them for recommendations.

    I have 2 semi-regular babysitter.  One is a 42 year old woman (a friend
    of a friend) who is permenantly disabled with diabetes.  We use her the
    most since we need her most when the kids are sick and can't go to
    daycare.
    
    The other is a 16 year old teenager from my church.  I know a bit about
    her family and her situation.  I know that she must earn her own money
    for doing extra activities and is always looking for babysitting jobs.
    
    Irene

    We try to keep two or three babysitters on an "active" list and
    rotating the jobs so that they know that we're still interested in
    hiring them and won't think we're not because we haven't called in 
    awhile. When those two or three babysitters aren't available, we'll ask
    them for the names and numbers of some of their friends (although we
    haven't had much luck actually getting the friends to sit unless
    they're at home at the time of the call and available at that time). If
    you belong to a church/synagogue, you could try placing an ad in the
    church/synagogue bulletin or talking to other members (it's another
    good place because the babysitter probably lives nearby). I'll second
    the suggestion that you ask around for Digital co-workers who might
    live nearby and have children (we've had luck there too).
    
    One other suggestion for finding sitters in the fall months is
    Halloween. I keep a pad of paper and a pen near the door that night so
    that if any potential sitters happen by, I can get their names and
    numbers. I'll hire them if I can do some checking on them (through
    neighbors or my other sitters -- schools aren't usually cooperative in
    this area) or I don't call them if I can't. I've had some good sitters
    over the years who I've met at the door on Halloween!
    
    On last suggestion might be any colleges or private school near your
    house. Babysitters above high school age are usually more expensive,
    but they're your best bet for weeknights or late nights on weekends.
    
    Good luck!
    
    Nancy-

    re: the Halloween recruiting - novel approach.  But since Halloween is
    a bit far off to offer immediate relief, how about asking the kids who
    come to the door for fund raisers?

    I'm in the same bind ... looking for someone 40+ hours/week starting in
    June.  Any feedback from folks on positive or negative experience with
    newspaper ads?  

    I used the newspaper to locate a "live-out" nanny.  In my experience,
    it was very effective.  The first couple of days I received very few
    phone calls, but once my ad hit the weekend (fri-sat-sun), the calls
    came flying in.  I also used the Family Resource program that Digital
    has for suggestions on questions to ask Nanny's, sample contracts, and
    samples of what information to put in a newspaper ad as well as how to
    go about doing your own background checking.
    
    My suggestions:
    
    	- Be specific (i.e. care for xx kids needed, must have own
    			transportation, non-smoker, etc....)
    	- Do phone screening  (use your own instincts)
    	- When checking out references remember that other people may have
          different standards than you have  (i.e. one woman gave a bad
          reference because she didn't want her kids to watch any t.v.,
          while I would never be able to cook dinner without
          Winnie-the-Pooh!)
    
    
    Good luck!
    
    /kmu

    I had a similar experience as the previous noter.  I ran an ad in the
    local paper which was very specific.  I ran the ad for 2 weeks.  All of
    the applicants who called met the criteria in the ad.  My husband and I
    had a list of phone screening questions.  We interviewed most of the
    callers.  We had a form with specific scenarios on it for each
    interview and we filled out the form after each applicant left.  CHECK
    the references.  We had two candidates which seemed great.  The
    references on one didn't check out to be reliable/dependable.  This was
    very important to us.  Our current nanny is wonderful.
    

    When you say you ran the ad for several days, or a couple of weeks,
    what type of newspaper did you run it in?  For instance, I get
    the Boston Globe, but that doesn't seem the type of paper I'd
    want an ad like this in.  We have a local weekly newspaper that
    might be better, but I don't think we really have a local daily.
    
    Looking for future advice in case I ever need to do this (current nanny
    is great, and she is a neighbor who approached me when I became 
    pregnant, saying she wanted to quit her job and become my nanny!).
    
    Jennie

    Wow, that's great that your neighbor approached you. It's hard to
    put your trust in someone who you don't really know after hearing
    about all those "horror" stories on the news with nannys slapping
    kids and stuff.
    
    As far as the newspaper ads go, I used the local paper which is
    sent out daily and a "county" newspaper (i.e. middlesex county has
    the Middlesex news for each region, worcester county has the telegram
    and gazette, etc...).
    
    /kmu

    I ran it in our local weekly paper, the Melrose Free Press.