Why would a parent look for a baby sitter in this manner?

I wouldn’t do it.

In some parts of the world people are a lot more trusting of their neighbors. Whether they should be or not is another issue, but they are. And they apparently seem to feel that posting for local babysitters on the web is more or less the same as posting a “Babysitter Wanted” ad on the local grocery store bulletin board, where it would be a “strictly local” posting.

And some people just don’t care enough, unfortunately.

There are many bad parents.

Why don’t they just advertise for a pedophile and cut out the middleman? That’s insane.

I would not do that, but I have known people who would.

Anyone who does this shouldn’t be a parent. They are selfish for wanting to go out and not take the time to find trustworthy care for their children.

Never with a capital N.

I wouldn’t even leave my baby with a babysitter that’s approved by a hotel (for example, when out of town if in need of babysitting services, when the concierge has approved childcare services). I remember a few years ago, hearing about a baby that was kidnapped and what the kidnappers do is pass the baby on from one person to another in a network, so by the time the first person in the chain is found and questioned, that baby is on to the fourth or fifth (or more) person, and the first person doesn’t even know where the baby is. All that they know is that they passed the baby on to a second person. Forget it, once that happens, it’s over and it’s too late.

I don’t think networking with other parents for babysitting exchanges is a bad idea, but….not without meeting them, letting the kids hang out a bit and checking out the situation to see if it is a blend. I certainly wouldn’t leave my child with anyone I didn’t know well yet.
Wanting to go out and have a life aside from the kids is not selfish, however, pawning your kids off on strangers is not very responsible.

I used to babysit years ago when my daughter was small and couldn’t believe how irresponsible some parents were. Showing up hours late, not calling, leaving their kids hours beyond the agreement, etc. I couldn’t handle it after awhile, it was just sad how sleazy some parents are.

@Coloma I agree. When I was a teenager and baby sat for neighbors, they cheated me several times until I just refused to babysit any more. They would be going out with another couple and bring the other couples kids in without having asked and never paying me more. They said they would come back by midnight and it would be 2 or 3 in the morning. The last time I baby sat for them they came in drunk and said they didn’t have any cash, they would pay me the next day. They didn’t and I was too shy (then) to ask for it, but I never went back after that.

@chyna @Coloma I can’t think of any time when baby sitting that the parents did such things. I didn’t realize how lucky I was. I baby sat a lot when I was younger. They were all friends of my parents, or neighbors.

@chyna: I would have enlisted my parents’ help in your situation. My mom or both parents would have gone to the family and asked for my pay, on my behalf.

Yeah, can’t remember now why I didn’t.

OMG, the horror stories I could share about jerk off parents. The single dad that roped me into babysitting his kindergarten daughter, my daughters classmate, and left her til 1–2 am on school nights til I told him that I could no longer babysit. I felt so bad for this little girl, she’s probably a stripper now. lol

The nutcase parents that had me babysit their little boy but would not allow me to give him dinner during our dinner hour, sooo, I had to either wait til 7pm or feed the poor kid a little snack while my daughter had her dinner.

The neighbors that brought me their two little girls with the stomach flu and didn’t tell me until 10 minutes after they left and both little girls were vomiting and having diarrhea all over my house, and yep, my daughter came down sick the next day too. Grrrr!

The sleazy mom that would leave her 4 yr. old son with me for DAYS, and I went out and bought him clothes and a toothbrush and sandles because she would just disappear.

Shall I go on? lol

@Coloma: the sleazy mom sounds like a crack head.

@jca Yep, I figured that out after a few of her disappearances. Bah!

@Coloma: What became of her and her child?

@jca I don’t know, this was 30 years ago, and I cringe to think of what happened to that little boy. Once, the mom had been gone for several days and she called me, but didn’t even want to talk to her little boy. He KNEW I was on the phone with her and when his mom refused to talk with him he just fell to the floor in a heap crying his little eyes out.
It was the most HORRIBLE moment, but I like to think my caring and kindness made a little difference during that year or so I watched him. :-(

Craziness.

@Coloma That poor little boy was blessed to have you in his life even for a short period of time. Hopefully, it showed him there are people out there who care and stick around.

@Coloma, wow. Did you ever call Social Services and tell them about any of this stuff?

Those kids were very lucky, indeed, to have you there.

Because they’re callous fuckers who have no business having kids.
When you have children your life changes, for the better, deal with it or keep your legs shut!

@cazzie Yes, I did, but I have no idea if anything came of it.

I would never hire a babysitter that I found online or on some store message board. Do you have any idea what sort of monsters could be home with your children while you’re out having a good time? If a close friend or family member can’t watch my kids, then I either take the kids with me or I don’t go out. That simple.

I would never do that.