babysitters

[betsystipo]

 Do you have a babysitter you trust? 

We have a babysitter we absolutely adore!  We've been using her for about 3.5 yrs now.  My twin boys are 4.5 yrs old.  The boys love her and will ask for her to come over.  At one point last year they were getting upset when we would go out.  My therapist suggested we explain to them that "Mommy and Daddy need playdates too".  I really liked that way of explaining it to kids.  They seem to grasp that concept since I encourage as many playdates as we can with their friends.  It worked and they no longer get upset.  We typically use her more in the summer bc she is away at college.  If we have something big going on like a wedding she can come home bc her school is only 1 hr away (providing we can't get family to watch the boys of course.)  We really enjoy having just a dinner out where we can have adult conversation, and then coming home to them refreshed! 

What are your thoughts?

[TruthSeeker.]

 We've never had a babysitter. My kids are 6 and4:(

[LivinDeadGurl]

We have never had one who wasn't family.

[betsystipo]

 Do you not have one bc you don't trust others to watch your kids tho or simply bc you can't find one...

[LivinDeadGurl]

We don't have one because we can't seem to find someone who is confident with four children, let alone with a special needs child.

[lenoxclan]

The only ones ever allowed to babysit my kids is family.. and only certain members at that..LOL

[betsystipo]

 One of my boys is somewhat special needs - never fully diagnosed w/ anything in particular but has lots of characteristics of many things.  She deals with him so well!  She knows how to make him feel safe when he gets upset....she just truley loves my kids and for that, we trust her and love her so much!  She's going to school to be a teacher, she'll make a great one someday!

Quoting LivinDeadGurl:

We don't have one because we can't seem to find someone who is confident with four children, let alone with a special needs child.

 

[mumsy2three]

My mom, my MIL and my teen dd are the only babysitters we use for date nights or if I have an appointment to go to. 

[Charizma77]

We have a babysitter that my kids adore and if she's not available one of my friends will watch them. My friends and I take turns watching each others kids and all kids are happy with it. However, my go-to babysitter is who watches them when we will be out late or for a long time.  She watches them for free so I can't complain. She goes to our church, her kids are grown and she asks to watch my kids. My kids adore her too. She always brings them activities and stuff to do.  My parents watch the kids any chance they get but they live almost 2 hours away so not as often as they or we would like but my kids love when they watch them!

[kimsardo]

 I have a licensed home health worker watch my son a few hours a month.

[Charli627]

I've only used family or (once) close family friends. But my first two aren't dh's so usually when they are at their dads' we take advantage of that and go out.