Last-Minute Babysitter

Find Quality Childcare, Even if You're Down to the Wire

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

I am having a babysitter problem: our town has a serious shortage. I've tried to enlist all the neighborhood teenagers to babysit my two children when my husband and I want (or have) to go out by ourselves, but they have such busy social lives that we need to give them a week's notice to do anything!

Are there alternatives to the neighborhood kids? Their first priorities are clearly not earning $10 an hour watching kids. We're going crazy!

Sincerely,

Stuck at Home Mom

Dear Stuck at Home Mom,

The best way to make sure you have last-minute child care is to plan ahead. I know -- it sounds counterintuitive, but if you have a plan for getting last-minute sitters, you'll be able to get them when you have, well, last-minute plans!

Here are four tips for setting up a back-up plan before you need it:

1. Collect a pool of babysitters. Keep a file somewhere in your kitchen with this list of babysitters, their names, multiple phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and references.

2. Share your babysitter pool with your friends and neighbors, and collect from them, too.

3. Consider a babysitting agency for emergencies. Ask around in advance for what agencies your friends and neighbors like. Ask your child’s pediatrician and your child’s school teachers.

4. Keep a group of friends and neighbors who will care for your child in emergencies — and pay it forward with them. Be pro-active about taking care of their kids BEFORE you need help, so you can call in a favor with less guilt.

When you and your husband finally manage that desperately-needed night out, check out Romantic Date Ideas, a guide of fun and creative things you can do together to keep your relationship new, no matter how many kids (and babysitters!) you have.

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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