With no place to turn, parents seek sitters online
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QUINCY, Mass. - When Erin Waldner moved to Hingham, Mass., about a year ago, she began asking other moms if they could recommend any babysitters for the occasional Saturday night out.
But she found her friends to be quite reluctant to share sitters.
"When other moms get really good sitters that they love, they don’t want to give them up,'' Waldner said. "People were nice about it, but a little hesitant, and I was having trouble finding people through friends.''
So Waldner turned to the Web and registered with a site called Sittercity.com, where she found a vast array of local babysitters to choose from. She has hired more than a half dozen sitters through the site.
"It made me nervous at first to go in blindly and just pick girls off the Internet,'' she said. "My son has a tree nut allergy, so I won’t leave my kids with just anyone. But I have had really good luck.''
Parents don’t have to rely only on word of mouth to find a decent babysitter to watch their children, whether it’s for a couple hours on a Friday night or for 40 hours or more during the week. The Internet has provided a quick and easy resource for parents and babysitters alike on sites like Sittercity.com and Babysitters.com.
"It can be very hard for some parents to part with their children, especially a newborn,'' said Genevieve Thiers, founder of Sittercity.com, which charges parents a $40 opening fee and $10 month-by-month fee or about $100 for the year. "However, it comes down to finding the right match. If you find the right sitter or nanny, it’s not as painful. We consider ourselves safer than using the girl next door.''