Back to school is an exciting time for both parents and children: new friends, new clothes, new notebooks; but what can not be too exciting is the prospect of finding a new nanny or babysitter. Back to school is the time of year when, due to sitters going off to college and changing schedules, hundreds of thousands of parents across the nation are left scrambling to find safe and effective child care. But if parents act now, they can have a smooth transition. Sittercity.com, America's largest and most trusted online source for nannies and babysitters, offers the following tips to find the perfect sitter for fall:
Tip One: Start Early - The best time to start searching for a "replacement sitter" is before you lose your current sitter. Post your babysitting job on Sittercity.com a month before your regular sitter goes to college. This will allow adequate time to identify and screen new candidates, check references and run background checks. Even better, this will afford you time to have your regular sitter train your new sitter on the ins and outs of the job.
Tip Two: Write Out a Schedule - Back to school is a busy time for families, so it's important to work with your new sitter to create a written schedule clearly outlining the job times, children's activities and general responsibilities. Include details such as the pick-up/drop-off times at your children's school, where to pick the children up, when they should start homework, what time they need to be at soccer, etc.
Tip Three: Cover the Details - Before your new sitter starts, make sure you have thought through all of the details and provided her with everything she needs to make the job run smoothly. For instance, if she will be driving your car, be sure to add her to your insurance and get her a key. Also, make sure the sitter has a cell phone and that you know the number, in case she needs to reach you or vice-versa.
Tip Four: Plan Check-Ins - Once you have prepared your new babysitter for the job, schedule regular check-ins to make sure everything's running on schedule. Check-ins are great on a regular basis, but very important in the beginning of a relationship when the sitter is new to the job and experiencing a learning curve. If you establish these meetings regularly, you'll have a clear line of communication and any problems or schedule changes can be dealt with quickly and efficiently.
With Sittercity.com, parents have full access to hundreds -- even thousands -- of local quality babysitters and nannies in their neighborhood, all with detailed profiles that feature their experience, background checks, references, reviews and photos. Parents can either search for the perfect sitter using a wide range of caregiver criteria or post a job so the most qualified caregivers come directly to them. So now's the time for parents to get ahead of the back-to-school scramble and start setting up their Fall child care today.
About Sittercity.com
Sittercity.com, the inventor of online caregiving, is America's largest and most trusted online source for babysitters, nannies, pet sitters, senior care, housesitting, housekeeping and tutoring. Sittercity has a network of more than a million caregiver profiles nationwide, and helps families and individuals across America find the perfect in-home care provider quickly, easily and safely. Sittercity's care seekers can use the company's four-step screening process, which includes checking references, reading caregiver reviews, conducting interviews and utilizing free access to background checks. Sitter profiles also come with photos, experience, training, safety skills, availability calendars, reviews and more. Sittercity's Corporate Program now serves a number of marquee clients, including Avon, MasterCard, FOX Networks, Pitney Bowes and Monster Worldwide. For more information, visit the company Web site at http://www.sittercity.com.
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Sittercity.com, the Chicago based Web site that links babysitters, dog walkers and other care providers to customers, has won a contract from the Department of Defense to provide service members and their families free access to the site.
Sittercity.com founder and CEO Genevieve Thiers declined to release the financial terms of the one-year contract, which is eligible for renewal for four more years. But even if the Chicago-based company received only a penny for every active duty member and reservist, the contract would still be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Consumers are typically charged a $39.99 signup fee for a monthly membership and $9.99 per month. This contract, however, came out of Sittercity's corporate division. Launched in Jan. 2008, its goal is to persuade companies to add the site as an employee benefit, much like healthcare or a 401(k).
