Top Ten Tuesday – Get a Sitter

I have friends with family hanging around their houses, begging to take their kids for the afternoon, or the evening, or the weekend.  They never have to get a sitter because there is always someone close by to babysit.  My husband and I don’t have the luxury (and if you do – I hope you realize it is indeed a luxury!) because we don’t have a ton of family nearby. We occasionally are able to make arrangements to drop our kids off and run out for a while, but for the most part we have to rely on other resources.

The good thing is that there are a ton.  Some are Grand Rapids specific, but not all.  Even so, look in your area and this will at least give you some ideas of where to start your search.  Here are the Top Ten Babysitting Childcare Resources:

1. Date Nights at the YMCA.  This is DA BOMB.  Our kids love it and we know they are having tons of fun while they’re there.  It’s $30 for both kids and I think $40 for two kids if you aren’t a member, plus a few bucks for pizza.  They play games and play for 5 hours which, as it turns out, is enough time to get a few drinks in early and recover nicely by the time you have to go get the kids.  In case you were wondering.
2. Care4hire one of the online databases that reference checks its babysitters.  There is a monthly fee for the service. Can I just say: step away from Craigslist? I know it’s free, and you can pay for your own reference check but at some point it has to be cheaper just to have it done.  Plus, I dunno.  The whole thing with the, um, other services provided by people on Craigslist is creeping me out a little.  I mean; whatever pays the bills but I am just not sure I want to find my babysitter from the same source.
3. Nannies4hire.com like Care4hire but on a more ongoing basis.  Some of the nannies might take a babysitting job if the nanny business is slow, too.
4. Care.com has reviews of sitters written by other parents.  In our area anyway, there are more registered caregivers on this site than the other ones of its kind.
5. Sittercity.com is like the others above in that you pay a fee for the service, but they are having a sale through September and you can get 15% off with the code “TAKE15“.
6. Gymco.  This is similar to the YMCA in that you drop your kids off and they have a ton of fun, but it is a little more expensive.  Still, it’s a gym for kids – it’s as much a treat for them as date night is for you.
7. Gymboree. Like Gymco and the YMCA but more expensive and less frequent with their Parents Nights Out.  Also, this is for the younger set – the upper age of kids that can be dropped off is six.  But still – a complete blast for the kids.
8. College kids.  We have Aquinas, Calvin, Davenport, Kuyper, and Grand Rapids Community College here.  All of them have thousands of students and more importantly (to us), a career center that posts off campus jobs, such as babysitting.  Be prepared; I can’t believe how good kids are at negotiating these days.
9. Naked Plates, a pottery painting studio has a date night event occasionally.  I’ve never done it because, well, if you’ve met my kids you’d understand.  A.P. anyway.  Leaving him in a studio with a bunch of breakable items is not a good move.
10. Great Start Connect.  This is a re-format of what used to be Kent Regional 4C, a free database of all licensed childcare providers.  I don’t need to write any more about this; because it’s already been covered brilliantly in this article.

This post is rife with affiliate links; and is also submitted to Top Ten Tuesday at Oh Amanda.