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The Babysitter’s Club
Babysitting Services in Calgary
Whether it’s for a date night with your beloved, or a chick flick with the girls, you deserve a break every once in a while. To make sure you get a night off, we found some local babysitting resources that will ensure your angels are well cared for in your absence.
For the latest in babysitting trends, try a speed date before you go out. Lullabyleaguesitters.com holds regular events to introduce babysitters to parents in a speed-dating scenario. Parents pay a $50 registration fee to attend the event and meet babysitters in a four-minute mini interview. You also receive a file of resumes at the end of the night, and you can contact any of your favourites whenever you need. Mixers are held regularly in Calgary (and Airdrie in early 2012).
Another one of our favourite sites for sitters is canadiannanny.ca. For $80, you receive three months of access to a database of local babysitters. You’ll see their experience, rate expectations and the neighbourhood they live in. You can also post your own job description and wait for potential candidates to contact you, or just contact your preferred sitter directly.
Starting a babysitting circle with the women in your moms group is an excellent way to stay in touch with each other, and save the expense of paying for a babysitter at the end of an evening out. It works with coupons, representing hourly and half-hour time blocks so you can exchange the coupons instead of cash. The rules can be as simple as having the kids already tucked up in bed before the parents leave and a glass of wine waiting for the sitter.
When a member wishes to leave the group, they must hand back the same number of coupons that they started with to ensure that the arrangement works fairly. The benefits of a babysitting circle are obvious, but we like the fact that if anybody does get up, then there is a friendly face that the kids recognize to settle them back down and read them a bedtime story.
Everyone is tucked in and safe now. It’s your turn to go out and play. Tested by Fiona H., Calgary
First published 2011.12.08
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