GPS Locator Writsband for Children

See here for the story. I guess I would be tempted to try something like this when the kids first start going places on their own.

Babysitter Options

A couple people have asked, and I have posted about this before, but it's been a while so here are two options to get babysitters:

Babysitease. Basically, this service guarantees to hook you up with a sitter for $8 an hour. There is a $50 registration fee, then you schedule the sits through their website and pay Babysitease $8 each time you schedule. Then you pay the sitter cash. We have done this several times and it has worked wonderfully. The only drawback is not really knowing who you will get as a sitter, but they have mostly been UC students and some have been excellent.

Mommy Mixer. I keep getting unwanted solicitations for this event wherein you meet potential sitters and get names and phone numbers. The next event is May 14 at 6pm. Cost is $50. We have never done this, but it might be worth a try for others.

Babysitease

Someone from the Mt. Adams moms group mentioned that they had used Babysitease. We have never used a babysitter other than relatives, and we thought we would give it a try. It costs $50 to sign up. Then it costs $8 every time you setup a new sit. Both of these charges are made to your credit card when you setup the sit online. Then you get an email giving you the name and resume of the sitter selected. Then you pay the sitter directly at the end of the night $8 per hour. It was an expensive night.

The sitters through this company appear to be college age women, and of course it would be cheaper to get neighbor / high school student, which we have considered. The problem for us with younger sitters is our dangerous neighborhood. I'm not sure too many parents want their 14 year olds going to OTR to babysit. So we will probably use Babysitease again.