Dear babysitter: do you drive, bike, bus, or walk?
Summer is here, and I have been screening many-a-babysitter to help even out our summer between camps, off-weeks, and vacations. One of my standard questions is: "do you bike?" and "have you biked with kids alongside before?"
Recently, we had our neighbor-recommended sitter over. She biked to the community center to fetch our two older kids, the biked home with them. I relayed this to our neighbor, and she was surprised. "Oh! She always asks for a ride home, so we usually drive her home." I speculated that it may be because I never did offer a ride home, and I explicitly asked her to pedal over to fetch our kids, who would also be riding their bikes home (it was in the neighborhood, on streets that our kids were very, very familiar with riding, about 1.5 miles away).
I thought about the many advertisements I have seen for babysitters that highlight "clean driving record" or "have valid driver's license and car". While we do have a car, we have never felt comfortable letting a sitter drive our kids around. We feel safer if they were to - in order of preference - walk, take the bus, or bike to outings (only if they are regular bikers). I started to wonder: is that so unusual? Do you typically ask your regular sitter to drive, bike, bus, or walk with the kids, when they are off to outings and activities?
We don't require that our nanny have a car or drive, and when we posted an opening on UM, we specified that it was for "two car-free families." She currently takes the bus an hour to our house - I'd love to help her bike since it would take half the time, but I don't want her to feel pressured. I would feel pretty crappy if I required our nanny to drive a car when I don't do it myself! Luckily we are in a very bus and walking friendly location.
Posted by: Jessica Roberts | July 20, 2010 at 11:46 AM
Ours walks or buses with our kids and doesn't own a car (or ride a bike). She said she's had problems getting a job in the past because people want her to be able to drive.
Posted by: jc | July 20, 2010 at 11:53 AM
I feel comfortable with sitters driving my kids, especially if I know they have a safe driving record. I feel more uncomfortable with the car seat situation. I worry that sitters (like grandparents) don't have car seats installed properly. In fact, I just bought my father-in-law a new car seat when I got a look at the one he had been using for the past several weeks. The thing must be 15 years old! I should have gotten a good look at it much, much sooner.
Posted by: SJ | July 20, 2010 at 05:34 PM
As a single mother living alone with my 5 year old, any babysitter I would hire would be required to provide their own transportation, or else I would have to wake up my kid in order to drive him/her home. Therefore, since driving babysitters are more expensive babysitters, I have not once hired a babysitter, and relied on friends for evening childcare.
Posted by: Debby | July 21, 2010 at 02:47 PM