Parents, can we discuss this?

I literally cannot fathom doing this.

It feels like advertising your kids to pedos on Craigslist.

But, I have never left my kids with a babysitter and I was never left with a babysitter as a child, so my feelings on this probably aren’t typical, either.

I don’t know that I would hire someone that I literally just met that day to watch my kid. But if there was a teenager advertising babysitting services on ND and they could provide references so they could be vetted in advance of a night out I might consider that.

What surprises me equally are the people looking for a pet sitter who will stay at the people’s home while they are gone for vacation for a week or more, and said vacation is less than 2-3 weeks away. 😬 Seriously, who does that? I wouldn’t want anybody staying in my house unless I could absolutely trust them to not rob me blind or trash my place having a huge party while I was gone.

I’ve seen that happen in local Facebook selling groups. The most recent said they would interview the babysitters and other precautions and it seemed to be safer than what is described in for OP, though.

This would have never happened on my watch with my son. The only babysitters he ever had were family members with one exception. I once hired a teenage neighbor so that I could attend a one-hour evening class that I absolutely had to go to. My mom, who usually watched him for me if I had a night class, wasn't available to watch him that even9ng. He was around 3-years-old at this time. The teen had grown up in my neighborhood and I knew her family well. She was a good kid.

When I returned after class, having been away from the house for about an hour and a half, I found my front door wide open. It was already dark outside. Panicking, I called out and my son came from the kitchen with a cookie in each hand, happy as a clam with a big. grin on his face. The babysitter hadn't responded to me. I went into the kitchen which connects to the family room. I found her on the couch sound asleep. It was about 9:30 at night at this point. My son had already been fed dinner before I left for class and I had baked cookies the day before. I told her he could have one cookie since they were pretty large.

I woke her up and she said she must have just drifted off for a second. I had no idea why the front door was open and whether or not my son had gone outside alone or if someone had come to the house. The babysitter was really foggy. She left and I asked my son how long she had been sleeping and whether or not he had gone outside. He hadn't left the house and said the babysitter was asleep for most of the time that I was gone. He didn't know why the doors were open. I realized later that it had been windy and the doors probably blew open because they were not properly shut. But he did tell me that the two cookies in his hands were not the first he had eaten that night. I guess he started in on the cookies after she fell asleep. He said he just ate cookies and watched TV.

The next day the girl came to me and said that I "forgot" to pay her. I reminded her that I had hired her to "watch" my son, not to sleep on the couch. She seemed surprised that I wasn't going to pay her. I did speak to her mother who was horrified. Fortunately, we lived in a very safe neighborhood and my son wasn't one to wander off but if someone was going door-to-door selling something, who knows what could have happened,

I never had anyone other than my family watch him after that.

I was going to give them a pass on this as surely they would properly vetting anyone until I reread and it is "for tonight"! Yikes!!

Back in the dark ages, when I babysat and worked as a mother's helper, I would get new clients/families almost entirely through word of mouth. Either one family passed my name to another, or occasionally one family's regular sitter would give my name to them if they were not available, or I knew the family already somehow---neighbors, friends of the family, my parents' co-workers, church acquaintances, and so forth. Although I did answer a few ads in the very local paper from time to time. (See? The paper! Told you it was the dark ages!) But in those cases the parent(s) almost always had me over a few times while they were home to see how things went before leaving me with their children.

When my kids were small, we would be given cards from high school or college students who met us via other events/activities. It was very common to receive cards from camp counselors at the end of a camp session, or from students who taught lessons of some sort or organized events in the area. So they were always people my kids already knew.

So, for me, the idea of asking a group of random people for a sitter, hoping to use their services that very night does sound very different from what I am used to as both a sitter myself and as a parent.

Now granted we are talking about a pretty quiet and safe suburb, but it always shocks me when I see someone post on our town’s mom group FB page of someone looking for a sitter for their kids for a vacation/business trip/etc. I cannot fathom leaving my kids with a stranger overnight. Heck I am reluctant to leave them with our family 🙊.

I worked for a nanny company and worked part time so several times I got a job the day before the job.. several times sitting in a hotel room or airbnb but...
I was background checked, had certifications and experience.. and we interviewed the parents and they had to sign a contract. one couple.. I watched their two daughters in a hotel room.. they said they would come back at 11.. they kept texting and ended up coming back at 2 am...I made they pay for the taxi home.. part of the contract.
I did sit overnight for families I knew..and they knew me --and since I am in my 60's, they felt pretty comfortable that I could handle whatever went on.

I had high school kids babysit my kids.. I had three close..so I hired two teenage babysitters I had no family nearby so it was a necessity. when we traveled in asia with our toddler, we would hire a sitter through the hotel. we stayed at pretty nice hotels.

I’ve seen this in my area as well and sm amazed that people are that trusting/desperate.

My oldest DD(22) did a lot of babysitting and I can remember a couple of times when not only she went to a pre-sitting “interview” but the parents also wanted to meet me as the mom.

Uh… no.

I’m your son’s age and I wouldn’t do this for my kid.

It is incredibly hard to find a sitter these days, especially if you don’t have family nearby. I have seen Next Door used to help source names of good nannies or sitters other families recommend (not my first preference, but I understand if your circle of friends who have this info is limited), but I wouldn’t look directly for a sitter to contact me via the platform.

We’ve been lucky to have little Pancakes’ daycare teacher babysit for us, but on the days she can’t do it, we are SOL.

I can’t even imagine. 

In the dark ages, probably 1977, I babysat on NYE for a family that I had never met before. Just went with the husband, who picked me up, spent 5 or 6 hours watching their kid sleep, and then he took me home. I can’t remember now but I think they were friends of the people I usually sat for. Thinking about it now, these parents were taking a big risk!

That's a nope for me, too. If their grandparents can't watch them, then I'll re-schedule. No way I'm trusting some random stranger.

I will say that I did have to trust a random stranger for a very short couple of minutes on an airplane, but I assumed since the airline attendants were right there, nothing super bad could happen. I was very pregnant with a younger than 2 year old and I had to use the restroom and she was asleep. The elderly lady across the aisle from me could tell I was having a hard time deciding and assured me when I was back that my daughter hadn't even moved.

That a big no for me! I can’t imagine a stranger watching my kids. I don’t understand it either. A woman I follow on Instagram asked if anyone in X city was able to babysit/night sit her child this weekend. What the heck? I almost was going to do it because I know I am a safe, caring, trusting person. I don’t understand because there are care sitting agency’s that at least the sitter is fingerprinted or background check. A little safer than some random person.