There are going to be plenty of times when you will need someone to take care of your kids on short notice. Unless you have already made arrangements with your regular sitter for circumstances like this, you may find yourself making phone call after phone call trying to locate someone at the last minute. Your job may be one reason you are frantically scrambling to find a sitter-perhaps you have been asked to work a little longer, and your regular childcare person has to leave at a certain time. You may be called in to work on your day off-and that call usually comes very early in the morning. Your sitter has already made other plans, so you are pretty much ‘stuck.’ Your child may be sent home from school because he or she doesn’t feel well, and you can’t get away from work. What do you do?
These are tough situations for any parent, and unless you have a friend or relative who is willing to pitch in at the last minute to help you out, you are going to need someone who is available any time of the day or night. There are several services available that cater to this particular situation, and you should consider signing up at one of them.
On call childcare is needed more than you might imagine, especially when many people have had their hours cut and work when they can, or find themselves working on a ‘per diem’ basis. This means that they don’t really know when they will be called in, and many times it is a last minute request that they can’t afford to turn down. Having someone who can be there within a very short time can be a huge relief.
Once you register at a site that offers on call services, you can choose which candidate you wish to interview. There are several advantages to using a site like this, and one of them is that the service has already done a background check on the potential employee. Another good thing is that each person is normally required to have first aid training, which is definitely a plus and also helps put parents at ease. You will be able to peruse the website at your leisure, read the profiles of each person, and check for experience and reliability before making any contact. All of the registrants are available to work when you need them regardless of time, and can very often be at your home within minutes of receiving your call if they are in the immediate area. Others may require a little more time for travel, but can also be there quickly.
This situation works well for you as well as the person you hire. Many times he or she only wants to work occasionally, and on call child care fits comfortably into their lifestyle. You will see that each person on the site has the hours they are available listed, so you may even have two or more people you can depend on if your hours are very irregular. For example, there may be a sitter who can only work during the evening, and one who is available during just the daytime. If your hours fluctuate or are varied, this means that you are covered no matter when you have to work. On call child care is a win-win situation all around. It makes your life much less stressful, you don’t have to be constantly worried about who will take care of the kids if you get called out, and you won’t have to wake them up in the middle of the night to drag them to a babysitter. They can rest undisturbed at home, and probably won’t even realize you are gone. Everyone is happy.
Go online to do some research and take a look at the various sites that offer this service. Consider all the qualifications each person has listed and do call any references they have given. If you are satisfied with what you learn, schedule an interview and talk to him or her face-to-face to determine if they are a good fit for your circumstance. Always take the time to learn all you can by asking questions-don’t grab the first person that comes along just because they are available for the hours you need them.