Friends and community resources can help you find last minute babysitting when your regular sitters are unavailable.
This past weekend was a three-day spring holiday weekend in Canada, and I had two tickets to a fun-looking event that involved drinking, dancing and hanging out with several friends we hadn't seen in a long time. But we're parents now, and both of our families live too far away to babysit. Bringing our daughter with us was definitely not an option, so we needed to find a babysitter - fast.
Finding good childcare can be tough. Children are small but important little people, with sensitive and ever-changing natures. It's always a bit of a gamble trying out a new caregiver, especially if you're not going to be around to see them interact with your child. We called our old babysitter, who is now busy with other pursits. I sent out some feelers to check if other folks we knew were interested, but came back with nothing.
In the end our friends knew of a couple who lived nearby and weren't going out that night. So, with five hours before the event we managed to confirm that yes, we had a babysitter! We felt confident trusting this couple since we'd met them before and we knew we could rely on the recommendation of our friends.
Even though I was prepared to accept that we might not be able to go out together that night, our network of friends and community resources pulled through for us once again and the perfect last minute babysitter arrived at our doorstep. Phew! What luck. :)
