Does anybody have any experiences to share on using a baby sitter service like kidsline.me or other similar ones? My area has a whole bunch of sitters available on that site at what I find very reasonable prices (though I’m assuming there’s some hidden fees that will pop up once you register, as always). Has anybody used it? Any thoughts on it?
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I’ve used it just for a drop off service. The money adds up with the sitter’s time fees, such as charging extra before 9am, and their transportation fees.
It’s a process to set up. Kidsline will ask for photos and other information to make sure you ain’t a bot.
Once that is done, you’ll get access to their sitters. You can put an ad out or reach out to the sitters, I believe.
I’m not sure if it’s required, but in all likelihood you’ll set up an online face chat for an interview. That’s when you can talk about transportation fees and other duties.
Good luck! The last time I used it, the sitter was 1400 yen an hr. By the end, it cost around 2900 in total due to fees.
Leaving small children alone with a stranger seems like a bad idea, even if that stranger holds some sort of license. Personally I would never even consider it.
I used to work for a similar company. I still do babysitting, but I left the company just because I had too many regular families and couldn’t take on any more.
They may charge you a subscription fee so that they don’t have to take any money from the sitters’ compensation, although I’m not sure about this website. You normally also cover the cost of transport for the babysitter as well.
As for the vetting process, the company I used (not this one) was shockingly minimal in my opinion. Just a few questions about ever harming children physically or sexually or having the desire to. I’m not sure if they did further background checks; I wouldn’t know if they did or not.
If you are concerned about safety, which any good babysitter would encourage you to be, most of us (speaking for myself and my friends from the company) will offer to meet in person 1-2x, for no charge, to get acquainted with the child with the parents present. Then they are free to make their decision from there.
I checked the site, and there’s an option to rate the sitter. Always check the ratings, parents have the opportunity to tell the truth about the sitter in the comments of the reviews.
I know from my experience and others that higher rates mean better sitters. I had to raise my rates from ¥1500/hr for one child to ¥2500/hr after a year because the demand was a bit too much for me to manage (you’ll typically see less experienced/rated sitters with lower rates).
Anyway, that’s all I can come up with off the top of my head but if you want more details let me know!
I haven’t used it, but I absolutely would provided:
1) The person provided some references to talk to (beyond starred reviews or whatever system is set up on the site)
2) I knew the person or was connected in a friend-of-a-friend way, and could do my own “background check” by asking around about them, or
3) I knew another parent that used that sitter, and they gave me some info about their experience.
Ideally, the sitter would have some sort of first aid certification at the least. If living in a college or university town, I might prioritize a student of a school program that will work with kids and requires some sort of criminal records check to be employed or to attend school (like a teaching, early childhood education, or nursing student, etc.)
If good experiences resulted with the sitter, I’d probably move things to coordinate off-app for 3rd and beyond babysitting uses.
As a Canadian woman who did a lot of babysitting in my teen and university years, I’m glad Japan is getting on board the babysitting train, at least a little. There’s really no babysitting culture here, and I definitely understand what a hard sell it is to let an adult into your home! Super helpful resource for parents, especially those without grandparents in town, and/or parents who work shiftwork. Parents deserve date nights too!
Best of luck.