After care baby sitter/tutor

[babybunny]

We are thinking of hiring a baby sitter/ tutor on a part time basis for our third grader who is very active in sports activities once I get home from work at about 5 pm or so. We would need the person to meet him at the bus and then get him situated with a snack and start homework. Any suggestions on questions we should cover with the high school or college student we interview? Anything I should consider? I am a little concerned with her not showing and he would not be allowed off the bus. Then he would be returned to the school. I guess he could go into aftercare on a drop in basis.

I guess I would need to know if she would be comfortable heating up food for him to have an early dinner before sports practice. And I might need her to supervise the homework. I am new to this, so if you have any protocols or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. Are you comfortable with a high school student driving your kids?

[westwoodmom04]

We are thinking of hiring a baby sitter/ tutor on a part time basis for our third grader who is very active in sports activities once I get home from work at about 5 pm or so. We would need the person to meet him at the bus and then get him situated with a snack and start homework. Any suggestions on questions we should cover with the high school or college student we interview? Anything I should consider? I am a little concerned with her not showing and he would not be allowed off the bus. Then he would be returned to the school. I guess he could go into aftercare on a drop in basis.

I guess I would need to know if she would be comfortable heating up food for him to have an early dinner before sports practice. And I might need her to supervise the homework. I am new to this, so if you have any protocols or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. Are you comfortable with a high school student driving your kids?

No, I would want a college student at a minimum. Also, be aware that your school year and theirs differ, most colleges end the school year in early May, you want someone who will be sticking around until your son's schoolyear ends.

[Simon]

There are high school students that I would let drive my kids, especially my 2nd grader. I would want to know the students GPA, whether they like school, and I would ask them to work through a few math problems or supervise a little of whatever HW you think s/he needs help with. I would want someone who likes school and has a good attitude about it. I'd ask references about reliability and in the interview about his/her back up plans if the car broke down, or s/he was suddenly ill. In general, if he needs real tutoring then I'd choose someone older, but if this is really just afterschool care with a need to supervise HW then I think a strong HS student would be a good choice.

[vonfirmath]

Since you are looking for someone to take the child off the bus, you might want to look into when the high school gets off. Around here the elementary schools are out (2:40p) before the high schools (4p)

Will this person be taking your child to sport practice? if so you need to know their driving history, and make sure they are willing to use car seats. (And I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with a high schooler at this point!) Integrity since they will have a key to your house. CPR/First aid. How they respond in an emergency (what if your kid is not on the bus when it arrives at the stop?)

[niccig]

I have a mid-20s sitter, T, that picks DS up from after care before 6pm (she works until 5.30) then drives him to baseball practice, then home, heats up dinner (I text her what it is, usually simple kid food) and helps with his homework. She does this 2x week as I have late classes and I'm not home until 8pm.

T's older sister, V, started as our date night sitter 8 years ago, then she started doing school pick-up when I went back to school. T was our back up sitter when V was busy. But now that V has has a family, T is the main sitter. You need someone who understands they have to be there and you need a back-up plan. If T can't get DS, she has arranged for V to do it. And once T got stuck in traffic and she called her mom to go get DS - the aftercare called me to release DS to the mom as she wasn't on any pick-up forms. I'm 45 mins away, so I can't get to DS quickly. The person needs to give you enough notice that you can get to the bus or you can call a friend to get DS.

Because I've used both women as date night sitters before I needed them to get DS from aftercare, I trust them both. If you do find someone, maybe start using them as a regular sitter to get a feel for them before have them drive DS, have keys to the house etc. Both my sitters have worked as part-time nannies, YMCA daycare or school aftercare, so both of them had experience with kids and knew CPR/First aid etc...In your shoes, I would be looking for someone with similar experience.

Would it be possible for the person to do pick-up at school rather than from the bus? That way if they're late or forget, DS can go straight into aftercare rather than having to be driven back to school. Another option is to pay them for 15 mins before bus will be there, that's the time they must be there, so no excuse for being late for the bus. I'd just worry that they'll be late getting to the bus stop. I would also have them text you when they've gotten DS, so you know he was picked up. I used to do the, "well, it's 6:10 and no call from school so assume DS was picked up." Now I text her each day she's getting DS as reminder and to tell her what to do for dinner and homework, and she texts me to say she got DS.