School's Out for Summer - So Who's Watching My Children During the Day?

CHICAGO, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The end of the school year is a cause for celebration for millions of children around the nation.  However, for their parents, it poses a serious question: Who is going to watch over my children for the next three months? Sittercity.com, the nation's most trusted online source for nannies and babysitters, offers the following tips to find the perfect summer sitter:

Tip One: Start Early – Post your babysitting job on Sittercity.com a month before school lets out. This will allow adequate time to identify and screen new candidates, check references and review background checks. Remember that most of the parents in your children's school will also be looking for summer sitters, so starting early gives you a leg up on the competition.

• Parents start looking for summer sitters as early as January.
• The majority of parents post a summer sitter job the first week of May.

Tip Two: Keep the Kids Learning – Summer vacation can be fun, but you can also use this time to continue to teach your children.  At Sittercity, approximately a quarter of the caregivers are teachers or have an educational background and this increases to almost one third in the summer months.

Tip Three: Write Down the Details – Write down all the events your children are signed up for this summer: camp, summer school, arts and crafts classes, play dates, etc., so your sitter has all the details. If your kids would like to have friends over or want to go to a friend's house, make sure to write down who they can visit, their contact information, address and details, so your sitter has them at hand.

With Sittercity.com, parents have full access to hundreds — even thousands — of experienced caregivers in every city across the nation, all with detailed profiles that feature their experience, background checks, references, reviews and photos. Parents can either search for the perfect sitter using a wide range of caregiver criteria or post a job so the most qualified caregivers come directly to them.

In addition to providing parents with access to America's best caregivers, Sittercity.com also makes it easy for parents to pick out that perfect sitter. From its four-step screening process (which includes reading caregiver reviews, conducting interviews, checking references and reviewing background checks) to its interactive Babysitter Rate Calculator (www.sittercity.com/rates), Sittercity.com takes all the guesswork out of hiring a sitter. While agencies charge up to $2,500 to search for caregivers, Sittercity.com provides parents with all of these tools as well as unlimited access to caregivers in her area for as low as $12/month.

About Sittercity.com®

Sittercity.com, the inventor of online caregiving, is America's largest and most trusted online source for babysitters, nannies, pet sitters, senior care, housesitting, housekeeping and tutoring. Sittercity has a network of more than 2 million caregiver profiles nationwide, and helps families and individuals across America find the perfect in-home care provider quickly, easily and safely. Sittercity's care seekers can use the company's four-step screening process, which includes checking references, reading caregiver reviews, conducting interviews and utilizing free access to background checks. Sitter profiles also come with photos, experience, training, safety skills, availability calendars, reviews and more. Sittercity's Corporate Program now serves a number of marquee clients, including Avon, MasterCard, FOX Networks, Pitney Bowes and Monster Worldwide. For more information, visit the company Web site at http://www.sittercity.com.

SOURCE Sittercity.com