Ask Parents of HN: Would you use an "Uber for babysitting"?

I have a 4 and 2 year old. Would not use a babysitter I did not know personally. We have one sitter we absolutely love. It's because she takes an interest in what our kids like. She looks for bugs in our back yard because that's what my son likes to do. She lifts the rocks that are too heavy for him.

We used another sitter that was highly recommended by a close friend and didn't continue to use her because it was evident that she didn't really take an interest in getting to know our kids.

I think we lucked out with our preferred sitter but in all honesty I do t feel like settling for anything less. I hope we won't have to but I can't say we'll always have such a good sitter available.

But the idea of getting a sitter we don't know and haven't had a friend recommend sounds like something we would not be comfortable with.

I am a parent of a 1 year old and a 3 weeks old. We are struggling with traditional babysitting model already. We hired a babysitter through care.com but on the days when she is not available, we have to find a backup. If you didn't plan the backup in advance, you are screwed. For example, our babysitter suddenly could not come for 2 days as her hubby got food poisoning and needed her to stay home with him.

So in theory, an "Uber for babysitting" sounds like a good idea where the "on-demand" part is the key. However, the biggest issue I see with something like this is the "trust factor". Babysitters are a very personal thing because they are responsible for the most important thing in your life i.e. your kid. So, when we hire a babysitter traditionally, we do our due diligence, check references etc. and then build trust over time during their first few weeks/months of work. Example, our current babysitter is now with us for about 3 months and we are just about beginning to trust her. We still don't leave her completely alone with our baby (wife staying home for now) but soon, we have to do that. For on-demand, how will this work ? Can I trust someone "uber" like ? Something to think about. Not shooting down your idea btw. As a parent, this is the biggest pain point we face currently.

You also have to look at the problem from the kids' POV. Remember, they are humans too. They (indirectly) have a say in this.

You could drop a 100.01% trusted and vetted teenager on my doorstep but if the kids don't click with the babysitter (or worse) then it's a traumatic experience for them and, subsequently, for us when we return. That's not worth the convenience.

agreed. But again, this depends on how old the kid is. For my 3 week old, it probably does not matter that much as long as she is fed on time along with diaper change etc. For older kids however, it totally matters that they like the babysitter

Thanks for the thorough reply. We hadn't thought about newborns so maybe it would be best to start with a lower age limit.

We were just chatting about the trust factor, which is clearly the biggest issue. Here's a couple additional things we came up with (I also added these to the OP):

- Strict review process. Similar to Uber, maybe a 1 or 2 strike policy and a sitter is fired

- Video profile that is texted to you when confirming

- Similar to AirBnB, perhaps use Facebook to show that you have a X-degree of separation to the sitter

Let me know what you think.

Video profile is a good idea. As a parent, I might be a little more inclined to pay attention to someone who has a video profile. Check

Facebook. I cannot believe I am saying this but..Check. This is one use case where a facebook profile is actually useful. The more personalized, the better. However, the privacy police might give some troubles on this one.

- I kept the review process for last because this is very subjective. What will be in the review ? Firing someone because they were not a good fit for that family is one thing vs firing someone who violently shook the baby while no one was watching. So this one needs more brainstorming.

- I think the setting up of webcam with secure link is a great plus as well. But how will this be done ?

Still thinking through the review process. I guess it's tough because, unlike Uber, you're not around. Thinking of my own experience (my non-adult kids are 5, 7, and 9). At that age, you can get some feedback from the kids after. Also, my wife cares about whether or not our sitter cleans up after dinner, etc.

As for the webcam, we ordered a dropcam and I'll figure out a way to iframe a feed video feed or something along those lines. I figure the sitter would bring the camera, connect to your wifi and we'd text you the link.

Also, DropCam offers recording as a monthly service. So, it might be possible to keep the recordings for parents to review.

amazing idea but I see a flaw in the 1 or 2 strike policy. Kids are individuals, and what may piss one kid off may not piss another kid off. Is the baby sitter a strict disciplinarian? What if the parents don't want their kids disciplined? What if some parents want their kids to sit in front of the TV, while others would be outraged at the thought?

The 'On demand' aspect of this might be a little too difficult, but I could see a huge market even if your app helped schedule future sittings between '3 or 4 favorited sitters' that a particular family met through your service. Good luck!

Do you have kids yourself? I don't want to be condescending but, this is one of those things where you have to be part of the target market to understand that the protective instinct you have over your own kids is so strong and so raw that it would be really hard to overcome inside an on-demand transactional marketplace.

You will also understand that kids up to school age (toddlers) generally only trust people they're very familiar with, it's a process that takes days, not hours or minutes.

No matter how good the checks and due diligence you have in place are - because the majority of parents will not entrust kids to a stranger at the drop of a hat. As codegeek said, trust takes time to build, especially so between the child and sitter. In the process of putting my 2 year old into daycare it wasn't just a matter of dropping them off - there was a month long process where either I or my wife were taking time off work to introduce her to her new carers, making sure she was comfortable with them etc and that was after vetting 4 different care centers.

With sitters, we'd only allow grandparents or my wifes older sister who has similar aged kids too.

[Edit: 2nd para - putting myself in my own kids shoes]

As a parent of 3 girls, I can't emphasize that trust thing enough above.

I would absolutely, never, EVER use such a service. My wife would balk at the very suggestion of it. It sounds like a great idea on paper but no matter how much profiling, checking, due diligence, etc you put into it on your side, none of that matters to her, or my kids. They have to KNOW and TRUST the person they are with. We need to be able to vet that directly by observing them with the kids and get references from people we already know and trust ourselves. Having someone else say "Yep, they're cool!" when we don't know the source, means nothing.

Most of my friends who are parents are equally paranoid about these issues in this day and age (sexual predators anyone?). You're going to have a really tough time selling this to your target market.

You may not agree with my perspective, but I can absolutely guarantee this will be your #1 roadblock in getting parents to sign up for such a service, so you need an iron-clad answer to that question at the very least.

Did you read my post? This is my daughter's idea. I actually have 4 kids (age 5, 7, 9, and 19). My wife and I go on dates weekly so I'm confident I fit the target market :)

When we lived in Oregon we used a sitter service that would send us one of a handful of sitters. I liked the model and my daughter is interested in something similar (with a tech twist).

I am protective of my kids but I am not a helicopter parent (my wife is). My kids are social, friendly and naturally trusting. I don't teach them to "never talk to strangers".

You're completely entitled to your own views/processes wrt childcare. Just don't assume everyone feels exactly the same.

I fully understand the main issue is trust. BUT I think that's the same issue startups like AirBnB have to tackle.

Sorry, maybe my reaction to the post title was so visceral I didn't read the finer points. My concerns that I wrote down were actually my wifes concerns, they always seem to have the final say in who takes care of the kids if both parents aren't around. I'm sure my level of trust will improve as my daughter gets older but at this age (2) I wouldn't leave her with anybody for her sake and for the sitters sake.

With respect to AirBnB and car-sharing schemes and the like - there's an order of magnitude difference in how much I care if my house/car gets trashed vs something happening to my daughter. Sure I care in the first case, but I personally can see tech overcoming that.

In a heartbeat. Folks get all worked up about babysitters, interviewing them like some corporate job.

If they show up, if they look nice and say 'yes sir' and 'thank you sir' then they're in. My kids can survive being unhappy, even ignored for a few hours; I'm not one who thinks they are fragile little vessels, but instead are designed to survive. So bring on the CPR-certified background-checked babysitters! To be honest I've never found one like that before, so its a step up.

A lot of other commenters have already touched on the trust factor, but I think that's only one (albeit a key) dimension of the problem.

The other is that the marketplace dynamics of babysitting are (on average) very different from Uber. Although some people travel, most people use babysitters in their home. Most people use babysitters infrequently. Yes, short notice situations do happen, but most things are planned sufficiently in advance to reach out to a small, trusted group of local/locally available service providers.

While the on-demand dimension of a service like this is appealing in those rare instances where you have short notice to find someone and your usual options are booked, this feels intuitively like the minority of situations.

What about the safety for the baby-sitters? Would the "families" (someone could lie) get background checked as well? A service like this could potentially be abused to lure young women (primarily) and men in to a dangerous situation.

Holy fuck no freaking way.

No, but I wouldn't hire a babysitter I didn't know personally regardless of how the transaction took place or how they were vetted. So, I'm probably not the target audience.

Obviously, the comfort level would have to be there, which is why I think the sites use the matchmaking approach. I know with my kids, they know and love their babysitter, which is a huge incentive to stay with the same person. I would think that once you've established that you like a sitter, you might try to go outside the system and make a side arrangement, so I would guess that you'd want to have a mechanism to request (or deny) a specific sitter or maybe a way to rank them.

Yes, I'm sure we can come up with algorithms to try previously used sitters first.

My first job as a teenager was IT for a babysitting agency run by my school. They employed former students as the babysitters. It was very popular but when they tried to scale it beyond the school it failed. Basically parents were willing to trust that the school knew its former students, but not willing to trust people recruited any other way.

Personally I would use such a service, but you'll have to work damn hard to show you've vetted people carefully.

Noooooo. Zero chance. I mean, it's very cool that your daughter is thinking about this stuff, but I would never allow a stranger to watch my toddler.

The features look nice and it appears to be a good way to get babysitters at the last minute. When it comes to babysitters, the biggest problem is trust! No matter how secure it sounds, parents will still be skeptical to leave their children with a stranger. If you go above and beyond to address the trust issue in a way that can appease the concerned parents, I think this definitely has potential.

I might use a service like this. However, trust is the biggest issue. You might think about targeting sitters that already have a certain trust factor with society in general. Teachers for example have the trust, background, need for money that might work for something like this. Current daycare employees might be another one. Friends of friends on social networks is another angle.

My kids are now adults, but it would have not been what I would have chosen. We didn't have a non-family member babysit our two kids until they were 3 and four, and never hired an outside one.

The camera thing sounds pretty necessary. Good idea with that. Parents are really cautious given some highly publicized incidents recently.

I think this is a great idea, and I would love to see the x-degree of separation to the sitter.

I met someone starting a similar company, the hard part is recruitment.

Not in a pink fit.

Not if you paid me. It's one thing for me to hop in a car with a stranger; it's quite another to hand my child off to a stranger. My risk aversion is completely different in each case.