Meredith Kerr
Journal Staff
The first ever ‘Babysitter Meet and Greet’ to be hosted at the Town of St. Paul Municipal Library was an all around success according to library programmer Monique Poulin.
Roughly 10 newly trained babysitters came to the library to meet potential clients and get to know their kids on Feb. 23.
According to Poulin, the idea to host a meet and greet came from a joint meeting with Town of St. Paul FCSS.
“Parents were coming in to FCSS and asking for a list of babysitters because FCSS runs the babysitting course. But of course they can’t release that information. So we decided having a place where babysitters and parents could meet up and trade information would be a great idea,” said Poulin. She said there were also plans to develop a babysitter directory for the FCSS website which babysitters and their parents were signing a release form for at the event.
“You want to make sure your kids are comfortable. It’s nice if they click a little bit and have a bit of a pre-relationship. Lots of kids have anxiety about someone else looking after them and if they have that familiar face they’ve played with before it might help ease that transition when a parent leaves, even if it’s at home,” said Poulin.
Asked why the library chose to host the meet and greet, Poulin said it seemed like a natural fit.
“It’s a safe place for people to be and we have lots of activities here for all ages of kids to play with, we have in house board games that people can check out and use here, as well as a great space in the program room. Being on a Saturday makes it easier for parents and babysitters to come do the meet and greet,” she said.
She said one of their goals was not just to connect parents with babysitters, but also give a chance for the babysitters’ parents to meet potential clients with their teens and be comfortable with the arrangements.
Aliza Fouad, 14, is one of the babysitters who came to the meet and greet. She said it was an “excellent opportunity” to meet more clients.
“I need a babysitting job and I have my certificate,” she said. Most of her prior experience is from babysitting for family friends but she wants to increase the number of families she babysits for.
In between reading stories, playing games, and colouring with the kids babysitters hustled to get the names and numbers of interested parents and pass out their contact information.
One gap in the casual childcare market in St. Paul continues to be people able to take care of very young children in the evenings. Most of the babysitters who were at the event were between 12 and 14 years old and several parents expressed a strong preference for someone slightly older to mind babies and young toddlers when they want to go on a date or spend an evening with friends.
