
Ask Parents of HN: Would you use an "Uber for babysitting"?  - callmeed
My daughter has been toying with the idea of an on-demand babysitting service. Unlike Care.com or SitterCity (which are more matchmaking) this would be more like Uber. Here&#x27;s the rough overview she came up with:<p>- All sitters are 18+, have their own transportation, are CPR certified, and background-checked<p>- You pre-register with your contact and billing information<p>- You text a main number (Twilio) requesting a sitter at a certain day&#x2F;time. A sitter is found who will accept the gig and we confirm with you<p>- Sitter brings a DropCam with him&#x2F;her and we text you a secure link which allows you to view the camera feed while you&#x27;re out (optional)<p>- Your card on file is charged. No need to get cash or write a check.<p>ADDED<p>- Strict review process. Similar to Uber, a couple strikes and a sitter is fired<p>- Video profile that is texted to you when confirming<p>- Similar to AirBnB, perhaps use Facebook to show that you have a X-degree of separation to the sitter<p>I thought I would ask the parents of HN for some feedback on her behalf. Would you ever consider using something like this?
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jmathai
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.

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codegeek
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.

~~~
callmeed
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.

~~~
codegeek
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 ?

~~~
callmeed
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.

------
eddy_chan
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]

~~~
callmeed
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.

~~~
eddy_chan
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.

------
JoeAltmaier
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.

------
gregcohn
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.

------
angmarsbane
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.

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DanBC
Holy fuck no freaking way.

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DanielStraight
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.

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yesiamyourdad
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.

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

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Blahah
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.

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esw
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.

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prateekj
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.

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ActVen
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.

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wglb
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.

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AnonPM191
The camera thing sounds pretty necessary. Good idea with that. Parents are
really cautious given some highly publicized incidents recently.

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

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

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davidgerard
Not in a pink fit.

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kjs3
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.

