If you’re like a large number of women, you work outside of the home to help with your family’s financial obligations. That means, when school starts back up, you may not be at home when the children get there. You may wonder, “Where do I find an after school babysitter?”

Children that are over fourteen years of age will likely be alright to stay at home by themselves for an hour or so until someone gets home. Of course, this determination is something your family will have to discuss based upon the maturity of your children. For children younger than fourteen, however, it would be wiser to have someone look after them.

Where do you find an after school babysitter? The answer may be closer than you think.

Do you have friends with children the same ages as yours? Ask them if they’d be willing to keep your children for you. You can either pay them for the time your children are there, or you could take their children in exchange at another time.

If you live in a neighborhood with older neighbors, you may want to ask them if they would be willing to babysit for a few hours in the afternoons until you return from work. You may already know and trust these neighbors, and they probably already have a relationship with your children, so they would be a perfect choice.

If you don’t have an older neighbor, check with your church to see if they have a list of babysitters they can recommend. You may also want to ask friends who have children. They may have some suggestions of qualified babysitters that they’ve used, even though they don’t need them during those hours.

A local college may also be a good choice of places to find a babysitter for after school. Check with the Child Development or Education departments to see if they have students they can recommend. If they do, perhaps the student can use some of their experience caring for your children as work-study credit. They may jump at the chance to do so.

Finally, there are some babysitter-finder services online. You can search for them using your favorite search engine. If there aren’t any of these services in your area, consider checking with employment services.

Unless you know the person extremely well, ask them for references and check them before allowing them to supervise your children. Ask them if they’ve had first aid and CPR training. Leave them a number where they can contact you if any questions or problems arise.

When you need a sitter for a couple of hours each day, you want a sitter your children will like and that you can trust. You may be wondering, where do I find an after school babysitter? Friends, neighbors, your church, or local child development classes are places you can start looking.