With Brentwood’s prime location between UCLA and Pepperdine, finding a great college babysitter should be as easy as walking out the front door. So why is it that so many Brentwood parents still struggle to find childcare?
That’s precisely why UrbanSitter.com, an online marketplace designed to connect parents with local babysitters, chose Brentwood as one of three strategic Los Angeles neighborhoods to launch its business in 2012.
Founded by three moms, UrbanSitter takes the traditional process of finding a babysitter through referrals and makes it more efficient by leveraging online technology.
Parents log in and identify local organizations they belong to such as Kidville, Brentwood Art Center, their child’s school, or a soccer team. With the click of a button, a selection of local babysitters appears, and highlighted are the sitters recommended by parents within those trusted groups.
Parents have the option to filter candidates by a number of qualifications including education, experience, languages spoken, pay rate, and background check. Once selected, parents conveniently book jobs with the sitter for specific dates and times, based on the sitter’s online availability calendar.
Adrianne Nathan, a Brentwood mother of three and one of the first users of UrbanSitter said, “I love that many of the sitters are UCLA and Pepperdine students–some are even child development majors. They’ve all been great with my kids. UrbanSitter is so easy to use that it’s become my go-to.â€
Similarly, babysitters are reaping the benefits of access to families. Megan Carolin, a babysitter with 10+ years of experience and a recent graduate of Pepperdine University said, “I’ve met over 20 new families through UrbanSitter. It also lets me post my schedule online, so I can babysit while pursuing my career.â€
Once parents and babysitters connect, the question becomes, “What is a fair pay rate?†According to UrbanSitter, babysitting rates in West L.A. are an average of $13 per hour for one child, $15 for two, and $21 for three. Sitters on their website display their expected pay rate online, so there’s no surprise bill at the end of the night. UrbanSitter takes convenience one step further: Parents can pay babysitters online with a credit card.
