Answer

There is no right answer! Just whatever is agreed upon.

Of the 17 comments left on the blog, 7 came down clearly on the side of it being the responsibility of the baby-sitter to get themselves to the job, with the hiring family being responsible to take them home if it wasn't reasonable for them to get home on their own, with their own bike or car.

8 clearly came out to say that they had experienced, or felt it was the responsibility of the hiring family to provide transportation both ways.

And 2 comments reflected experience and/or an opinion, that it could go either way.

And, for more statistical data...of the 79 unique visitors that stat counter recorded had visited my blog any time on Monday, or today before 3:30, 17 left comments. Now of course, it is possible that a few of the visitors were repeats of the same person, but I find it interesting that so many people visited, and didn't want to comment. Maybe you find that interesting too.

Thank you to those of you who did comment. I now feel justified in feeling the way I do, and yet I also respect the opinion of those who feel differently. I think so long as the arrangement works for both the baby-sitter and the hiring family, it is great. As it stands at our house, if Dave and I are going to go out, the chances of his being home and available to assist me in picking up the baby-sitter in advance is 1 in 100, thus, it really works best for me to have someone that can get themselves here at least most of the time.

Finally, I find it intriguing how some people view the baby-sitter as doing a favor, and others view it more as a job. I think for me, it all depends on the compensation, and the difficulty of the kids, and my opinion on whether it is a favor or a job would be assessed on a case by case basis.

Though I am clearly biased, I think my children are fabulous and entertaining. And judging by the number of teenage girls that have volunteered to baby-sit for us, I think they appear that way to the baby-sitting candidates as well.

Now, I know that bedtime is a pain no matter how cute the kids are (for parents too!), but aside from that issue, baby-sitting at our house is a great job. As far as I can tell, we pay well. Our kids are generally well behaved, and are a lot of fun to be with.

We usually stay out about 2 hours after bedtime. We don't pay less for the time the kids are asleep (of course), and in fact, we tell our baby-sitters they can watch movies, or TV, or whatever, and eat any food or ice cream they can find while they are here. So, for the last 2 hours or so of the job, they get to hang out, with no one to bug them, eat treats, play the wii, or read, or do homework, or watch TV, and get paid pretty well.

That sounds like a great job to me.

Which reminds me...I forgot to tell our new baby-sitter that the pantry was open game! Oh well, next time. And yes, there will be a next time.