Wanted: Baby sitter

This time it was Kalia’s baby sitter who had to go and we’re once again faced with this dilemma.

I’ve been trying to find the best solution that would solve our baby sitter problems for good. We had the same dilemma earlier this year when Jamaine’s sitter got sick for weeks and we couldn’t find a suitable replacement.

My mom ended up commuting everyday to go to our apartment to take care of Jamaine while Kernan and I worked at the office.

Part of me thinks I should seriously consider being a stay at home or work at home mom. But to be honest, I’m quite unsure how stable that would be. Our family has been doing well with our double income and I think this is not the right time to cut it to one.

Although both sets of grandparents have kindly offered to take Jamaine to live with them, Kernan and I have agreed that it is important to us to keep the family together no matter what.

I’ve been wracking my brains for options and solutions since last night.

Finding another sitter is obviously the immediate solution but it’s harder than it seems. So far, we’ve been getting sitters and helpers from referrals or distant relatives which help ensure they are trustworthy and reliable. So far, no one is available.

And even when we do find another sitter, I feel like it will only be a short term solution since the sitter will probably want to get another job, get married or go abroad sooner or later. Besides, I’m sure no one would want to be a baby sitter for good.

The solution has to be something that would be for the good of our kids as well as for our family income.

I was thinking that starting a home business or a small business franchise would be good. That is actually a plan that Kernan and I intend to do eventually as soon as we build a sizeable amount of savings. We’re not halfway our savings goal yet so putting up a business would have to wait a few more years.

Problogging also seems like an ideal “home job.” Of course, we all know the epitome of the problogger who has managed to make multiple streams of income from his blog. I’ve always admired how Darren Rowse managed to quit his day job to support his family through his blog incomes. It certainly is an appealing option for a blogger like me. I actually have some hobby blogs in the works that I plan to monetize but I know it’s going to take time and hard work to make them profitable.

I wish I could say this blog is earning enough now to allow me to quit my job and take care of my babies at home. But so far, it’s just enough to start an educational plan for Jamaine, an amount that took around three months to earn. Certainly not yet a reliable fall back for my current regular day job. But I’m considering problogging or a web based business as one of the long-term solutions since it holds the possibility of earning a significant amount of income all from the comforts of home or anywhere I choose to be.

I’m still thinking and hoping we’ll arrive at the best immediate action while working on the long-term solution to this dilemma.

Have any of you encountered a similar dilemma? How were you able to solve it?

I’ll surely appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

Tagged as: baby sitter, Money, Motherhood, problogging, stay at home mom, web based business, work at home mom