Can’t find trustworthy babysitters near you? Try Sitly!

Not every parent has the luxury of handing off their kids to the in-laws when they need some extra help, so naturally, we’d look for a babysitter.

In our search for the perfect pengasuh though, the anxiety kicks in. Can I trust this person? Will they be able to handle my kids?! I can’t just leave my children with a random stranger!!!

Well, if there’s a problem, there’s surely an app to solve it! Enter Sitly: an app that lets you filter and screen though hundreds of babysitters near you. Whether you need a nanny to watch over a kid for a couple of hours, or one with a very specific skill set to handle all 5 of your kids’ temper tantrums, you’ll surely find the right match.

Here’s how it works.

Sitly helps you find babysitters who suit your specific needs

Based in the Netherlands, Sitly offers their platform in 14 countries, including Malaysia. It works similarly to a dating app, but instead of matching potential lovebirds, Sitly matches parents with babysitters. And just like most dating apps, you can either use it for free, or sign up for Sitly Premium which gives you some extra benefits.

As for how it works, when you register on the app or on Sitly.my, you first need to specify whether you’re a parent looking for babysitters or a babysitter looking for customers.

If you’re a parent, you have to provide some particulars. This ranges from basic information like your address, to more specific details which help Sitly narrow down the most suitable babysitters available, such as how many kids you need a babysitter for, their ages, and each child’s temperament (i.e. energetic, quiet, talkative, mischievous, stubborn).

You can also look for regular babysitters, occasional babysitters, or ones who do after-school care. What’s more, there are also options for parents who need a babysitter that’s willing to do extra chores like driving your children to school/home, cooking for them, helping them with their homework, and even light house chores.

If you’re not sure how much it costs to hire a babysitter, Sitly provides a helpful average price for your area. You can also specify how much you’re willing to pay per hour, although the actual rates depend on negotiations between you and the babysitter.

After the registration process, you can now see who’s available in your area as well as their particulars. It seems that Sitly is quite well established, because when we changed our address to Penang and Sabah as a test, there are always babysitters available.

If filters don’t make you feel safe enough, Sitly gives you the option to do further screening

Once you find a babysitter of your liking, you can nudge their profile and wait for their reply. But if you’d like to do some extra screening, you can opt for Sitly Premium which gives you the added perks of:

• Starting chats with the babysitters first
• Interviewing the babysitters through video calls, and
• Asking the babysitters for references

But even if you don’t have a Premium account, fret not, because Sitly has a rating system where both parents and babysitters can review each other. The reviews are publicly available so you can gauge the experiences other parents had with that sitter.

One important thing to note is that, ultimately, Sitly is an online marketplace that connects people. In fact, they state that while they do not screen parents and babysitters beforehand, there are measures in place to minimize risks.

Other than the rating system, Sitly also automatically detects and blocks suspicious profiles. If the system misses any, both babysitters and parents have the option to report bad apples and have them blocked; like if a babysitter never showed up or if a parent fails to pay them.

But if you’d rather trust first-hand experience more than reviews or your gut instinct, we don’t blame you! Some parents we talked to say that they prefer to have a trial period where the babysitter comes in while they’re working from home to see how their kids take to the new babysitter, and to get to know them personally. Once they feel more comfortable, only then will they be confident enough to leave their kids alone with the babysitter. In any case, you do you!

If you’re interested in giving it a go, Sitly is available at this link, or in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

As we mentioned previously, Sitly is free to use, and they don’t take a cut from the babysitting fees. They mainly sustain themselves through premium memberships which gives both parents and babysitters additional perks. If you’re keen on a premium membership, here’s how much it costs:

• For parents: RM59/month or RM117 for 3 months (about RM39/month).
• For babysitters: RM39/month or RM69 for 3 months (about RM23/month).

So now that you know of this lifehack, what are you waiting for? Find the right babysitter and plan that date night or self-care day that you desperately need!