Need a break from your kids? Demand for virtual babysitters growing during pandemic
Demand for virtual babysitters is skyrocketing as millions of parents are hunkered down at home with their kids, day in, day out. Around the clock childcare is a big ask, particularly for those still lucky enough to be working from home -- but an extra set of eyes to keep the kids in line is just a video call away.
Services like Sittercity, and Care.com, which help connect parents with eligible, vetted babysitters, say more Americans than ever are scheduling sitters to teleconference into their homes through FaceTime, Zoom and similar online applications.
Sittercity CEO Elizabeth Harz told Forbes that demand for virtual babysitting sessions has increased 700% since March, and is still trending up.
“If both parents have Zoom meetings at the same time that they can’t get out of, a virtual sitting is a wonderful option,” Harz told the outlet, adding that while it’s no replacement for in-person interaction, it works well for an hour or two at a time for children 5 years and older.
“The sessions can be used to assist kids with schoolwork, facilitate interactive games or simply keep them occupied for a shorter spell than a face to face sitting.”
As for cost, Harz says $16.50 an hour is “the average national hourly rate for babysitters in 2020,” Forbes reported.
A newer service, Virtualbabysittersclub.com, was created by a couple in New York specifically in response to coronavirus, according to the website, and connects out-of-work performers with parents who need to keep their children entertained.
“We are so grateful to all the performers who have provided such wonderful and creative entertainment … and to the parents who have engaged these tremendously talented professionals to help them make ends meet until the Broadway lights brighten our lives again,” the website said.
A one-hour one-on-one session runs about $30, according to the site.
Families are adapting to the times, and babysitting companies are trying to adapt right along with them.
“If you would have told me this is something we’d be offering, I’d never have believed it. It’s such a personal-contact-based profession,” Rachel Charlupski, founder of the aptly named Babysitting Company, told the Washington Post.
Charlupski had many of her sitters retrained to prepare them for the transition to virtual babysitting, anticipating the job will be more difficult without a physical presence. Services with the Babysitting Company run “$36 for a 45-minute video session,” The Post reports.
Jennika Aronowitz, a mother of three, praised virtual babysitting, telling The Post it not only lightens the load on herself, but that enabling her child to interact with someone outside immediate family has been good for them in these isolating times.
“It’s not like you’re watching a show or something that isn’t tuned in to you. It’s a living person on the other side that’s reading your cues, seeing if you’re interested or not interested.”