Babysitting in Dallas – Made Easy with Bambino Babysitters

Laura Levitan of Mod L Photography is a newborn photographer, and maternity photographer in Dallas, TX. Laura is interested in all things related to parenting and decided to apply that interest to her blog. As a result Laura interviews businesses, and local organizations in Dallas that are relevant to her clients. She loves meeting with other business owners to establish meaningful community connections and help bring her clients great resources and information with regard to parenting. If you’d like to read more from this series you can see previous posts on the main blog page. In this blog post Laura meets with Sarah Brown of Bambino app to talk about an easy way to find Dallas babysitters.

BAMBINO THE BABYSITTING APP

Laura: This is Sarah Brown from Bambino. Hi Sarah! Can you tell me more about Bambino? What problem are you solving for your customers?

Sarah: The problem we’re solving is that we are a local, trusted app. We help parents find local, recommended babysitters. So it would be the electronic version of asking your neighbor or best friend, “Hey, I want your babysitter’s number” or “Who do you use?” The problem is that no one wants to give up their favorite babysitter. They’re afraid they will be booked up if they let everyone else know about them. If everyone puts their favorite babysitters into a pool or in the app then there are more to choose from.

It’s all these local babysitters who live on your street, have been recommended, and you know where they go to school. They come to your house and they can babysit. Recommendations come from your friends and neighbors. And you trust them and trust their recommendations. There is a star rating system, you see background checks, who works with babies, who can cook, who’s comfortable with dogs, etc.

HOW DID BAMBINO GET STARTED?

Laura: How did you find out about Bambino?

Sarah: Well I’m from Los Angeles, and my good friend started the company in L.A. They wanted to to open new communities so I suggested Dallas because Dallas is such a community-oriented area. I started building my local community based on my neighborhood, local schools and it has just taken off like wildfire. We’re now in 85 cities all over the country, and we’re continuing to grow. Dallas is one of the cities where we have over 250 registered Dallas babysitters in the area.

Laura: When did the app launch?

Sarah: The app launched in December (2016).  We are opening up new communities daily.  Mom’s all over Dallas can reach out if they want bambino in their neighborhood by contacting me at sarah.brown@bambinositters.com

HOW DO YOU USE THE BAMBINO APP?

Laura: Run me through using the app.

Sarah: So let’s say I need a sitter for Sunday, at 5:30, and I’m gonna end my sit at 9:30. Now my network of sitters shows up. Its’ organized is who is closest to me and by parents that I am connected with. It shows how many sits the sitters have completed through the app, and their ratings. It shows if they’re  CPR certified, or if they drive. Whether they are comfortable with babies, cooking, and with dogs. It also shows who has used the sitter, and what they thought. So I can scroll through a list of them and decide. I’ll select the sitters I’m interested in, and then I’ll get a text message saying “Good news, this sitter is available!”. Then you can go in and see who said yes or no, and choose which one you want.

HOW TO SELECT YOUR FAVORITE DALLAS BABYSITTERS?

Laura: Can you request a specific person?

Sarah: Oh yeah. What happens is, all of your favorite sitters come up and then your parent’s network, the people you live near or know, it goes by who lives closest to you.

Laura: So if a babysitter has already been booked for the night, they won’t pop up on the app?

Sarah: That’s correct.

CAN YOU CHOOSE DIFFERENT SITTERS FOR DIFFERENT NEEDS?

Laura: So whats the average age of a sitter?

Sarah: It varies. We have different tiers. So there’s junior sitter, standard, advanced, and elite. Depending on what the needs are, like its the afternoon, or I want to run errands or go to the doctor, I’ll get a junior sitter. Or if I’m going out or my husband and I have a big event and I know I’m going to be out til 1 or 2 am I get a more advanced sitter who will cook dinner, bathe my kids, help with homework and more advanced needs.

Laura: Do they have a set rate based on their level?

Sarah: They set their own rate. Depending on who they are and what their experience level is we try to steer them towards a specific rate based on the market, but they can really set their own. But the babysitters who tend to set their rates really high don’t get used as much. Usually, the average is between 10 and 15 dollars an hour.

 

Thank you, Sarah, for meeting with me and teaching me about this great app. I know so many families who need babysitters all the time and have difficulty locating them. If you’d like to check out Bambino it is available in the app store for download. If you’d like to learn more about this service visit their FAQ on the Bambino App website.