My husband and I don't have anyone who can consistently watch our children for the occasional night out or a child free night like a mandatory parent meeting at preschool. We have some family and friends who will watch them, but no one who we trust and feel comfortable asking regularly.

I have started looking at sitter city, and it seems like there are some college age students who would be a good fit. Every time I start to think about going forward with it, I begin thinking of the worst possibilities. Part of me thinks it's crazy to leave my kids with a stranger over a relative who isn't ideal. Part of me keeps imagining a stranger with my children without me really knowing what happens while we are gone. Thus why I can count the number of dates we've gone on since kids on one hand.

Please help me move past this or in the right direction. I've been driving myself crazy. Maybe my paranoia will improve once I actually meet one of them.

We were planning on having them come over and meet us and the kids. We were also thinking of having them watch the kids while my husband is doing work outside or painting in the house the first time they babysit. That way he'll be around but not lurking.

I wish this was easier. Kudos to you moms who hire nannies. I might have a heart attack if faced with that.

Gah, I don't look forward to this, either. Do you have any co-workers (nurses, etc) with teenage kids who need some extra cash?

We once used the job board at a local college to locate a great girl. We called her references, and had her meet the kids a couple times in advance. She ended up sitting for us regularly for 3 years and was wonderful... and through her we sometimes used her roommate or one of her friends, so it was a good way to get a whole network of girls.
We also have in the past used employees of our daycare as evening sitters- some daycares don't allow this, however. We used the teenage daughter of a daycare employee as well. Also asking your friends for the names of their sitters is a good way to get someone who has already been "tested" by someone you know. In our current city we live in a neighborhood with over a thousand kids, so it was very easy to get hold of teenagers that are used by many of our neighbors, and through one of them we have recently hired her college-age friend to do our after school care.
The trick is to identify one girl you can trust, and then start branching out into her friend network. To be fair, I shouldn't just say girls, I suppose, as we have also been very pleased with the teenage sons of one home in our neighborhood as well, but that is just less common (but very nice for my son as a change of pace).

I've been interviewing people I found on sittercity. I called references and met them. My plan is to have them over the first few times while I am home so I can see how they interact with the kids and stuff. It is definitely easier now that I have two town criers-the 8yo and 5 1/2 yo. When I just had infants I was way more paranoid about leaving them with people....that's why I never had a nanny, I think...

good luck!!

We found a sitter through sitter-city and she is fantastic! She is a speech-language pathology student and showed up for her interview with a list of references and her printed schedule. Her references were all glowing. Best of all, DD loved her. We also had her come over once to do daycare pick up and the night-time routine with us, which allowed her to see how we do things, DD to get used to her, and us to evaluate her a little more. I think as long as you screen people well and follow your intuition, the online route is fine. Good luck!

Thanks everyone. I have a potential person through preschool. Thanks for the idea. I do think I will also have some people who have applied through sitter city come over. I'll let you know how it goes. Any other thoughts or experiences appreciated.