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Do you have kids yourself? I don't want to be condescending but, this is one of those things where you have to be part of the target market to understand that t

Do you have kids yourself? I don't want to be condescending but, this is one of those things where you have to be part of the target market to understand that the protective instinct you have over your own kids is so strong and so raw that it would be really hard to overcome inside an on-demand transactional marketplace. You will also understand that kids up to school age (toddlers) generally only trust people they're very familiar with, it's a process that takes days, not hours or minutes. No matter how good the checks and due diligence you have in place are - because the majority of parents will not entrust kids to a stranger at the drop of a hat. As codegeek said, trust takes time to build, especially so between the child and sitter. In the process of putting my 2 year old into daycare it wasn't just a matter of dropping them off - there was a month long process where either I or my wife were taking time off work to introduce her to her new carers, making sure she was comfortable with them etc and that was after vetting 4 different care centers. With sitters, we'd only allow grandparents or my wifes older sister who has similar aged kids too. [Edit: 2nd para - putting myself in my own kids shoes]

gacba 13y ago
As a parent of 3 girls, I can't emphasize that trust thing enough above. I would absolutely, never, EVER use such a service. My wife would balk at the very suggestion of it. It sounds like a great idea on paper but no matter how much profiling, checking, due diligence, etc you put into it on your side, none of that matters to her, or my kids. They have to KNOW and TRUST the person they are with. We need to be able to vet that directly by observing them with the kids and get references from people we already know and trust ourselves. Having someone else say "Yep, they're cool!" when we don't know the source, means nothing. Most of my friends who are parents are equally paranoid about these issues in this day and age (sexual predators anyone?). You're going to have a really tough time selling this to your target market. You may not agree with my perspective, but I can absolutely guarantee this will be your #1 roadblock in getting parents to sign up for such a service, so you need an iron-clad answer to that question at the very least.
callmeed 13y ago
Did you read my post? This is my daughter's idea. I actually have 4 kids (age 5, 7, 9, and 19). My wife and I go on dates weekly so I'm confident I fit the target market :) When we lived in Oregon we used a sitter service that would send us one of a handful of sitters. I liked the model and my daughter is interested in something similar (with a tech twist). I am protective of my kids but I am not a helicopter parent (my wife is). My kids are social, friendly and naturally trusting. I don't teach them to "never talk to strangers". You're completely entitled to your own views/processes wrt childcare. Just don't assume everyone feels exactly the same. I fully understand the main issue is trust. BUT I think that's the same issue startups like AirBnB have to tackle.
- eddy_chan 13y ago
  Sorry, maybe my reaction to the post title was so visceral I didn't read the finer points. My concerns that I wrote down were actually my wifes concerns, they always seem to have the final say in who takes care of the kids if both parents aren't around. I'm sure my level of trust will improve as my daughter gets older but at this age (2) I wouldn't leave her with anybody for her sake and for the sitters sake. With respect to AirBnB and car-sharing schemes and the like - there's an order of magnitude difference in how much I care if my house/car gets trashed vs something happening to my daughter. Sure I care in the first case, but I personally can see tech overcoming that.

gacba 13y ago

As a parent of 3 girls, I can't emphasize that trust thing enough above. I would absolutely, never, EVER use such a service. My wife would balk at the very suggestion of it. It sounds like a great idea on paper but no matter how much profiling, checking, due diligence, etc you put into it on your side, none of that matters to her, or my kids. They have to KNOW and TRUST the person they are with. We need to be able to vet that directly by observing them with the kids and get references from people we already know and trust ourselves. Having someone else say "Yep, they're cool!" when we don't know the source, means nothing. Most of my friends who are parents are equally paranoid about these issues in this day and age (sexual predators anyone?). You're going to have a really tough time selling this to your target market. You may not agree with my perspective, but I can absolutely guarantee this will be your #1 roadblock in getting parents to sign up for such a service, so you need an iron-clad answer to that question at the very least.

callmeed 13y ago

Did you read my post? This is my daughter's idea. I actually have 4 kids (age 5, 7, 9, and 19). My wife and I go on dates weekly so I'm confident I fit the target market :) When we lived in Oregon we used a sitter service that would send us one of a handful of sitters. I liked the model and my daughter is interested in something similar (with a tech twist). I am protective of my kids but I am not a helicopter parent (my wife is). My kids are social, friendly and naturally trusting. I don't teach them to "never talk to strangers". You're completely entitled to your own views/processes wrt childcare. Just don't assume everyone feels exactly the same. I fully understand the main issue is trust. BUT I think that's the same issue startups like AirBnB have to tackle.

eddy_chan 13y ago
Sorry, maybe my reaction to the post title was so visceral I didn't read the finer points. My concerns that I wrote down were actually my wifes concerns, they always seem to have the final say in who takes care of the kids if both parents aren't around. I'm sure my level of trust will improve as my daughter gets older but at this age (2) I wouldn't leave her with anybody for her sake and for the sitters sake. With respect to AirBnB and car-sharing schemes and the like - there's an order of magnitude difference in how much I care if my house/car gets trashed vs something happening to my daughter. Sure I care in the first case, but I personally can see tech overcoming that.