The average working parent misses up to 13 days of work every year, due to child-related issues, which can result in billions of dollars in lost wages. Fox 34's Wendy Skyler catches up with one area family that's found a unique way to stay in the green.
From time to time, finding a reliable babysitter for Kristi and John Lowe hasn't been easy.
"We had an incident where we had a work thing that my wife and I both had to be at. Our babysitter that we thought we had lined up for that event canceled that afternoon..." said John Lowe.
That's when they contacted "Seeking Sitters", a high-tech babysitting service they had heard about from a friend.
"She had a sitter for me maybe 30 minutes later and she totally saved our neck!" said Kristi Lowe.
It works by matching families with folks who have carefully been pre-screened, f-b-i style and know how to have fun.
"That was kind of the initial thing of, you know, I don't know these people coming into our home but the thing is, these are your most valuable treasures and the quality of sitters that they hire, they're wonderful."
"It gives you peace of mind when you're leaving your child with someone that they're going to do thing the right way and take care of them the way you want them to be taken care of."
Working mom Julie Bates understands. She's been in the same situation. Her own need for a sitter last November is what prompted her to start the Lubbock Seeking Sitters program.
"This business has helped me more than probably anything else and so I definitely know what working mothers are going through, what families, you know, even to get that date night. Families call me and say, 'hey, we haven't been out in a year' because they just couldn't trust a sitter." said Bates.
Putting clients like the Lowe's at ease, is her specialty.
"With our background checks and the interviews I've done with our sitters, I've had almost all of them babysit in my own home, so i could safely recommend them to some other family."
Something the Lowe family is already doing.
