Good parents go out. Some of them stay out.

Why this exists

There are parents with rich adult social lives, including many in the lifestyle and ethically non-monogamous community, who are devoted to their children and private about their evenings. For them, ordinary babysitting comes with friction that has nothing to do with childcare.

A sitter who expects you at eleven gets curious when you say two. A neighbour's teenager cannot stay overnight. Grandparents are generous until they are tired, or inquisitive. So people invent a work dinner, pack the car out of sight, and wear a long coat to the front door. Underneath the comedy is a real worry: being judged, or talked about, over something that is nobody's business and has no bearing on how well they raise their children.

The first pitch for SwingSitters was written as a late-night infomercial. "Tired of wearing a trenchcoat when the babysitter arrives? Tired of inventing phony but plausible places you'll be that evening?" It was a joke, and it was also a fairly complete product specification.

What we decided to build

An ordinary, careful childcare service with one unusual rule: we never ask where you're going. There is no box for it, so there is no record of it, so there is nothing to leak, sell or be embarrassed by. Sitters are chosen for experience and kindness first, and then for the ability to be entirely uninterested in your plans.

Late nights and overnights are the normal case here and are priced as such. That turns a 3 a.m. return from an imposition into a booking a sitter chose and is paid properly for.

What we will not do

• Overclaim. We tell you which screening steps a sitter has passed and what those steps can and cannot show. We do not use words that promise an outcome, because nobody honestly can.
• Blur the line. This is childcare. Sitters are never guests, are never invited into a parent's plans, and never work at a venue or event. Any advance toward a sitter ends a family's access.
• Trade on your data. No advertising trackers and no selling of personal information. Visit counting on our public pages (Google Analytics) stops at the sign-in door: nothing inside your account is tracked.
• Put privacy above a child. Confidentiality covers your private life. It never limits anyone from reporting a concern about a child's safety or calling 911.
• Squeeze sitters. Sitters set their own rates and keep all of their pay, stipends and tips. Our fee is added on top.

Where we are

We are a new service, opening one city at a time as sitters there complete vetting. You will not find testimonials or big numbers on this site yet, because we have not earned them yet. If we are not in your city, the waitlist is the way to tell us to hurry.

About the name: yes, it is a wink. It is the only one. Everything after it is meant to be as steady and unremarkable as good childcare should be.