You got a text from a family you sit for.

A parent who already has your number added you to their list on Tuck. The first thing most sitters get is a heads-up from that family, sent from a parent's own phone with the family's other parents on the thread, with a link to say Tuck can text you about sitting for them. After that, a text comes only when that family asks about a specific date, and once more when it's settled. We don't look for sitters, and we don't have your number unless a family you know gave it to us.

Between 8 pm and 8 am in the family's time zone, Tuck's number sends you an ask only when the family has just asked, or the sit starts by 8 am; any other ask waits until 8 am.

Until you say yes to Tuck, the family's asks come from the parent's own phone, in words Tuck wrote, which may name the kids and pets it's for, with any other parent in that family on the same thread. To say yes, open the family's link — or tap Opt in to texts from Tuck at the bottom of a page from them — and tap Yes, Tuck can text me. It opens a text to Tuck's number, (833) 349-4533, with YES and a short code already written. Send it from your own phone and Tuck texts back to say you're set. Only a text from your number counts, so nobody can say yes for you. After that, Tuck can text you that family's asks from its own number, which you might save as Tuck — if that family has Tuck send their texts. Many don't: on Tuck's free plan every ask comes from the parent's own phone, whatever you've said yes to, and the page where you say yes tells you which it is for them. Your yes is what makes the other way possible; it doesn't switch it on. Before you say yes, the link's page shows the family's first names, the last two digits of your number so you know which phone it's about, the YES to send, what you're agreeing to, and that Tuck is for sitters 18 and over. Nothing else. Your yes is for that family only; it says nothing for any other family you sit for.

No. Tap the link, answer, done. If you sit for more than one family, you can see all their asks in one place, on your own page: text SITS to Tuck's number, (833) 349-4533, and add Apple or Google if you like. It's optional. A week after you add Apple or Google, that's how you sign in there, and your booked sits open from there too; until then they open from each family's text. Tuck texts your number when one is added, so you'd know if it wasn't you. Either way, there's nothing to install and no password. The link is private to you and stops working when the request is over (or, for several dates of one ask, when the last of them is). When a family asks about several dates in one text, or adds a date to an ask already out, the one link lists each of them, and you answer each on its own: yes to one, can't to another. A different rate can be asked for every date still open in one tap, and each date still gets its one round. The link to say Tuck can text you is the same: one page, and one text you send.

Only the families who already have it. Tuck doesn't show it to anyone else, and nobody finds you through Tuck: a family can only ask you if they already have your number.

18. Tuck is only for sitters 18 and over, and a family adds a sitter by telling us they're 18 or older. If you're not, reply STOP to any text from Tuck and Tuck stops texting your number; email jarryd@asktuck.com as well and we'll take your number off every family's list. You can still sit for that family — they'll just ask you the way they did before Tuck.

Yes, and that's the whole point: they can ask someone else without waiting. Saying no doesn't take you off their list. Nobody else sees your answer.

Yes. When you open the link from a family's ask, that family's parents can see when it was first opened — once the page has been on your screen for a moment, never because your phone drew a preview of the link. Nobody else sees it, and it changes nothing about the ask: you still answer when you're ready.

A yes as asked counts while those hours still need a sitter. A change counts while the family can still take one; if they can't any more, the page says so, and you can still say yes as asked. Once the hours are covered, or the family has stopped asking, the page says so instead.

If you text Tuck's number anything but STOP, START, HELP, YES or SITS, Tuck passes your words on to the family whose ask it's about, and tells you once that it did. They read it in Tuck and can text you from their own phone. It isn't your answer, though: to say yes, ask for a change, or say you can't, tap the link in the text about the sit.

Open the same link and tap Can't make it after all? at the bottom of the page, then the button that lets the parent know. The family sees it in Tuck and can find someone else, and the address and sit sheet come off your page. If the sit is soon, text the parent too. It works until the sit ends, so it's there once the evening has started too — the page asks Can't make it, or can't stay? then, and a text to the parent matters most of all. Changed your mind again? While the page shows Actually, I can, it books you back in.

Yes. Once a request is settled and the family is covered, its page has a place to set your rate for new families. A family that hasn't agreed a rate with you offers that one, unless they choose a rate for that sit, and whatever the rate, it's written in the text before you answer. You can propose a different rate on any request with "Yes, with a change." Once you're booked, that sit's hours and rate are settled: to change anything, text the parent from the page.

No. Your rate is between you and the family, paid however you already do it. The rate is on the page the text links to, with the evening's total, so there's no surprise later. After a sit, a family can keep their own note of what it came to and whether they've paid you — Tuck works the amount out from the hours and the rate, for that family alone. You aren't shown that note, nothing is owed to Tuck, and no money goes through Tuck.

Reply STOP to any text from Tuck and Tuck stops texting your number, for every family you sit for, and no family is handed an ask to send you by hand either. STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REVOKE and OPT OUT work too. If you reply STOP to an ask a parent sent from their own phone, that parent records it in Tuck, and that family stops asking you, from Tuck's number and by hand. Changed your mind? Text START to (833) 349-4533, then say yes again on the link from each family you'd like to hear from. For a family you stopped by replying to the parent, text YES again from their link. If you'd also like to be removed from every family's list on Tuck, email jarryd@asktuck.com and we'll do it. Msg & data rates may apply to texts you receive; reply HELP to a text from Tuck for help.