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Tips for Choosing a Babysitter

Small children leave you no choice but to find a babysitter or care giver when you still need to work outside of the home. Here we are going to give you hints and tips on how to find the best baby sitter for when you are working outside of the home, and a few extras for when you are seeking a babysitter so you can have that special alone time with your spouse that you have been needing!

Here we are going to focus on finding a sitter for in your home, so your child can be at home, this is usually for a preschool, toddler or baby needs. One of the first things you need to do is get a notebook. Writing everything down that you find out, hear about, and where you find the referrals for certain babysitters that you find. On this sheet of paper, you can write down everybody that you know who might be able to assist you in finding a sitter. This would include your parents, brothers, sisters, neighbors and friend or other parents that you know. 

As a starting point, ask each of these people on your list who they might know that is qualified and that is looking for a babysitting job for the long term. Most people are going to tell you that they don’t know anyone, but they are going to be able to give you suggestions of where to call possibly.  This could be a club, group, agency or a link to a sitter that would be a private sitter for your children in your home.  Crossing off the names that can’t help you, and listing the references that you do get, start calling on the references that you get. You are going to find some that you just don’t like, some that don’t have openings right now, and others that are just not within your budget.

Continuing your search you can ask parents that you meet at social events, athletic events and you can place an ad in the paper if you like. When talking with people that you are considering to be the care giver for your child or children, you need to be up front on how much you can pay, what hours you work, and what they are expected to do. If you assume that your caregiver is going to cook, clean, and be a patient person, you need to express this.

If you just want a sitter that will come in and spend all of their time with your child, and you don’t expect them to clean up after lunch or do dishes, you also need to state this, as sometimes this will make the difference in if the person is willing to spend time with your family. Some in home caregivers are going to do the dishes and help the child clean up their room, and others are going to expect to be the sitter, and that is their only duty. The more you expect from your care giver or sitter, the more you should realize that you are going to pay. Extra duties are extra pay to most people and when you are working with a budget this will be important.

Look for a babysitter that takes a real interest in your child from the moment that he or she meets your child. He or she should talk to the child and over the child’s head or only to you. You can find great resources for in home private sitters through the job center, through local Red Cross centers that have training seminars, or colleges where CPR and elementary training is offered. You can often find a baby sitter on certain days of the week where colleges are located, as some students must work while going to college so they can pay all of their bills as well as attend classes.

Learn to ask questions, and don’t be shy about it. Ask for references, at least three people that know him or her and their phone numbers. You can have a background check done on any potential in house workers, employees, if you have their written permission, this does cost a few dollars but you can quickly find out if they are on a ‘wanted’ list or anything as terrible.

Another important thing for the in house full time babysitter is that you are not going to want to become to friendly with that person. Being friends is fine, but when you are too close to, the person that is to care for you child, often when a problem occurs it is even more difficult to discuss with the caregiver what the problem really is. Going through all the possible resources that you can you are likely to find two or three baby sitters or caregivers that are going to meet both your budget, your personality needs, and one that can fit your time needs.

Tips for finding a sitter for after hours or on the weekends

You will need to make the same listing of parents, brothers, sisters, friends, neighbors, and relatives, to call and inquire about any one that could be looking for an occasionally babysitting job. Occasionally when you are asking these questions you will get a sister or brother, or along these lines, that will say, “oh bring the children over, they could play with my xxxx”, this is the best excuse to get out of the house while you can! When you need a little quiet time, just time to clean your house or time to spend with your spouse this is a great opportunity. You might even find that you can your brother or you and your best friend can take turns watching each others children so you can both find some down time to relax without having to pay for a sitter.

When you have to hire a sitter you need to make it known that, they are not to have any visitors over while watching your children, unless he or she is truly an adult their self. Often the evening and weekend babysitting is left to the youth of the neighborhood who can cause more problems if they have their friends over while watching your children. Many times you can actually have the children ready for bed by the time the sitter gets to your house so you don’t really have to worry about missing out on too much time with your children if this makes you feel comfortable.