Children are the most important aspects to parents, they are their world, and would you let a complete stranger hold your world?
The answer is no.
As a babysitter myself, I know that it’s very easy to come across a job; there are always children and always parents in need of assistance. With the economy today, parents are forced to work two and three jobs, leaving small children alone in an expensive day care all day.
Many mothers and fathers resort to babysitters. Because parents are in such desperate need of sitters, they might hire them straight from an ad and leave their kids with these total strangers.
Here are some tips when trying to find a reliable, safe, secure babysitter for your children:
- Use sitters recommended by people you can trust.
- If no sitters are available to you by the people you trust, resort to a safe, secure babysitting website, such as care.com, Angieslist.com, or sittercity.com
- Run a background check on the potential sitter.
- Once the background check is complete, speak with them on the phone and arrange for a time and place to meet for a cup of coffee, tea, small meal, to talk about themselves.
- Arrange another meeting with them and your partner (if present) so that they may know who they're dealing with also.
- Get at least 3 solid references you can get in touch with.
- Ask them questions such as:
- For how long have you used ____?
- How many kids do you have?
- Would you recommend ___, why or why not?
- Is ___easily distracted?
- Can ___handle the job?
After reviewing all the information about the person, and you are positive they are the right candidate, arrange a meeting, in your home, with the candidate and the children to see if they are comfortable around one another.
REMEMBER: If the children aren’t comfortable, and don’st feel safe, reopen your search.
Following these simple steps will ensure the right sitter for you and your children.
