If you’re a parent, you know how important it is that you get regular breaks for your parenting responsibilities. However, if you don’t have someone that you trust to watch your children for you when you’re away from home, you might feel like getting some time away just isn’t worth it. Luckily, there are ways that you can go about finding a great babysitter for your children so that you can take time away without having to worry too much when you’re gone.
To help you learn how to do this, here are three tips for finding a babysitter you can trust.
Get Some Personal Recommendations
If you don’t already have someone in mind that you can call on when you’re in need of a babysitter for your kids, the first thing you can do is to speak with other parents that you know in your area. The chances of them having someone that they trust to watch their kids is high, so you might be able to get a personal recommendation from them for someone that you could consider hiring as a babysitter.
Before you approach a parent-friend about personal recommendations for a babysitter, make sure you express what things are important to you in a babysitter. The last thing you want is to waste your friend’s time by asking for a recommendation just to find out that this person isn’t someone that you’d be interested in having to watch your kids. So if there are certain things you’re wanting from a babysitter, make sure you know those beforehand and express them before getting recommendations.
Know The Qualifications
For many parents, there are certain qualities or qualifications that they want a babysitter to have before they watch their kids. These things may change based on things like how many kids you have, how old your children are, and if there are any special needs that a babysitter should be able to handle.
In most cases, parents tend to look for people who have experience with kids, have some kind of safety training, are easy to communicate with, and seem like fun, trustworthy people. If these things are important to you, or if there are other things that you need from someone trusting with your children, make sure you ask these questions of the prospective babysitter before you hire them.
Ask For And Call Their References
Once you think you’ve found someone that you’d like to try as a babysitter for your kids, you should ask them for references from people who they’ve worked for in the past. If they don’t have any references or don’t want to give them to you, this could be a red flag.
When you’re speaking with references, make sure you ask them about how they were as a babysitter, what they did well or didn’t do so well, and if they’d hire them back to babysit again. You can also run a background check to make sure this person is who they say they are.
If you want to have trustworthy babysitters that you trust you watch your children when you’re away, consider doing the steps mentioned above.
