Leaving your children with a babysitter can be extremely hard
for you and for your child. The ideal situation would be that you wouldn't need
to have a babysitter and that you could leave your children with family or
friends that you trust. However we know it’s not always the case. When we moved
here it was clear that we had to find someone to babysit Noah. The reason was
simple; I had to eventually give birth to Emma and I needed to have a
babysitter to take care of him while I was laboring.
So we started looking… And we've gone through a couple
babysitters, some really good experiences and some really bad ones. Overall,
this is what we learned.
- Give yourself some time to interview, call references and decide. It’s pretty much stating the obvious but what I mean is that sometimes you need a babysitter for “in 3 days” and you’ll take just about anyone that looks decently fine. You can’t do that. It’s kind of like flipping a dime. You could get a great babysitter or a crappy one. Take the time to interview them, to call their references (DO IT- You’d be surprised!) and perhaps re-interview them if you aren't sure.
- The first time they babysit, make sure to give them all precision in advance so they can arrive, settle down and start right away. There is nothing more annoying than rushing a bunch of last minute information to your babysitter under 5 minutes because you have to go. Also, don’t leave the babysitter for too long alone. If you are having a date night, check in in between the restaurant and the movie. An alternative is to spend half of your “date night” at home. Get ready while the babysitter is there or something… Just to see how she reacts.
- Check in somehow. Obviously not at a time you know the babysitter will be busy but maybe after the kids eat or after bed time. What works best for us is to text. It’s ALWAYS reassuring to hear the babysitter text “Hey, no worries, everything is cool.”
- Nanny cams, I wouldn't hesitate to put them. Feel free to mention it or not, it is your house.
- Once you get home, please check your child for redness, bruises, regular breathing, etc. It doesn't matter if they are sleeping, give them a quick look. If something sounds out of normal, please get them checked especially if they have bruises around their heads or if their respiration isn't regular.
These are the tips we've had to select a good babysitter. We
got lucky and our first babysitter is amazing and we kept her. However, she’s
more of a “professional” babysitter. She has a daycare and she is a mom of five…
We go drop the children off when we need to go somewhere. However, we also
started looking for a teenage/young babysitter to occasionally just come watch
the kids 1 or 2 hours and it’s hard to find good ones.
We had a babysitter that would be so “out of it.” She would need
specific instructions (exactly what to eat, exactly what quantity, exactly
where it is) or she wouldn't do it. We had another two girls who were on
Facebook, used our computer (to log in on Facebook) and texted all night. When
we came back Emma was in a corner crying so much that he had thrown up all over
herself. Apparently she had been crying since we had left (45 minutes about)
and she threw up from crying so much. So they didn't want to pick Emma up
because she was “dirty with vomit.” Yup… I’ll leave that here. They also lied
about their age… So those references, you might really want to re question
everything.
That being said, on your end make sure to keep some food on
the fridge for the babysitters, water, juice… You know, they do get hungry
after babysitting for a couple hours. If you treat them well they will have
tendencies to want to come back and babysit with a lot more motivation.
Good luck on picking a good babysitter for your little ones!
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