Whether you’re looking for someone to watch your baby while you and your partner enjoy a date night, or you need someone to pick up your child from school, finding a trustworthy, responsible babysitter can feel overwhelming.
Jaden Light, nurse practitioner at Atrium Health Levine Children’s Rock Hill Pediatrics, offers advice on finding a qualified babysitter, interviewing them, setting them up for success and identifying potential red flags.
Qualities to look for in a babysitter
Light recommends looking for the following qualities in a babysitter:
- Experience caring for children of a similar age
- First aid and CPR certification, including infant CPR if you have a baby
- Good communication skills
- Positive references
- A clean background check
How to find a qualified babysitter
Here are a few places to start when looking for a babysitter:
- Talk to your local family members, close friends and neighbors. Ask which sitters they’ve worked with, who was — and wasn’t — a good fit and why.
- Check with your child’s school or daycare, local community centers or your place of worship. These places may have recommendations for trusted babysitters.
- Ask for referrals through online groups or a local parents’ group on social media.
- Use a babysitting app or website. Many of these online platforms conduct background checks on their sitters and include testimonials from other families.
How to interview and screen potential babysitters
“Once you’ve found a potential babysitter, it’s essential to interview them to ensure they’re the right fit for your family,” says Light.
As part of the screening process:
- Inquire about their experience, availability and skills. Ask them what they would do in a few hypothetical scenarios to assess their problem-solving skills, such as “What would you do if my child refuses to eat their dinner?” or “How would you handle my child having a tantrum?”
- Run a background check and review their references.
- Observe them interacting with your child. “Always do a meet and greet before leaving your child with a new sitter,” says Light. "If this is not a person you know, consider doing a public meet and greet outside the home perhaps at a park or cafe.”
- Trust your gut. “Even if a prospective babysitter meets all of the requirements, if something doesn’t feel right, perhaps they aren’t the right sitter for your family,” says Light.
Set your babysitter up for success
Once you’ve found and vetted a babysitter, start with a trial run or supervised visit. Have the babysitter watch your child for a few hours while you’re in the home.
Before each babysitting session, be sure to provide a written list of the following:
- Emergency information, including your address and closet major intersection, and contact information for you, your partner, your pediatrician, a grandparent or neighbor, the local police department and fire department, and poison control. Tell them where you’ll be and in what circumstances to call 911 before contacting you first.
- Your child’s medical information, including allergies, insurance information and date of birth.
- Safety protocols, including where your first aid kid is located, if any rooms are off-limits to your child and fire escape plans.
- Expectations for discipline and child behavior management.
- House rules, such as meals, screen time limits and bedtime.
- Your child’s routine for that time of day, such as mealtimes, bathtime, playtime and bedtime.
Be sure to also:
- Give them a tour of your home so they know where everything is, including your child’s diapers, clothes and favorite toys. If applicable, show them how to operate the TV remote and oven.
- If the job falls during mealtime, leave them a pre-made meal, meal ingredients or money for take-out.
- Go over safety rules, such as keeping an eye on your child at all times, safely placing your baby in their crib, avoiding choking hazards, (like coins, balloons, hard candy or popcorn, depending on your child’s age), and chopping food into small pieces.
- Encourage them to share their feedback after a babysitting session. Ask how everything went and if they have any questions or concerns.
Babysitting red flags
As a parent, you also want to be aware of babysitting red flags, including:
- Your child has unexplained injuries, such as scrapes or bruises.
- The babysitter avoids questions about their activities with your child or doesn’t respond to your check-in texts.
- Your child seems dirty, uncomfortable or anxious when you return home.
- Your child has increased moodiness, fearfulness, crying or regressions with sleep, potty training or meals.
- Your child isn’t happy to see the babysitter when they arrive and doesn’t warm up to them after about 15 minutes.
- Your babysitter doesn’t seem to follow your house guidelines. For example, your child wasn’t served the dinner you left in the refrigerator or they’re still awake when you get home even though it’s past their bedtime.
- Your child expresses discomfort or confusion about physical boundaries, such as unwanted hugs or touches from the babysitter.
- Learn how you can help your child understand and establish body boundaries.
If your child is verbal, ask them what they thought of the babysitter. Did they have fun? Would they like to see them again? This can give insight into how comfortable your child feels with the sitter.
“Finding a good babysitter takes time and effort, but once you do, they can become a wonderful addition to your child’s life,” says Light. “Just remember to establish open communication with your sitter, watch for potential red flags and trust your gut if something doesn’t seem right.”
Looking for more expert advice? Find a Levine Children’s pediatrician near you.
