How To Choose A Good Babysitter?
Parenting is the most beautiful experience in this world. It can also turn very tiring and exhausting, if you try doing everything by yourself without any help. Hence, it is important to find a good babysitter – someone whom you can trust and someone good enough to take good care of your baby and is available when you need them. How to find a good babysitter must be your question.
Finding a perfect babysitter who fits the bill is difficult. And if this is your first time, you sure might need some help deciding what to look out for in a babysitter and what not. So here we are, discussing how to find a babysitter. Read on.
Who Is A Babysitter?
As the name suggests, a babysitter is someone who temporarily takes care of your baby. He/she looks after your baby and supervises when you have to run errands. Even if you go out for dinner, work or simply when you are busy with something that doesn’t allow you to be with your baby, a baby sitter will do the needful.
Does My Baby Need A Babysitter?
This is a question that you must ask yourself. If you keep busy for most of the day, or simply have to go out to run some errands for a few hours and cannot take your baby along, you surely need a babysitter.
[ Read: How To Take Care Of Your Baby ]
How To Find A Babysitter?
Listed below are a few ways by which you can find a babysitter for your baby.
1. Personal Recommendations:
Frankly speaking, this is the most widely used and preferred way of finding a babysitter. After all, it is about leaving your baby with someone for a good part of the day. Personal recommendations put you on the right track as your known ones have already tried that particular babysitter out. Again, what may be right for one, may not be right for you. So never feel pressurised and hire someone only when you are satisfied.
2. Websites:
There are an ample number of websites online, to help you find a sitter in your area. These websites make it easier to view profiles of sitters and look at their recommendations. You can also look at hundreds of others possible babysitters here. But be very cautious to check their backgrounds and integrity.
[ Read: Daycare Vs. Stay-At-Home Parenting – Which Is Better ]
3. Agencies And Trusts:
Lot of agencies and trusts run babysitting services. You may contact any one of them and request them for a baby sitter. They will get back to you with the suitable candidates. The benefit of going through agencies or trusts is that they send you screened candidates. So you do not need to worry about their backgrounds and training. You can find a sitter, based on your requirement.
Things To Look For In A Babysitter:
A Good reference, previous experience and ability to handle emergency situations, Punctuality, being bilingual, flexible, attentive, being patient ,trust-worthy, being neat and tidy and should follow the rules of hygiene, how your kid responds to the babysitter and whether he/she likes him or not.
It is best advised to hold an interview with the babysitter to know him/her better. Once you have selected a babysitter, it is important for you to make your expectations very clear. You must let the sitter know about timings, routine of your baby and also provide him/her with some food. Alternately, you can also leave some money for the sitter to order food. Help the sitter get familiar with your baby’s habits and show him/her around to know where all the important things are kept.
Make sure you leave all important numbers with your sitter to call, in case of any emergency. A babysitter is a caretaker, so be very sure before you hire one. Never employ someone you are not totally sure about. Have you ever had a babysitter for your baby? Tell us how you hired him/her? Tell us more about your experience by leaving your comments below. We always love hearing from you.
[ Read: Questions To Ask When Interviewing A Nanny ]
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