5 Tips For Hiring A Summer Babysitter

Before hiring a summer babysitter, you must establish what you family's wants and needs. Some great questions to start you out would be:

• What hours will I need them?
• How much can I pay?
• Do I want someone certified in specialized training courses. CPR, etc.
• Does it matter how long they have been babysitting?
• What strengths do I want in a babysitter.
• Do I need them to cook and clean?
• Will they need reliable transportation?

Start out by making a list on your laptop, cell phone, piece of paper, etc. This list will help you choose the best babysitter for your family. Have the list with you during interviews and ask questions from it. Consider and take note of an applicants answers, their answers will determine if they can meet your family's needs.

Family, friends, and co-workers are a great help in hiring a summer babysitter. They can give you experienced advice and lead you to trustworthy applicants. Ask them about the babysitters they have used and see if they're available for a summer position. If they're not available, ask them who they would refer, and get their contact information.

When interviewing potential babysitters, it's very important to be clear on what you expect from them. Make sure you cover all your bases and that nothing could come up. For example:

• You forget to mention no visitors, now your babysitter has friends and family hanging out at your home.
• You didn't ask about allergies, so your babysitter has an allergic reaction from your cat.
• Your babysitter looks normal and healthy and you forget to ask about health problems. One week later, the babysitter is having daily asthma attacks and unable to care for your children.

As you can see with these examples, you never know what will come up. Better to be safe than sorry, is what we must be when hiring a babysitter. Being clear with each applicant will allow for less confusion and difficult circumstances to arise.

Ask your top three potential babysitters to meet your children. You can pay them to care for your children for and hour or two. Schedule this during lunch, nap, or sometime when you know it will be more challenging. You need to see how each babysitter will react and respond to your children.

 Keep your distance or leave. You could also have a friend or family member stay and then you set up Skype, a video monitoring camera, etc., to observe. With the parents being out of sight, the babysitter has complete responsibility, while the parents keep a watchful eye. Note the way the babysitter responds and what they do and don't allow. Those few hours will help you determine if that person is a good fit for your family.