How to Assess Whether a Babysitter is Responsible and Reliable

When searching for a babysitter, it is extremely important that you find one who is responsible and reliable. After all, you are trusting them with your children for an extended period of time, and you need to know that they will be safe and not put in harm’s way. Aside from an initial interview, there are many other ways you can assess whether a babysitter is responsible and reliable, or if you should look for another one.

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Get Recommendations

When you first start your search, ask around for recommendations from people you already know and trust. Asking people you’re not familiar with online or using babysitter services can be tricky because you do not know these people as well and may not fully trust their opinions. If you have friends in the area with similar-aged kids or kids who have grown out of babysitters, they can give you names, numbers, and already serve as a very trustworthy reference.

Check References

Before officially hiring a babysitter, you should always check their references and there should be more than one. Ideally, a babysitter should have at least three, however for new babysitters, this may be difficult. At least one reference should be vouching for their experience with kids, while others may be about their work ethic. You can ask references about anything pertaining to the position, such as their behavior around children, responsibility, and even including what they liked and didn’t like about the babysitter. While some may have only raving reviews, it is a good idea to see what may have been a con about them, and whether it will fit with your expectations or not.

Preferably, you should be able to contact references by phone, though email is still fine. It will just be better to get a sense of tone and have a deeper conversation over the phone.

Timeliness

One huge key to proving whether a babysitter is responsible and reliable is their timeliness. They need to be on time for interviews, playdates, and of course, their shifts. If they have a habit of running or arriving late, it is likely a sign of poor time management. Accidents happen every now and then, but they should consistently be on time. If you schedule them to come at 10, they should arrive at or before 10 so you can leave as planned.

Their timeliness impacts not just you and your babysitter but also your children. Depending on your child’s age, they may have a busy schedule and need to make practices or be picked up at a specific time, or they need to be fed on a consistent schedule.

Perform a Trial Run

Something else you can do to assess your babysitter’s responsibility is to have a trial run. This can be as short or as long as you are comfortable with, but it needs to be at least long enough that you can properly gauge their skills. While your babysitter is watching your kids during this period, you can stay home but make yourself scarce and finish a few chores around the house, or you can run a quick errand or go out for a walk to give your babysitter a chance to be alone with your kid. Again, what you choose to do during your trial run is completely up to you, but you need to assess how your babysitter interacts with your child.

Set up Nanny Cams

If desired, you can set up Nanny Cams around your home so that you can see how your babysitter acts when you are not home. Now, this is completely up to you, as many parents see it as an invasion of privacy, however, it can be truly difficult to assess their behavior when you are home and if your child does not speak yet. These should be discreet but in an area you suspect your children and babysitter will spend a lot of time. Then, you can check in and see if they are truthful and properly taking care of your children rather than ignoring them, for instance.

Trust Your Gut

Sometimes you just have a bad feeling about someone, despite evidence proving the contrary. It is very important that in situations like this, you simply trust that feeling in your gut as instincts like this are rarely wrong. A babysitter may just not be right for you or your child, and there is nothing wrong with that! There are many babysitters out there, so it is only a matter of time before you find the perfect one for your family.

As you can see, there are many steps you can take to gauge the reliability of any potential babysitters so you get only the best to take care of your child when you’re unable to. It’s important that you do not cut any corners in this process.