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When you need child care for an evening, it can be tough to find a babysitter. Maybe you’ve got a family friend who needs some extra money and could stay with your kids, or maybe their older siblings could stay with them. If not, you might need to hire a professional.
Here are some tips for finding a great babysitter so you can enjoy your evening without worrying about the kids.
If you’re hiring a professional, not just looking for a family friend to sit with the kids, then you’ll want to go with someone who has a good track record. You want to hire professionals with experience so that they have a wealth of knowledge to draw on when they’re taking care of your youngsters. This goes double if any of your children have special considerations, like food allergies or disabilities, that might require more specialized care.
Someone with a wealth of knowledge could also be preferable due to their track record. Someone with a decade of childcare experience is likely very good with kids. If they weren’t they probably wouldn’t be in the business of babysitting for very long!
With that in mind, make sure you do your research when you’re hiring someone as a babysitter. You want to make sure that the person you’re inviting into your home to stay with your children is trustworthy and safe to be with kids. There are online ratings through some jobs listing boards that you can check to make sure that a given babysitter is a safe choice to bring into your home.
This is somewhat synonymous with making sure the sitter is experienced, so these two steps will usually go hand-in-hand.
The most important thing with any sitter is that you need to make sure they get along well with your kids. If your children don’t care for a babysitter’s specific style, they’re not likely to have a good time staying with them. There are some babysitters who are well-reviewed, experienced, and friendly but make for a terrible fit with your kids in particular.
That’s nothing for anyone to be upset about, it’s just a matter of taste. Meanwhile, some babysitters might be less experienced, and maybe even seem like your second choice, but they hit it off immediately with your kids. In that case, it’s best to defer to your kids’ judgment and go with that pick!
