I was a Nanny and I know there are a lot of lazy dodgey people out there who are not the sort you should trust with your most irreplaceable priceless child.
Ask around your Mum's group. Having others taking the first steps for you in my book is
better for you. Someone who has earned a
good reputation has to be good at their job.
I always
charged less for
night time babysitting than day time unless I was puting the kids to bed. I know that is not the norm if you are going through an agency, but as I was my own boss it only seemed fair to me. You
do less, so you should
earn less. I did wash dishes and tidy up even swept floors, but apparently I was unusual in these practices as well, which is probably why I had a waiting list of hopeful clients and only ever placed 2 adds in 4 years in this town alone.
Word of mouth.
In my town (Kalgoorlie Australia) there is a
babysitting club where parents swap around for each other and no money is exchanged. If you don't mind re-paying the favour this may also work well for you.
Firstly it's another parent and secondly they can expect simular service from you, so the stakes are high to impress so you may do the same.
Unless it is a friend doing you a BIG favour, they should always
come to you as that is where your child will be the most comfortable and try to have the child (for night time babysitting)
already asleep prior to the sitter coming, it will be easier, but let them know they will be here incase they wake up and freak out.
Meeting a
sitter first in alert daylight time is always a great idea, but not always possible.
Nearly everyone who hired me did so based on
watching me
inter-act with their children even if I was there through a recomendation.
Kids are like dogs and can sense a bad sort from a mile away. trust your kids, but also bare in mind that they are meeting a brand new person.
If the potential babysitter/nanny, can't win the child around to at least a small play and a simple conversation within 20 minutes, it's probably not the best match up.
When I started in the child care biz. you didn't have to have first aid etc. and until I had my own baby I didn't. I was asked only twice if I did and my asnwer was always "No, do you?" and they didn't.
Don't expect your babysitter to do more than you would do yourself. If you do have your first aid (and it is more popular to do it these days) you have to ask yourself when did you get it, was it only after you had your own kids? Had you ever minded a friends kids or nieces or nephews without a certificate? Unless you have a special needs child (any child with allergies has a special need for example), you really do have to be realistic.
I was extremely trustworthy, loving, prompt, and well prepared and highly recomended, you have to way up if having a first aid cert is worth ditching some other good qualities for.
Your kids are very precious and need the right person no doubt, but go with recomendations from people you know and trust and go with your gut. Just thought I'd add my two cents from the other perspective. That being said I will never ever leave my child with a teenage babysitter.
Use your instincts. Good Luck
(November 2006) (
