This guest post is by Glen Jacobs of Tiny Twig. Learn what qualities you should look for in a babysitter, and how to find the perfect person to watch your kids!
A babysitters is a person who looks after your baby when you are unable to.
Babysitters can come for a set amount of time, or they may even live with you! Live-in babysitters stay at their employer’s house and take care of the child. They are more involved and may also help with household chores. You may also hear them called nannies.
Before we get on to what to look for in a babysitter, you need to figure out what YOU need from your babysitter.
There are a plethora of types in babysitters like emergency babysitting, regular babysitting, overnight babysitting, and more.
Once you know what you need, you can start looking for someone to hire. The best way to find the perfect babysitter is by having an interview and looking for certain traits.
In general, these are the top characteristics that you need to look for while hiring a babysitter.
7 Qualities to look for in a babysitter
Experience of the babysitter
You need to trust the person you leave your baby with. The experience of a babysitter can give you a good insight to how well they’ve worked with other families.
Many parents go with babysitters who have worked with someone they know, but you can always ask for references as well.
Don’t forget to leave an emergency contact sheet for your babysitter!
Responsibility
It is the key factor when it comes to babysitting. A babysitter has to be responsible and reliable.
Babysitters who are responsible will have a plan for the day and be punctual.
Enthusiasm
You need someone playful to keep your child active and engaged.
Someone who is just looking for some extra money without any enthusiasm may not do a great job. You can find that by asking what the babysitter loves about the job during the interview.
Ability to take charge
Babysitters must maintain the authority figure even though they are fun and friendly.
When it comes to boundaries and limits, they should maintain your rules and routine. When the kid is in danger or in any need, the babysitter must take charge like the parent would.
Have a creative and open mind
The babysitter will have different values and morals as she/he is from a different background. Ethnically and culturally, there may be so many differences. You should keep an open mind in order to overcome those.
Be smart
Employers can expect the babysitter to be smart and know the basics of locks, operating appliances, baby outfits, and child-care.
Reliability
Know your babysitter. Get to know their background and talk to them often. You can have peace of mind when you know your babysitter is reliable and your baby is in safe hands. A good babysitter will keep you informed and will arrive on time.
Babysitting during the pandemic
The pandemic has changed so many things for babysitters and parents.
Though parents are working from home, they still find it difficult to give attention to their children because of the workload.
Thankfully, there are online babysitting services. With these services, babysitters can watch over the child using an online platform. When you look for an online babysitter, you must ensure that the babysitter has
- Good internet connection
- Can use video calling apps
- Can use the internet well for games, videos, and rhymes.
- Can help your kid with studies
Employers can look for babysitters who are smart and tech-savvy.
There is so much more you can look for in a babysitter like preparedness, attentive and loving, relationship with babies, and much more. Apart from these things, the chores that your babysitter will have to carry out must be communicated before to have a smooth process. Though it is all based on individualistic needs, a babysitter must have the traits mentioned above to fit in anywhere.
Tips for babysitters
Try to develop all the things that employers are looking for.
Understand the requirements and be creative. You should always follow what is followed in the house and do not try to push anything off-limits onto the child.
If your employer is open-minded, you can talk to him/her about your culture and ask if you can teach the child about it.
You should also be creative when it is time for activities for kids. Creativity and fun will help you connect with the kid more.
The child will learn the most from the surrounding environments. Being a babysitter, you have a lot of responsibilities. One of them is realizing you are influential to the kid and being kind.
It is important in today’s world to learn and preach kindness. Be kind to the kind even when the child is mischievous.
What other qualities do you look for in a babysitter?
Remember, it is OK to ask some tough questions and really get to know your sitter. They will be taking care of your kids, after all!
About the Author
I am Glen Jacobs, a post-graduate in humanities and communications, and an inquisitive person who loves writing. I’m working for https://tinytwig.in/ and my forte is digital marketing and everything that has to do with phones and screens. I am someone who believes that one person can make a change, and that’s precisely why I took up writing, which is the best tool to communicate these days. I have a decade of experience in writing and marketing, and I still find myself learning new things about it, which I want to share with my readers.