Find a good nanny or babysitter is not an easy task. Your nanny must be good enough to take care of your children professionally. These nannies will be responsible for your children while you are away. They will change your kids’ diapers if they are newborns, feed them, drive them and pick them from any given destination, such as school or children daycare. They will assure that your kids sleep on their bed time. This is why nannies and babysitters are essential for many families.
However, there are people who had made a wrong decision on the process of selecting the right nanny for their beloved children. If you are very clear on your requirements as an employer and strict rules about dos and don’ts. Here are some tips on what are the things to be taken into account when choosing a nanny or babysitter:
Tips #1: Ask for their previous experience as a nanny
Getting very clear criteria on a nanny is very important. A well experienced nanny knows how to handle children, how to take care of them, and how to treat them when they are doing some “child’s play”, like crying or tantrums. Inexperienced nanny may not aware about child’s play and become rude with them when they spit-up or crying out loud. It is favorable to ask questions on all the most important aspects, like how nanny will treat the children during tantrums, how to teach them, how to feed them, what to do if they are sick, or what to do when they all wet. There are young babysitters who take care of children mostly as part-time also may be one of your candidate. However, do this selection very carefully. You are going to leave your baby on others arm for few times, so you should take full responsible on selecting perfect nanny.
Tips #2: Is your chosen nanny living near your residence?
Finding a nearby nanny will make your life easier. There are chances for her to be late. However, if she is near, it will be minimized the risk of being late. Apart from that, you can assume that she knows your local area very well. There are cases, where a nanny is great in all the aspects, but she has to travel about few hours to come. That may bring bad issue, such as tardiness. On the other hand, she may not familiar with your local area and may have difficulty in finding stores or a pharmacy.
Tips #3: Look for any references
An experienced nanny will not hesitate to give you references of her previous work. If an experienced nanny hesitates to give references or does not have any, it is better to stop at that point and go for next candidate. The reason is simple: you must choose the best one for your kids.
Tips #4: Ask for ID and fingerprints for background verifications
Nowadays, many babysitter agencies providing these things. You can check their websites to make sure. Background checking is a must as you are going to leave your loving children with stranger. You should have very clear details about this particular person. Sometimes, some may not like to give such details. If that’s the case, make sure they have very good and clear answer for that attitude. If you find that the explanation is reasonable, you can hire them under your own risk. However, this is not recommended. Also, even if you find nanny with the help of nanny agencies, it is important to ask for ID and fingerprints for a background check.
Tips #5: Ask more details about previous job
People who are fond of children mostly choose their career as nanny. These kind of people may express their views on taking care of children for her previous employer, as well as she may explain about how she was treated well by her previous employer. Try to ask more relevant questions related to personal, emotional things and etc, that will show you very clear picture of your candidate. Apart from that, it helps you to understand people well. You can ask about how her relationship with her previous employer. Even when a nanny is well experienced and very qualified with good degrees and other qualifications, there are chances to work with a bad employer. Give a chance to explain those in detail before make a judgment about your candidate. More friendly questions will make her to open up her feeling which helps you to listen and learn about her and decide whether she is appropriate or not.
Note that there are experienced nannies (aged nannies) who do not desire to change their way of caring the kids, as they still in thought that their old methods are still best. It is wise to put up front all your needs and requirements at first point on such things. If your nanny agrees, she will go further on your interview phase, otherwise go for next candidates.
Find a good nanny may be difficult. You need to interview each nanny or babysitter candidates to give you an idea of the abilities and what she is capable of it. It will also give you a clue of her character and how she plans to deal with your children. Always keep in mind that the relationship between your family and nanny is kind of long-lasting relationship. It is very important to put additional care on nanny selection. Good luck on finding your nanny.