Choosing a Babysitter
Choosing a babysitter is not , as the expression goes, rocket science. But selecting a babysitter who you can count on to keep your children safe and well cared for while you have to be away from home is a serious undertaking. Choosing the wrong babysitter can mean creating a series of hassles for you and lots of unpleasantness ( possibly even danger) for your children. When the time comes to choose a babysitter perhaps you will have the good fortune of being able to rely upon adult relatives or neighbors to meet your needs or you may be a financial position which will allow you to employ professional day care services. If you are only looking for someone to periodically hold the fort while you venture out for a Friday night dinner and a movie you may want to select a teen to fill the position. If so it could be helpful for you to consider these guides for choosing a teen babysitter.
1. Know Your Family – Selecting a babysitter means more than just choosing a “nice” young person to come to your house, eat your food, watch your t.v. and try to get your kids to bed. When its time to choose a babysitter it is also clearly time to think about the children. Every family is different and so every babysitting arrangement is somewhat different. Before you select a teen think about the make up of your family what are the genders, ages, interests, behaviors and personalities of your children? What is the chemistry of your family based on? What are the key issues or agendas that a babysitter will encounter. Of course you will never find a babysitter who will be a perfect match for all the needs of your family, so its important to prioritize and to know what needs positively have to be met in order for a babysitting arrangement to work . For example if you recognize that in your family the single most important and taxing task of care is looking to the needs of a 10 month old child, then to hire a 16 year old boy because he can shoot hoops with your 8 year old son probably isn’t a good idea no matter how nice or polite he may be. Or if you know that your 10 year old daughter wants to use the phone every moment of the day, the best match might not be a babysitter who is too polite or restrain ed to make sure that your rules regarding use of the phone are maintained when you are away. The first and maybe most important step in selecting a babysitter is trying to line up your needs with the skills of the potential sitter. Ignoring this matching process can doom your selection process from the beginning.
2.Know the Sitter’s Family – When choosing your sitter a good rule of thumb may be the old adage that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know. This means that when you go looking for a sitter it makes sense to select from a pool that is familiar to you, from families with which you have some acquaintance. It’s not necessary for you to draw your sitter from among the children of your best friends. In fact that sometimes can pose relationship problems for you if the fit between sitter and children is not a good one. But it does help to choose a young person from a family with which you have at least a nodding acquaintance. Choosing a reliable teen from among the hundreds or even thousands of smiling faces is like walking through a mine field. It may look lovely but you never know when you are going to step on something that will blow up in your face. You can reduce the odds that the teenage babysitter you select will create explosive situations for you and your family if you select a sitter from a family with which you have a positive relationship. Perhaps you admire the young person’s parents, are acquainted with other family members, or have watched the sitter grow up in your neighborhood. When you know your potential sitter’s family you have a fair shot at knowing how the young person will work out as an occasional
but important employee.
3.Have an Interview Even though babysitting is only a part-time job and something that may only involve four or five hours a week it is still a job that involves a great deal of responsibility. As a parent you have every right to ask that a potential babysitter, someone who will be in and out of your home and spending quality time with your children, participate in an informal meeting with you so that you might get to know one another. You don’t need to call it an interview, you just need to do it. As you talk to the young person about babysitting take advantage of the exchange to first of all determine if the potential sitter possesses appropriate communication skills. A sitter doesn’t have to talk like a newscaster but he or she needs to be able to let children know who is in charge and what rules will prevail. Good communication skills on th part of your sitter will mean that you rely on more than a one word response to questions about your children’s behavior during your absence.Good communication skills can help your sitter to share important information clearly with you or, in the case of an emergency, with others who might be of help. Leaving your children in the care of someone who fills an interview with shrugged shoulders, nods or blank stares may not be the safest choice you can make.
4. Don’t hire anyone who doesn’t like kids Choosing according to your families needs, selecting someone from a field of known candidates, interviewing to find a sitter who can communicate reasonably will do much to assure that your sitter provides kind of safe environment that will give you peace of mind. The final piece of the puzzle when selecting a sitter is to make certain that your potential sitter in fact really likes kids. The easiest way to determine this is to arrange a play date. Invite your potential babysitter to spend some time ( it only needs to be 15-20 minutes and you can compensate him or her) with your children and observe from an unobtrusive distance. Is the teen engaged? Is he or she smiling and seeming to enjoy the experience? Is there interaction, communication, sharing? Is this a scene that you would be comfortable having repeated over time. If the answer is no, thank the candidate and move on to another possible selection. If the answer is yes than you have a winner.
Choosing a babysitter is serious business. But it is not business that is beyond the capacity of teens to do and do well. Teens can be energetic, observant, cautious, creative and reliable. You just have to choose the right ones
