Finding the Right Babysitter

Finding the Right Babysitter

Raising twins is hard work. Making sure they eat right, are on a decent sleep schedule, and can master potty-training are just a few of the things we're tasked with TIMES TWO! (Or more if you're burdened blessed with triplets or more.) Another obstacle in the multiples parenting realm?

Finding adequate babysitters.  Hey, Mom and Dad need a BREAK! As any parent of singletons will tell you, picking someone to watch over your kiddos so you can get a chance to breath is no easy feat. Now finding someone who agrees to watch two or more the same age? A lesson in futility, for sure. Even our closest relatives bow-out, admitting that it's not a task for the weak at heart. How do parents find a trustworthy babysitter?  Put babysitters through the FBI profiling gauntlet?  Grill them in interviews as if they’re in an interrogation? We already install high tech surveillance to watch the babysitters in action.  Nanny cams, anyone?  The typical babysitter-busting cameras are even highly disguised as teddy bears so they can be secretly placed among the children’s things, and go unnoticed. It isn’t just trustworthiness we require.  We need skills! Very particular sets of skills. Skills the best babysitters have acquired over very long babysitting careers. Skills that make the babysitter a dream for people like us…the parents. They need to be CPR trained. They need to be agile and athletic enough to get to a choking child fast enough to Heimlich them OR to get them to a hospital if need be! Maybe they don’t just need to pass FBI profiling…but they should pass FBI training?  Obstacle course training to show that needed agility.  Lie detection so they can spot kids who’ve not brushed their teeth.  Arms training in order to be proficient with Nerf?  You could set up a grueling obstacle course between your driveway and front door for potential babysitter candidates to make it through prior to their just as grueling interview, timed of course!  Call it the pre-interview…if they’re too slow, they don’t even get the interview.  Step lively, grandmas!  Not sure a walker could be used to make it up a salmon ladder anyway.  In all seriousness, we do have to vet the babysitter that intends to care for our precious cargo. We want them to be trustworthy. We want them to be able to handle emergencies in the worst case scenarios. And, “in this day and age” doesn’t really need to be talked about because we all know the perilous and often sad world we’re living in. It does need to be taken into consideration when dealing with people who are going to take care of your kids that can’t care for themselves. We’re not all lucky enough to have the 16 year old family friend two houses down or so-and-so’s grandma who has taken care of every kid in the town through the years. These come pre-vetted. Most of us have to seek unknown sitters. Whether you’re ripping a strip off of a bulletin board advertisement or calling an agency, you’re inviting someone you don’t know into your home. So how do you find a babysitter for your children?

-Look towards establishments that you trust, such as churches and schools. They often come with great recommendations. Heck, sometimes even teachers moonlight as sitters themselves.

-Other parents can also offer tested word-of-mouth advertisement for sitters they’ve used. These recommendations would be the equivalent of a resume and recommendation letters, which work in the business world.

-Neighborhood Facebook groups often have recommended suggestions, with people commenting on their experiences, as well.

-Don't be afraid to "test-drive" a new candidate. Meet them at a park close-by with your kids, and see how they interact with them. We all know how difficult it is to corral a pair of 3 year-olds in an open setting. It could be just the test that's needed to see how your prospective employee does. Let’s face it, no one would recommend Jason Voorhees as a camp counselor, Michael Myers as a babysitter, or John Wayne Gacy as an ice cream salesman. The recommendations confirm a proven track record. If the babysitter didn’t steal from other people you know and sufficiently took care of their kids, then a level of trust should be there that they’ll treat you the same. A needed break could be closer than you think! 

Be sure to check out our other parenting advice.