East Bay Mom and Local Babysitting Agency Owner Offers Key Tips for Hiring a Great Babysitter

Returning to work, need some child free hours to run errands during the upcoming holiday season or planning a date night? Whatever the reason, searching for an experienced, safe sitter for your family can be stressful. Christina Waite, an East Bay mom of two, and owner of SeekingSitters San Francisco East Bay Inland offers some key screening and safety advice for parents.

1. Do your own in-depth interview: notice if they show up on time for the interview, dress appropriately and ask good questions about your children, such as if they have allergies, and what they like and dislike. Do they act like a professional? What kind of childcare experience do they have? What kind of activities or educational games do they like to play? Ask them how they would handle different scenarios with your children.

Listen as much for what they don’t say as to what they do. Have they left out time periods when they weren’t babysitting? Learn how long they’ve been CPR and First Aid certified and ask for proof.

2. Get solid references: Ask for several recent job references; then take the time to thoroughly check them out. This is often the most overlooked step, especially if a friend or colleague referred the sitter. Talk to their referees about how the sitter handled difficult situations, an emergency or discipline. Also find out how the sitter interacted with the children. Did the children like the sitter and want them to babysit again?

At SeekingSitters we interview all sitters in person and perform a thorough reference check before our private investigators begin their screening process. We recommend this process for anyone hiring a child care provider.

3. Do a background check. Note: all background checks are not created equal. Find a reputable background screening company that screens the following for each applicant: (and screens nationwide): personal character history, address history, criminal records and civil records.

Make sure there’s a person – preferably a licensed private investigator - verifying information. Don’t rely on an automated online service. Even a misspelled name can bring back inaccurate or incomplete information.

You can hire a company like SeekingSitters with in-house private investigators to conduct one-one-one interviews and carefully review a babysitter’s criminal and work history no matter where they’ve lived across the country. SeekingSitters also verifies the sitter’s CPR and First Aid certification.

4. Have the sitter watch your kids for an hour while you’re at home. This is a great way for you to watch how they interact with your kids and a great way for your kids to test out their sitter. Does the sitter check her phone all the time or have the kids watch TV? If things go well during the one-hour together, you’ll feel better about leaving them alone together later.

5. Trust your instincts: is this a person you want to leave home alone with your children? What does your gut tell you about the person? If you have any nagging doubts, don’t hire them.

6. In-home Monitoring (nanny cams): if you properly do the steps to screen the sitter coming in your home you can ensure safety for your children. However, if you feel you need to add additional comfort, bring a two way camera into your home. In lieu of hiding the camera, put it out in the open and let the sitter know that the kids can stop by the camera anytime to say ‘hi’ to mom or dad!

Follow these steps and you can relax knowing that your children will be at home in safe hands.

For more information visit our website at www.seekingsitterssanfranciscoeastbayinland.com