Be Comfortable With Your Babysitter
Trust and honesty plays a big part when having a babysitter. For the most part, they are sharing in the growth and development of our children. I know for me it would be hard to leave my three little girls with someone I couldn’t depend on. Unfortunately I have had a few babysitters of this nature. Needless-to-say, they have been sent down the road a long time ago.
You might be wondering how to go about being comfortable with a stranger. This adjustment doesn’t happen over night. Just like any friendship, it will take a few meetings. Some you have to work at, while others, you just click. A good thing to do when looking for your babysitter is to have a few interactive meetings with them before you make a decision. The more you see them around your children, the more your parental instinct will help you. I met with a potential babysitter who wouldn’t even look at my girls. She was so worried about making a good impression for my husband and I, that she forgot the big picture, my girls. If a babysitter can’t be comfortable with your children when you are around, they probably won’t be too involved when you are not.
Asking questions is also a good way to get to know your babysitter. If they are serious about their job, they will be willing to answer all the questions that you have concerns about. I make sure to compare their answers with the references that I call. Could reviews are great, but make sure that they are not just friends trying to help out. You want a babysitter that has honest to goodness references that can shed some light into the life of the babysitter you are thinking about bringing into your home.
Through these questions and interactions, you will be able to narrow down your search to just a few babysitters. Always a good time to do those background checks everyone talks about these days. Be honest with the potential sitters that you will be doing these checks. If any of them refuse, you know that you have probably weeded out all of the bad ones. Do the background checks anyway, even if you are narrowed down to one or two. A parent can never be too safe in today’s society. There are a lot of people out there who pretend to be who they are not.
Once you find the one you think to be your perfect babysitter. Keep in communication with them. Make sure that before you leave and after you get home, you take the time to talk with your babysitter. Through talking, you can find out how the children were and see if there are any concerns that the babysitter has. If there is a problem on either end, make sure to try and work it out together. If you let things muster, they can get out of hand and you can lose the babysitter you always wanted.
Our children depend on us to protect them from things that come up in our lives. This includes the babysitters that we choose for them. If we are comfortable and honest with the person we have chosen, our children will see that and follow our example. If something comes up, they will let us know. At least I know my children will. This way, things can be resolved and we can be comfortable with the decisions that we have made.