One of the most difficult tasks for parents, especially if this is their first child, is to separate from their sons and daughters. Once they are born, they need a lot of care and constant supervision, but there comes a time when they need to separate for a while and go out to do other activities for themselves.
For parents to be able to leave their house without their little children, they need to make an important decision first. Who is the child going to be with? The essential thing is that it is someone who transmits confidence, since we are going to leave them with our children, but there are also other issues that must be taken into account when making this decision.
Trust your intuition
As we said, the selection of a babysitter should be based on trust. People give us different sensations and sometimes we do not know exactly why it is, but the feelings are there. Therefore, if the candidate for taking care of your child does not transmit enough confidence, look for a another one.
After all, when you are away from home, you can not take away that distrust you are feeling inside and you will not be at all calm while you are having dinner or doing something else, so the best thing is to find someone who can transmit that good energy to leave without worries.
Value your needs
The reasons why a babysitter is needed are very varied. It can be simply for dinner or going to the movies with your partner and have a few hours of leisure time for yourselves or maybe it is for a longer time and you have to stay taking care of the child at home while the rest of the family is working.
Therefore, you have to look for different skills and characteristics according to your needs. If the babysitter has to stay longer, he probably has to take care of other tasks like making food, so you have to make sure he knows how to handle all the activities he has to do.
Ask about previous experiences and references
Babysitting is a job like any other, that’s why the resumé is as important as in other sectors. You must know where the candidates have previously worked on. Although their previous jobs have nothing to do with childcare, you can get an idea of the type of person they are. For example, if you have worked with the public, they may have a good relationship with people.
Ideally, they should have previous experience working as a babysitter. If so, the ideal is to talk to the people who hired them and ask for their opinions, how they behave with children, and so on. Another option is to ask to your friends and/or relatives if they have had a babysitter they want to recommend.
Let the children know them
In addition to transmitting confidence to parents, you should also have a good connection with the children, since they will be alone with them. Therefore, after a personal interview, and if you are convinced enough, let them spend time with the children and get to know each other.
By this way, you can see how they interact with each other and then ask the children what their feelings have been, if they liked them, if they liked playing with them, if they want to be friends with them, and so on.
Write all tasks
Once you have decided who is going to stay home taking care of your children, it is best to leave everything written: homework, meals, phone numbers, schedules … Although they are easy to remember, it is convenient that everything they need to know is written in case perhaps they have to consult something. In addition, there are some details that are very important, such as allergies or medications.
Leaving your children alone with another person is not easy, but the important thing is that you follow all the advice to be able to leave with the confidence and security that they are with someone responsible and that they will take care of them properly.