Choosing and Instructing a Babysitter

Traditional babysitters offer a great reward of helping grow a new mom instincts in your well known and trusted teens but this is often impractical specially when the baby sitting needs to take place during your entire work day. Finding a good trustworthy baby-sitting is not easy but luckily there are trusted sources on the net and in your community to help you. Qualities to look for include maturity, friendliness, common sense, and a genuine fondness for children.


The recommendations of people you know and trust are your best bet for finding a reliable and capable babysitter. Again, this sometimes is impractical so searching for babysitters online can be quite fruitful at least in searching what is in your local area. Neighbors can help suggest people as can doctors, nurses, daycare workers and even teachers but sometimes you do not get enough information on the babysitters. There are business directories such as Real Latin Pages that can help you find quality bilingual or Spanish speaking babysitters. Online local searches like the ones offered by this directory can assist you in finding what is in your area. What is good about online searches is that most likely the babysitters that are up to date with technology and have pride in their service enough to advertise and have a website on the internet will likely be better educated and more savvy and most.

After you find a good list online, interviewing prospective sitters and checking their references will help you narrow down your sitter choices. Their experience is important but also things you may not have considered such as if he or she is certified in infant and child CPR or has taken a babysitter course such as that offered by the American Red Cross. (Your local YMCA, community hospital, or American Red Cross chapter may have a list of babysitters who have completed their babysitting safety and infant and child CPR courses.)

In addition, consider inviting the sitter over for a dry run while you're at home to familiarize him or her with your household and observe the interactions with your child.

Babysitter Instructions

Well trained baby sitters are a blessing but make sure they know the particulars for your child and their special needs. Go over your child’s temperaments, fears, potential areas of misbehavior, etc. But even more importantly go over their special medical and dietary need if possible. The babysitter should take notes and be able to repeat the information you gave him or her. Of particular importance is to give them a list of contact numbers for you both for regular contact and urgent or emergency contact. Make sure the baby sitter has a list emergency numbers other than 911 such as poison control (which is 1-800-222-1222, it should be posted in a prominent location), number for the child’s general practitioner, numbers to neighbors that might be able to offer assistance in an emergency.

Discuss your rules clearly for the baby-sitter and let your babysitter know your expectations before you leave your home. If you'd prefer that the sitter not leave the house with your child, make that clear. If the phone and visitors are off limits, discuss those restrictions.

Choosing a baby sitter and remember all the instructions to give them can be a bit of research task after all they will be taking care of the most precious things in your life. But with proper online searching and the help of neighbors and others in your community you can find on that suits your needs. Online search directories for local businesses such as Real Latin Pages, Google, and Yahoo can assist you in narrowing down local babysitting businesses that can then come in for an interview.


Visit http://reallatinpages.com/ to support the Hispanic business community in the USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico and take advantage of our free listings even if you are not a Latino business, you can be found by the Latin community that supports businesses that care to cater to the Hispanic-American community.