Parents need time to themselves to enjoy a date night, a weekend getaway for their wedding anniversary or to attend to a doctor’s appointment without having to take all their children along with them. What questions should you ask during a babysitter interview?
What Would You Do in an Emergency?
It is vitally important to ask this question during an interview. No one wants to plan for an asthma attack or an epileptic seizure, but these emergencies can occur while parents are absent. They need to feel confident that their babysitter has the ability to cope well under stress during an emergency that might come up. Does the babysitter have CPR and basic First Aid certification? If not, would they be willing to obtain the necessary training?
Prospective babysitters who ask for emergency numbers to contact you, doctors or anyone else are just the kind of people you want caring for your children, as they have already thought ahead to what needs to be done during an emergency.
How Do You Resolve Conflicts Between Children?
This is not meant to be a trick question! Parents have a right to know how their next babysitter will cope if their son and daughter get into a fight, requiring the intervention of the babysitter. Will she listen to both sides of the argument? How does she feel about taking the parents’ lead in administering appropriate discipline?
If the babysitter seems at a loss for what to say, she may not have considered what to do during fights between siblings. While this in itself is not worrying, the fact is that a babysitter who does not feel confident about dealing with conflicts may be either too harsh or too lenient with your children.
How Do You Plan to Entertain My Children?
If a candidate’s idea of entertainment includes letting your children fend for themselves out back while they play video games, or watch a video, you need to keep looking. Teenagers may have gained years of babysitting experience for caring for younger brothers and sisters, but that does not always make them the best candidates for the job, especially if they just got into the habit of putting their siblings to bed while they had their boyfriends stay over.
Ask for specific games and activities that they plan to use if they are hired for the job. This can help weed out candidates who put on an elaborate show in front of the parents, but are careless in discharging their duties once they are left alone with the children. Checking references from satisfied parents and children they have worked with in the past can help back them up as they apply for this babysitting job.
Parents who are searching for just the right babysitter for their children need to be armed with a list of questions that they plan on asking during the interview. The right babysitter will know what to do in an emergency, stay calm under pressure, deal confidently and maturely with conflict and plan how they will entertain children if they are hired. Do not settle for anything but the very best. You owe it to your children to hire a babysitter who will put their interests and well-being first.