Babysitters are heaven sent. They are all amazing, aren’t they? Well, not all of them.
You’re pretty sure that you can’t trust a babysitter just like that. There’s a long list of things you have to do to be able to hire one that you can fully trust.
In some cases, that’s not even enough. Even if you have done everything possible to hire someone whom you think is okay, you can’t be too over confident with your choice right away. As the saying goes, “Trust is earned over time”.
Getting in touch with people who have already hired the babysitter gives you vital information to help you make an informed decision.
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Such is the reason why it’s important for you to really get to know the babysitter well. This is the part where it’s also critical for you to ask for feedback during your screening process from people who have used them.
Getting in touch with people who have already hired the babysitter gives you vital information to help you make an informed decision.
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What To Look Out For
Babysitting is not just a very tedious job. It’s also quite personal. There are some things about the babysitter that you really have to look out for. Although her years of experience, credentials, and other factors are important in your decision-making, there are some facets of a babysitter’s personality that you also have to seriously consider.
Some of these things won’t be obvious at the start. However, over time, you will eventually get to observe them — both good and bad. Hopefully in your case, it will be more of the good than the bad.
Some of these things won’t be obvious at the start. However, over time, you will eventually get to observe them — both good and bad. Hopefully in your case, it will be more of the good than the bad.
Here are a couple of unacceptable behavior from a babysitter. Unfortunately, these unacceptable behaviors can be hard to spot. Hence, it’s vital that you get feedback from your kids from time to time.
4. Becoming Too Familiar
There is a reason why you need to draw a line with a babysitter. If you don’t, she might end up to be very familiar with you and your whole family. That can cause a lot of unnecessary stress on your part.
You don’t want a babysitter who becomes too familiar that she does her own thing. Eventually, she isn’t going to listen to you anymore.
3. Making Excuses
Gauging a babysitter can really be hard. You really wouldn’t know the truth. The babysitter usually has her best foot forward in the beginning. For you to notice that she makes a lot of excuses; would entail you to hire her first.
You don’t want to end up with a babysitter who is always making excuses. You don’t need someone who makes lame excuses for everything.
You don’t want to end up with a babysitter who is always making excuses. You don’t need someone who makes lame excuses for everything.
You want someone who makes things happen. Someone who just makes lame excuses is one who is downright lazy.
You want to avoid hiring a babysitter who makes lame excuses. Well, you can.
2. Not Showing Up
Another unacceptable behavior of a babysitter is unreliability. The last thing you need is someone who doesn’t show up.
It’s hard to gauge a babysitter’s unreliability. That would really depend on your tolerance. You might not mind if she does a no show from time to time.
It’s a different story if the babysitter doesn’t show up on her first day. That just proves she isn’t reliable right from the start.
A babysitter should be true to her word. She should show some professionalism. No parent would want to end up with a babysitter who can’t keep her word. What’s the use of hiring her if she doesn’t show up for the job?
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If a babysitter shows some signs of unreliability, then it’s time to sit down with her and talk things out. Now if she is really unreliable from the start, then you shouldn’t have chosen her in the first place.
Again, the reliability or unreliability of a babysitter is hard to gauge. It would really be up to you. It might be okay with you that the babysitter does a no show once or twice. Again, that’s your call.
Ideally speaking, you would want someone who shows up on time. You wouldn’t want someone who just ruins your plans at the last minute, would you?
If a babysitter shows some signs of unreliability, then it’s time to sit down with her and talk things out. Now if she is really unreliable from the start, then you shouldn’t have chosen her in the first place.
1. Swearing
You wouldn’t want someone who swears in front of your kids. If you could have someone who doesn’t swear at all, better.
Definitely, profanities are huge no nos. Unfortunately, how can you tell of the babysitter doesn’t swear at all?
Sure, you can always ask the babysitter during the interview. You can even list it down as one of the rules she has to comply with. However, how can you actually monitor such unacceptable behavior?
Soon as you become part of the Sittercity community, you can easily gather snippets of personal information about the babysitter from the reviews that have been written by other parents.
You probably won’t be able to spot this particular unacceptable behavior right away. No babysitter will ever admit that she swears. This kind of behavior is just going to surface by itself.
Getting Feedback The Easy Way
There is an easier way to really gather feedback about the babysitter and that’s through Sittercity. As soon as you become part of the Sittercity community, you can easily gather snippets of personal information about the babysitter from the reviews that have been written by other parents.
Such behavior would have been caught by a previous employer and put into writing as a feedback to share with other parents. That is the easiest way to gather some feedback about the babysitter. Hence, Sittercity makes it easy for the members to access the reviews from the previous employers of the babysitters.
As part of the Sittercity community, you can actually get first hand information about the babysitter from her past employers. That works most especially if you want to be very careful with your choice of babysitter.
There’s no doubt that Sittercity is also one helpful way to avoid hiring babysitters with such unacceptable behaviors. The reviews you will find on Sittercity can definitely give you the heads up on babysitters with such unacceptable behaviors.
Have you ever had a bad experience with a babysitter?
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Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate. Click here for details.
A nerd at heart (haha), I have been following and analyzing the world of online sitters for a couple of years now and have seen a lot of innovations and changes in this market. In between taking care of my loving (and demanding 😜) family and writing, I also do a lot of “traveling” on the Travel Channel and Discovery Channel. Read More
I’d be wary of a sitter who is too active on social media.
That’s why I read the reviews from the other parents. From there, I can somehow tell if the sitter is known to do any of these unacceptable actions at work.
The last babysitter I hired (she was recommended by a friend) was so familiar that she scolded my kids as if they were her own. I didn’t like that at all. She had no right to do that. I was pretty shock the I couldn’t call her attention right away. She did it all the time and I finally I got fed up. That was the last time I ever hired a babysitter outside Sittercity. There’s no way I’m doing that again.