More mothers and fathers today are working full-time while raising kids, which means parents are increasingly turning to babysitters and nannies to care for their children at home. Here are some tips for choosing the perfect babysitter for your child:
- Check references by meeting any children the candidate has babysat and observing them for the next 10 to 15 years to see if they grow up to be healthy, well-adjusted adults.
- Comb bus stations for reliable faces.
- Compare Klout scores. Anyone below 75 won’t be effective in helping your child increase his or her brand awareness.
- Evaluate all prospective sitters’ CPR skills by inviting them to stop by while your child is drowning.
- Make sure they can identify a child in almost any situation.
- Remember that by hiring a sitter you’re already abdicating your responsibility as a parent, so don’t get too worked up if something seems off.
- It’s okay to hire more than one babysitter as long as their combined age is 15 years old.
- Ease your reservations about using technology as a babysitter by remembering that no children have ever been inappropriately touched by an iPad.
- Be shrewd by always offering to pay the babysitter half up front and the other half only if your child is still alive at the end of the night.
- Before making any final decisions, ask yourself if you really deserve a night out at all.