6 Qualities to Look For in Babysitters

A babysitter is important to have if your work schedule doesn't line up with your child's school schedule, you'll be away for periods of time, or you just want the occasional night without the kids. However, finding a good babysitter that you can trust can be a lot more complicated. With reports of neglectful or abusive babysitters on the rise, you want to make sure that you're hiring the right person. Here are six things to look for in your next babysitter.

1. A prospective sitter should be willing to interview, either in person or one the phone, and will be willing to provide quality references. If your sitter can't point to at least a few satisfied customers, you may need to be concerned.

2. A sitter should be experienced, capable of telling you up front about his or her fee schedule, and capable of answering questions clearly and effectively. Emergency training is a plus, but remember to ask your prospective babysitter to describe that training. Different courses give different qualifications.

3. Your sitter should be up front about his or her schedule and how it will interact with yours. You need to know what kind of availability you're looking at, so you'll be able to plan your absences, and see whether or not this sitter is a good fit. Sometimes a perfectly good babysitter just isn't available when you need him or her to be.

4. Sitters should be listed on a site such as sittercity.com or care.com, directories of babysitters who are serious about the work. While it may be tempting to hire the neighbor's teenager for the job, you probably want more out of your sitter than they can provide.

5. A good babysitter should interact with your children well. Arrange a meeting between the kids and the sitter and see how your children respond, how the sitter treats them, and how you feel about the situation. If you're not comfortable, you may not want to go with this particular sitter. Sometimes a gut feeling is the best thing to go on.

6. Your sitter should be available regularly, so that you won't need to switch. Your children will feel happier if they have the same babysitter every time, and you'll be able to avoid interruptions to your schedule by hiring someone with reliable availability. Make sure that you aren't hiring someone who'll just be a one-off.

Sheila Dollarsby has kids of her own and does not trust just any babysitter. She uses recommendations from Sittercity and Care.com. She also uses their recommendations for pet sitters and adult care.

6 Qualities to Look For in Babysitters
By Sheila Dollarsby