Ashley B (a.k.a AshB2 or the Brunette One from Naptime Tales) is a regular contributor on Great Lakes Bay Moms. You can also check Ashley out at www.naptimetales.com.
We have been struggling to find a babysitter for my daughter and new arrival in November. Part of the struggle is that my husband and I are picky. Any little thing and a person is easily marked as “not right” for our family.
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We recently made it a priority to find a sitter for us, we MUST get a few date nights in a month to keep our sanity. We found someone we were interested in and got a few references to call. I found myself asking “what in the world do I tell/ask these people?!”. So I did what anyone else would do, I Googled it.
Here are some of the questions that I found to be the most reasonable and got me the most information from these references:
1. How long has “sitter” been babysitting for you?
2. How many children do you have? What are their ages?
3. Did “sitter” watch the kids alone or where you home?
4. Was “sitter” flexible about scheduling, was he/she typically available when needed? Was “sitter” reliable?
5. How did your child/ren react to “sitter”?
6. Was “sitter” able to multitask well?
7. How would you describe “sitter’s” personality?
8. Tell the reference a little about your family- number of children and ages, what you’d have “sitter” do…etc. Ask them if they’d have any concerns with your scenario and if so, what would they be?
9. Does the reference have anything to add?
Remember to get all the information you need while keeping the reference’s time in mind. You don’t want to go on a 100 question spree and come across like a total psycho. Good luck!
