Hiring a Babysitter for the First Time

“Has anyone hired a babysitter lately? Where did you find a good one and what is the going rate?”

That was the exact message I sent to my mom’s group. 

And nobody had an answer.

My guess is that the pandemic made everyone (including myself) hesitant to have “strangers” in their house. 

A quick search of the internet was also not extremely helpful. 

Well, I believe that one of the best ways to learn anything is to take action and see what happens. So, here is everything I’ve learned and tried along the way to hiring a babysitter for the first time.

Where to Find a Babysitter?

When I think about hiring a babysitter, I’m referring to a local independent sitter, usually a high school student.  Personally, I’m not interested in hiring from an agency so if that’s what you’re looking for, this article probably won’t help much.

There are a few different places you can start to look for a babysitter, depending on your needs and preferences.

  • Local mom’s group
  • Community league babysitter registry
  • Referrals from other parents
  • Local facebook group
  • Google search

After my local mom’s group was a bust, I reached out to my community league babysitter registry.  They asked a few questions to get a good idea on what I was looking for and then sent me a few contacts to look into.

The benefit of the community league registry is that it only includes local babysitters.  And the majority of the sitters on our list were students.  Exactly what we were looking for.

Babysitting was one of my first income sources so I’m more than happy to support students by hiring them.

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How to Pick a Babysitter?

While a benefit of a community league babysitter registry is local students, a downside is that you will have to vet them yourselves to 1 – see if they are a good fit, and 2 – verify their credentials, training, and experience.

When it comes down to it, they are your kids, and you need to select someone that you are comfortable with taking care of them.  Because of the pandemic there were years where we were only comfortable with family.  So although I had a goal of finding a babysitter in 2020, I didn’t actively pursue completing this goal until 2022.

Here are some things to look for when hiring a babysitter for the first time:

  • Experience – how often have they babysat? What ages of children? How many children at once?
  • Training – have they taken a babysitting course? First aid course? Other relevant training?
  • Rates – what is their current rate? Does it fit within your budget?
  • Availability – does their availability match your needs?
  • Gut feeling – how are they with your children? Does it feel like a good fit or not?

Once we received a list of names, we sent them all an email to see if they would be a good fit for what we were looking for and if we would be a good fit for them.  The majority of the potential candidates we emailed responded.  This made it easy to screen some out because our needs were not compatible.

The Meet & Greet

While we obtained some information through email and text, we still wanted to meet our potential babysitter(s) before committing to hire them. This is an especially important step if the person you’re looking to hire hasn’t been referred to you by someone you know and trust. 

We set up a meet and greet with 3 potential babysitters during different times.

The meet and greet was an hour long and we paid the babysitters for this time.  All of them tried to refuse payment, but it’s important for young people (especially young women) to understand that their time is valuable. So we insisted on payment and they all eventually accepted.

Here is how we structured our meet and greet:

  • 15 minutes welcome with whole family
  • 30 minutes playtime – babysitter and kids (away from parents)
  • 15 minutes family time

During the first 15 minutes we got to know the new potential sitters, the middle 30 minutes was to see how they would respond to our kids (and vice versa), and the last 15 minutes was a sort of wrap up.

This schedule may not work for you depending on your kids and the time you have, and maybe it’s overkill. But it ended up working great for us. 

I also wanted to make it easy for my kids to interact with new people so I ensured we were playing something they enjoyed when the babysitters arrived. This also made it easy for the babysitter to interact with our little ones. Playing got rid of any awkwardness.

What Questions Should You Ask a Babysitter?

During the first 15 minutes of the meet and greet I tried to ask all the questions I could think of without feeling like I was interrogating them.  We had already received a bit of information from them from the original email introduction.

In no particular order, here are some questions you may want to ask a potential babysitter:

  • What is the latest time they feel comfortable babysitting at night?
  • What experience do they have babysitting children with ages similar to yours?
  • Is there anything they do not enjoy about babysitting?
  • Are they comfortable with cloth diapering? (if you use cloth diapers)
  • What relevant training do you have? (if you haven’t already asked this in your email)
  • How comfortable are you with bedtime?
  • Are you comfortable taking the kids for walks or to parks? (essentially leaving your home)
  • How do you prefer to be paid? Cash? E-transfer?

We also asked if they had any questions for us.  Here are some of the questions we were asked (so you may also want to be prepared to answer them)

  • Do you children have any allergies?
  • How do your kids respond to you leaving?
  • What are your children’s routines?
  • How often are you looking for a sitter?
  • Besides watching the kids, do you have any other expectations?

How Much Does a Babysitter Charge?

When we first started looking, I had no idea what the going rate for a babysitter was.  It has been decades since I babysat.  And at the time the rate was $3-5/hour, and minimum wage was $5.90/hour.

After a bit of research I’ve found the current range in our area to be anywhere from $10 – $25/hour for 2 children. This is for an independent babysitter not affiliated with an organization – those rates are often higher.  The range also is set individually.  The higher end rates were charged by adults while the lower rates were from students with less experience.

What Info Should You Leave for a Babysitter?

Whenever a babysitter comes to watch your children it’s a good idea to have important information readily available for them.

This information may include:

  • Emergency contact information (if they can’t get ahold of you)
  • How to get ahold of you (if it’s different from what they already know)
  • Relevant safety information (for example, location of a fire extinguisher)
  • Home access information (keys or key codes)
  • Any other information that may be specific to your child or that babysitting instance (bedtimes, favourite toys, routines, etc.)

You will want to provide your babysitter with enough information that they (and you) feel comfortable.  But not too much to overwhelm them. They don’t need to have a minute by minute schedule of what to do or expect.

Remember, you have screened this person and trust them.  And if after the first few times things don’t seem to be working out, you can always use what you learned from the process to hire your next babysitter.

Hiring a Babysitter for the First Time – Steps Recap

Here is a checklist of steps you can follow when looking to hire a babysitter for the first time (or if you’re looking for a new babysitter).

  • Compile a list of potential sitters
    • Local mom’s group
    • Community league babysitter registry
    • Referrals from other parents
    • Local facebook group
    • Google search
  • Email potential candidates 
    • Tell them a bit about your family and what you’re looking for and ask them to provide you with a short introduction of themselves. If you are unsure of current rates, this is a good time to ask.
  • Set up a meet and greet with potential babysitters.
    • 15 minutes welcome with whole family
    • 30 minutes playtime – babysitter and kids (away from parents)
    • 15 minutes family time
  • Select a babysitter and arrange a time for them to babysit
  • Leave a list of important information for the babysitter
    • Emergency contact information (if they can’t get ahold of you)
    • How to get ahold of you (if it’s different from what they already know)
    • Relevant safety information (for example, location of a fire extinguisher)
    • Home access information (keys or key codes)
    • Any other information that may be specific to your child or that babysitting instance (bedtimes, favourite toys, routines, etc.)
  • Enjoy your child free time
  • Remember to pay your babysitter

Final Thoughts

When we were looking to hire a babysitter for the first time the whole process was sort of like a funnel.  We got the names of half a dozen babysitters and emailed all of them.  Most responded. Some weren’t a good fit.  We met with 3 of them and immediately hired 1.  The other 2 were also great and are now on our “back up” list.

Because I’m a huge fan of supporting students in their entrepreneurial endeavors, we will probably rotate through all 3 babysitters periodically.

And I will admit that the first time we left our little ones with the new babysitter I was slightly apprehensive. The kids weren’t. They were super excited.  But this was the first time that they were in the care of someone other than family.

As it turns out, my apprehension was unwarranted.  Everything went great and the kids are already asking when the babysitter can come back to play with them again.

What about you? Did you learn any tips for hiring a babysitter for the first time?

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