How to find a babysitter? - Tips for those who need nanny services

Today, more moms are getting employed full-time or part-time, increasing the need for babysitters. There might be hundreds of babysitters in your area, but only a few are qualified. The last thing you want to happen is entrust the welfare of your child to an inexperienced babysitter. So how do you find a babysitter?

Foremost, several babysitting businesses are sprouting in response to this demand for babysitters. Many high school or college students are also inclined to find extra incomes by babysitting. It is no longer hard to find a babysitter. The difficult question to answer is, "Can you trust a babysitter?" Thus, the question should be, "How to find a babysitter you can trust?" Now that's a totally different one.

If you're searching on the Internet to find a babysitter from online babysitting clubs, you might have a rundown of babysitters within your own zip code. These online babysitting sites usually have a database of babysitters residing in different states. What you do is type in your zip code and view babysitter profiles.

This can be an opportunity to select a few babysitters with profiles that match your preference. Do not stick on one babysitter. Instead, interview a few, one at a time, and go on to another batch if none of them would meet your expectations. Don't rush when trying to find a babysitter. Often, many parents rush at finding a babysitter but regret, eventually. Some babysitters do this job solely for the money, which make them sloppy at childcare.

Another good way to find a babysitter is through words of mouth. Most experienced babysitters had probably watched over your neighbors' children several times. Ask your neighbors for babysitters whom they trust and see if she is available when you need her. Most babysitters are college or high school students, or may have full-time jobs, that baby-sit only during their spare times.

Through Job Posting

Many babysitters are simply waiting for job postings of parents. You may post them around your neighborhood or the next and wait until babysitters start calling you. Be sure that the telephone number you indicate is easy to reach. You may use the direct line to your office phone number or better yet, your cell phone.

Job posting may also be done in babysitting online sites, where babysitters may find you. However, these sites require subscription. It's up to you to subscribe to them for a fee or stay to the traditional paper job posting.

Find a babysitter whom you can trust, is reliable, responsible, and someone who will truly care for your child.

Deciding whether you need nanny services can be difficult. Some are faced with the dilemma of wanting to raise their children themselves but the realities of their work life may make this quite difficult, if not impossible. There are other childcare options that you can consider aside from hiring a nanny such as bringing your child to a daycare facility.

If you sure you need nanny care for your precious child, then you need to determine what type of nanny service to get. There are different kinds of nannies depending on the needs of the family. There is a daily nanny who will come to your home everyday to look after your children. There is also a live-in nanny who, obviously, will live with you in your home. You will provide them room and food in addition to their pay. If you need nanny care only in some days during the week, you can consider another nanny arrangement called nanny sharing, wherein you and another family shares the services and the cost of one nanny.

Once you have decided what type of nanny your child needs, it is time to think about the specific job description of the nanny. Be very specific about your expectations. Ask yourself why you need nanny services and translate this into a list of requirements that candidates must meet. Make sure that you and your partner give the hiring process your time and attention even if you decide to get placement services. Remember that you need nanny care for your child or children when you are away, which may be most of the time. Therefore, it is your responsibility to make sure a capable person will be taking care of them.

Some things that you can look for in a qualified nanny include training certifications. Taking the time to complete a nanny certification program shows that the person is serious about his or her job. You also want someone with adequate experience taking care of kids the same age as yours. The ideal nanny should also be naturally warm and creative to stimulate the development of the child.

You should also expect the nanny to be able to plan appropriate learning and play activities for your child on a daily basis. It is also important that the nanny is confident enough to approach you should there be any problems that need your attention. Above all, you need a nanny who you can trust and who will keep your private family affairs confidential. Speaking with the applicant’s former clients is one of the best ways to learn about the attitude and work ethics of your prospective nanny.

Hiring full time nanny services is very common today especially in homes where both parents work. Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to hiring getting a full time nanny. On the good side, it allows you to provide dedicated care to your child instead of the typical scenario in a child care center where 1 adult looks after 4 children. This also reduces the risk of your child getting colds.

Additionally, if you hire a full time nanny who came from another country or who speaks another language, then you expose your child to learning about different cultures or possibly, becoming bi-lingual.

The obvious disadvantage is just the idea that a complete stranger will be taking care of your child. However, with proper screening you can make sure that you get a capable and reliable full time nanny. Here are some tips to help you succeed in your search:

First, sit down with your spouse and list down what both of you want in a full time nanny. Include the working hours you require, if you prefer someone to stay in your home (live-in nanny), the level of experience you require, the exact duties you expect them to perform, and others.

Using this list of requirements, prepare a list of questions so you make sure that you cover all important points during an interview. Make copies of this questionnaire so you can record the answers of applicants for your quick reference when you need to make your decision. In addition, make sure to ask each candidate about their expectations of the job.

Once you have screened applicants on the phone, the next step is to personally interview those that have made your short list. It is important to meet your prospects and introduce them to your child so you can observe how they are together. Look at how they interact with each other. It is very crucial that your child is at ease with the person.

Just like in the screen process, you need to prepare a list of interview questions. The tone of the interview does not have to be very formal. You can simply have a conversation around the topics that are important to you. Do not ask close-ended questions or those where the applicant will only answer either yes or no. Encourage discussion by being friendly and polite.

Once you have made a decision, it is imperative to do a background check to avoid unpleasant surprises in the future. You want to be secure in the fact that you have made the right choice in a full time nanny.

Almost all busy, working parents need a nanny to take care of their child and, sometimes, their household chores. Finding a nanny is not an easy thing to do. You may have to go to an agency, put an ad in the newspaper or ask for help from a friend in finding a nanny.

Below are some tips on finding a nanny:

When finding a nanny, you need to identify the number of hours that you will require the nanny to work. If you are that busy and if your schedule frequently changes, you should make sure that you will inform your nanny beforehand if you need her to stay with your child overtime so that she can make the necessary adjustments in her personal life. This is very important for a live-in nanny. The nanny may feel mistreated if you are constantly requiring her to work more than the hours you agreed upon when you hired her.

It is important that you decide on the pay right from the start. Consider the amount that you can afford before finding a nanny. Ask people you know who have nannies how much pay they provide so you have a realistic basis. Live-in nannies get pay weekly including board and lodging. Some families allow nannies the use of a car and other perks such as gym membership, paid vacations and etcetera.

Nannies that are not live-in get paid by the hour. You can also hire a nanny from another country for a lower weekly pay. However, you would need to pay for their travel expenses. When finding a nanny, you also need to consider the fact that you will become an employer so you need to take care of completing all of the necessary legal employment documents required by the government and pay all necessary taxes, Medicare and social security. Both you and your nanny will have to pay certain taxes.

In finding a nanny, it is important that you and the nanny are in the same page when it comes to disciplining your child so make sure to discuss with your prospects what is acceptable and what is not and be sure that all of your terms are understood.

Another consideration in finding a nanny is the schedule of rest days. A live-in nanny and any type of nanny also needs a time off like any regular employee. At the same time, make sure to pay your nanny for overtime work or of you asked her to work during her supposed time off. If there is a need for the nanny to travel along with you and your family, you should cover all of her expenses plus her regular pay.

When you make an offer that shows a prospective nanny that you respect their profession and value their services enough to give them honest pay and good working schedule, then finding a nanny should come easy.


Find information about Canberra babysitters and hire canberra babysitters today.

Making Sure Of Success With Nanny - Step-by-Step Approach for Finding a Nanny

It can be an overwhelming process to hire a nanny, nanny contract can be a good tool that you can use during this process. This will help to make sure that all the terms and conditions of the job are properly understood by you and the candidate for nanny job before hiring her. The most important mistake that can happen during the process of hiring the nanny is being unclear about your expectations. You should tell her directly about your expectations from the beginning, it will help you to make sure that there are no issues in your relationship with the nanny during the job.

Communication is important
Clear and open communication is one of the very important elements of a good relationship between the parent and nanny. Families who promote an atmosphere where communication is appreciated will set a good example for the children and nanny too. A detailed nanny contract that is that is signed by both the parties before the process of hiring is complete is the first actual step in a good relationship between nanny and family.

Because of the working atmosphere which is untraditional in majority of nanny jobs, nannies are always expected to work for long hours and the barriers of expectations between the nanny and family can daze easily. This is the fact for all nannies, but live-in nannies go through this a lot. A nanny contract should develop these barriers from the first day of job so that parent and nannies are comfortable in understanding what to expect. One of the main reasons of argument is high salary demands by nannies and additional working hours and extra work requests by parents. From the side of parents, they are always not happy with nannies using their cars for personal works, leave the house without consent, inviting guests over at night into their house or purchase something that is not approved by them. Usually nannies do not confront the parents for any matter, they try to avoid any type of argument and they just refuse to discuss the issues or any type of unhappiness with the jobs, instead of trying to solve the dispute, they just quit the job all of a sudden.

If you don’t want such issues in your family, you should discuss everything at the time of hiring a nanny.

Follow these step-by-step ways to get a good nanny for your family.

1. Write a job description for nanny: You should begin by writing up a job description that sketches the important terms of employment of your nanny such as work hours, childcare, childcare experience, qualification, special situations and other job responsibilities. There are some questions that you should ask yourself in order to find a good nanny for your family, the questions are: Are you looking for a nanny who can drive? Do you need a live-in nanny? Do you stay out late for work? Are you looking for a nanny who is comfortable with pets?.

2. Tell your colleagues and friends that you are planning to hire a nanny: Tell your friends and colleagues that you are looking for a nanny. You may be able to save money and time by finding nanny with the help of your friends and colleagues. You can get a good nanny easily when a family moves from one place to another or when the working conditions change. These families usually help nannies to find new jobs before moving. Some good nannies may help you out in finding nannies for your family, so if you have a co-worker who has a nanny at home, you can ask her for references. You will increase the chance of getting a good nanny by telling everyone that you are searching for a nanny.

3. Advertising the nanny job in your neighborhood: Let everyone know that you are searching for a nanny by advertising the job in your neighborhood. Make a flier and put it in your local pool, library, toddler and preschool programs and other places. You can also put a classified ad in the newspaper. The best and least expensive way is placing ad in community papers that cover couple of towns. Keep in mind that you don’t provide your home phone number and last name or address in newspapers. Provide your cell phone number and email address for the purpose of contacting you for the job.

4. Make use of online nanny service: Join a reputable online nanny service, membership fees for most of these online services would range from $25 to $50 a month and all of them allow the families to browse the profiles of candidates without any fees. You can compare different services and choose the one that has a list of qualified nannies and join them for couple of months. Take complete benefit of your membership by placing your nanny job and contact as many candidates as possible.

Since the late 19th and early 20th century, the concept of a nanny has already been in practice in modern society, with “nanny for hire” signs already posted on household gates and fences.

A nanny is basically a person whose profession involves looking after the child, or children, of a household. Way back during its inception years, a nanny was pretty much referred to as a “nurse” whose primary duties involved childcare. It isn’t actually surprising to hear of “nurses” taking care of up to three generations of a household’s children, depending on their performance as nannies.

These days, a nanny could either be one who lives in, or out, meaning she/he could be one who lives within the child’s household, or reports in during an arranged time schedule.

The value of picking the right nanny couldn’t be stressed even more than by simply explaining the nature of a nanny’s job. Before taking down that nanny for hire sign, here is something to consider:

Those who put up nanny for hire signs expect nanny applicants to work within a set of responsibilities. Here is a sample list of responsibilities which one should “test” a nanny applicant on, before taking down that nanny for hire sign.

- A nanny should provide child care within the scheduled hours, and should inform the employing family should there be difficulties in keeping with the predefined schedule, regardless of the reason.

- A nanny should support the child, or children, on a creative, physical, social, and intellectual sense.

- A nanny should keep her/his wards away from harm, ensuring their safety above anything else.

- A nanny should provide sufficient nutrition, giving a child, or children, balanced meals, which are rich in vitamins and minerals.

- A nanny, though spending much time with a child, or children, shouldn’t “outstage” the parent, or parents’ role in the child, or children’s lives, keeping the parents informed of a child, or children’s concerns and other issues.

- The cleanliness of the home is also a concern, as the neatness and cleanliness of a house affects the child, or children.

Should an applicant have no problems with the defined set of responsibilities, what hinders one from taking down the nanny for hire sign would be a background check on the applicant.

Ideally, an applicant’s references should be looked upon with scrutiny. If the applicant’s resume stands to suit well with what one is looking for, the whole taking down of the nanny for hire sign would be all that’s left to do.


Find information about Canberra babysitters and hire canberra babysitters today.