Having been given the privilege to travel and work at the same time, I can already imagine myself a busy mom in the future. Well, not yet in the same shoes as my colleagues, I can already feel the pressure of juggling between trying to be a good provider (especially when you’re a single mom), a good wife and an ideal mother. How do my girls try to fit all these in a box and still carry on? Well, some of them would need to go into the process of choosing a baby sitter to juggle all their work and chores.
Kristy shrugs and says, well, I have a trusted baby sitter at home!
Zahrih will just say, you’ll be lucky if you have my baby sitter but I’m not giving her away! (laughs!)
It ain’t easy to find someone to entrust your baby with. You will be taking all the risks! I have been a baby-sitter myself. In the some parts of the world, it could be easier to baby-sit your siblings, nephews and nieces or even your neighbors’ kiddos because you grew up in the same culture or trudged the same path of growing up. In all other races, it could be different. I needed to have a lot more patience and lots of love for kids!
Now, how do you really choose the perfect baby sitter you can trust? Having gone through a bit of a process, I’d love to share these with parents!
1. Conduct an interview. Look at her in the eyes. If possible, ask for a copy of the baby-sitter’s CV. It may be too much to ask but in most countries, parents better be sure who they entrust their kids with even just for a couple of hours. You can even provide her a Biodata form to fill out because it is important that you will know where she lives and her family background. Ask her questions about her experience in handling kids or how many kids she have and anything that will give you idea about her personality.
2. Good communication skills. During the interview, you will already be able to find out if your sitter is good in communicating. It helps a lot! Once you leave your kid with her, she can’t just sit and stare at your baby. She has to have the energy and the words to communicate. During emergencies, your sitter should have the guts to communicate with neighbors or key people nearby.
3. Make sure your nanny loves kids/babies. You will see if there is that twinkle in their eyes once the baby sitter looks at your child. Moms have the instinct, so for sure, you will feel that too. You wouldn’t want or even your baby wouldn’t want a grumpy sitter. (lol) You have to make sure too that your nanny will care for your kids and will love them so that she will take care of them like her own kids.
4. Do a little background check. This may sound a little too much but it’s better to be sure. Well, it helps for a baby sitter to belong to a big family. That way, she knows how to handle certain situations with kids or with just your baby. It would also help if she has done it before. You may ask for references too!
5. Health Check. You wouldn’t want to jeopardize your baby’s health so you would also want to check if your sitter is healthy enough to take the responsibility. I can recall that we had a baby sitter for my younger brother who had so many lice on her head. We wondered why my brother had been scratching his head, only to find out that he got lice too. Upon knowing that, we had to fire the nanny. It was our mistake that we didn’t check her health condition. At least it was just lice and not something else.
Every time I would need to baby sit for a new family, I have to undergo such process and I understand why they have to do that. And you! Yes you dear one! Before saying yes to a supposed Cool Nanny, run through the process quick. Baby sitters sure make busy lives easier but you also have to be sure it’s the “EASY” the way you want it to be. Anyway, a happy home’s got cheerful kids, lovely parents and – a COOL NANNY!
It may not be easy to choose a baby sitter that you can trust but for sure, you will be able to get the right one. Most of the time, we would hire the wrong ones first before finally meeting the right person that can be trusted in taking care of our little loves when we are busy with work and we are away from home.
It may not be easy to choose a baby sitter that you can trust but for sure, you will be able to get the right one. Most of the time, we would hire the wrong ones first before finally meeting the right person that can be trusted in taking care of our little loves when we are busy with work and we are away from home.
Image Credit: Free Digital Photos