Questions to Ask a New Babysitter
Questions for interviewing a babysitter you have not used before, covering experience with your children's ages, first aid, what they would do in specific situations, phone use, rates and availability. Written for parents doing a short interview before a first booking.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How old are the children you usually look after?
Why ask it
An easy opener that quickly tells you whether they have real experience with your age group. Someone confident with school-age children may never have changed a nappy or settled a baby, and those are different jobs.
Who have you sat for recently, and how often?
Why ask it
Regular work for a family or two is a stronger signal than a long list of one-off jobs. It also gives you the references you will actually call, which is the single most useful thing you do.
Are you trained in first aid or infant CPR, and when did you last renew it?
Why ask it
Certification lapses and people forget they have expired. The date matters more than the certificate, and someone honest about being out of date is often more trustworthy than someone vague about having done a course.
Do you drive, and would you be driving my children anywhere?
Why ask it
Worth settling before anything else, since it brings up insurance, car seats and your own preference. A sitter who assumes they will drive and a parent who assumes they will not is a bad surprise on the night.
What would you do if my toddler refused to go to bed and screamed for an hour?
Why ask it
Concrete scenarios reveal much more than asking about their approach to discipline. Listen for whether they stay calm and stick to your routine, or whether the answer drifts towards giving in or getting stern.
What if one of them hit the other, or bit you?
Why ask it
Aggression is common and how a sitter handles it either matches your household or clashes with it. A good answer separates the children, deals with the hurt one first and tells you afterwards without dramatising it.
What would you do if my child fell and hit their head?
Why ask it
You are checking for a sequence: comfort, check, call you, and call emergency services for specific signs. Anyone who says they would wait until you got home has told you what you need to know.
What would you do if a child would not stop crying and nothing was working?
Why ask it
The right answer includes calling you, which some sitters avoid because they want to appear capable. Frustration tolerance with an inconsolable baby is the thing most worth knowing before you leave the house.
What if someone came to the door while we were out?
Why ask it
You want a clear line: door stays shut, unexpected callers are not admitted, and you get a message. Vagueness here often reflects a sitter who has not been left in charge of a house before.
How do you handle a child who says they are not allowed something when I have said they are, or the other way around?
Why ask it
Children test new sitters on exactly this within the first hour. The answer shows whether they will check with you, defer to the child, or make a ruling and cause a fight the following week.
How much do you expect to be on your phone while they are awake?
Why ask it
Awkward but far better asked than assumed, and most sitters appreciate a stated expectation. Setting the boundary now avoids the conversation that otherwise happens after you notice something.
What do you usually do with children in the hours before bed?
Why ask it
Tells you whether their default is a screen, a board game or going outside, and whether they would need suggestions from you. It also surfaces energy level, which matters at seven in the evening.
What would you cook or serve if we left food in the fridge?
Why ask it
Practical, and it uncovers whether they can use your kitchen safely and follow a note. Ask about allergies here too, so it is discussed rather than left in written instructions they may skim.
How would you like me to leave instructions: written, verbal, or a mix?
Why ask it
Signals how they take in information and whether written notes will actually be read. Someone who asks for the routine in writing usually follows it more closely than someone who says they will remember.
What would you tell me about at the end of the evening, and what would you save for later?
Why ask it
You want to hear that anything involving a bump, a refusal to sleep or a difficult moment gets mentioned. Sitters who report only the good parts are trying not to worry you and leave you uninformed.
Have you ever had an evening go badly? What happened?
Why ask it
An honest example, told without blaming the children, is a strong sign of experience. Claiming nothing has ever gone wrong usually means either very little experience or a reluctance to admit anything.
Is there anything you would rather not do, or would not be comfortable with?
Why ask it
Bathing, medication, dog walking and overnight stays sit outside what many sitters want to take on. Asking gives them permission to decline now instead of doing it reluctantly or badly.
What is your rate, how do you want to be paid, and does it change after midnight?
Why ask it
Settle the number, the method and the late-night rate in the interview rather than at the door. Also agree what happens if you are delayed, which is the most frequent cause of friction.
Which evenings are you usually free, and how much notice do you need?
Why ask it
Practical fit matters as much as suitability, especially if the sitter has school or other work. Ask whether they have a backup they trust, since cancellations are what leaves you stuck.
What would you want to know about my children before the first evening?
Why ask it
The questions they ask you are the best test in the interview. Someone who asks about routines, fears, allergies and how the children respond to new people has done this before and takes it seriously.
Interviewing and booking a babysitter
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Running the interview
Meet with the children in the room
How a sitter behaves when a three-year-old interrupts tells you more than any answer. Watch whether they get down to the child's level and follow their lead, or keep talking to you over their head.
Use scenarios rather than principles
Asking what would you do if is much harder to answer with a rehearsed line than asking about their approach to discipline. Pick two situations your children actually create.
Call the references and ask one specific question
Ask the previous family whether anything ever went wrong and how the sitter handled it. General praise tells you nothing; the answer to that question tells you almost everything.
Book a paid overlap first
Have them come for an hour while you are still at home before an evening out. It lets the children meet them without the separation, and it lets you see the interaction unprompted.
What to leave them
On one sheet of paper, on the counter
- Your mobile numbers and a second adult who can be reached if you cannot be.
- Your address, spelled out, for an emergency call from someone who does not know the area.
- Allergies and any medication, with doses and times, written not remembered.
- The bedtime sequence in order, including which cup, which light and which book.
- What is fine to eat and what is off limits.
- Where the first aid kit, torch and spare keys are.
- The name of your doctor or paediatric service, and the nearest urgent care.
Common mistakes
Skipping references because the person seems nice
Warmth in an interview is easy and tells you little about what happens at bedtime. Two phone calls take ten minutes and are the only external check most families ever do.
Leaving rates and finish times unsaid
Money is the most common reason a good arrangement sours. Agree the hourly rate, the late rate and how you will pay before the first booking, not on the doorstep afterwards.
Overloading them with instructions
Twenty rules will not be remembered; five will. Decide what genuinely matters, write those down, and be explicit that everything else is their judgment.
Not saying you can be called
Sitters often hesitate to interrupt an evening out and make a worse decision instead. Say plainly that you would rather be called for something small than told about it afterwards.