Questions to Ask New Babysitter
Questions for interviewing a babysitter you have not used before, covering experience and first aid training, how they handle a child who refuses or gets hurt, phone and visitor rules, rates and cancellations, and what to check with references.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How long have you been babysitting, and what ages have you looked after?
Why ask it
An easy opener that gives you the shape of their experience before you ask anything harder. Someone whose experience is all with school-age children may not have handled a nap refusal or a bottle.
What is the youngest child you have looked after on your own?
Why ask it
Being present while a parent handles an infant is different from being alone with one. This distinguishes real solo experience from helping out, which is what most people mean when they say they are good with babies.
Are you trained in infant and child CPR, and when did you last renew it?
Why ask it
Certification lapses, and the renewal date tells you whether the training is current or from a school course years ago. If they are not trained, ask whether they would take a course you paid for.
Tell me about a time a child you were watching got hurt or sick. What did you do?
Why ask it
You are listening for a sequence: what they did first, when they called the parent, whether they wrote it down. Anyone with real hours has a story, so no story at all usually means very little experience.
What would you do if something happened and you could not reach me?
Why ask it
Tests whether they think past the first phone call to a second contact or emergency services. It is also your cue to set up a backup contact before the first evening, rather than assuming they have one.
How do you handle it when a child flatly refuses something, bath, bed, coming inside?
Why ask it
This is the situation that comes up on almost every evening, so their answer matters more than their philosophy of discipline. Listen for whether they offer choices and wait, or escalate quickly to threats and bribery.
What would you do if my child had a tantrum you could not calm down?
Why ask it
The reassuring answer is that they would stay calm, stay nearby and let it run rather than trying to argue a child out of it. Someone who says this has never happened to them has probably not sat for long.
How do you handle screen time when a child asks for more?
Why ask it
Sitters often default to whatever the child says is allowed, so it is worth hearing whether they would check with you or accept a five-year-old's account of the rules. Say your own limit out loud in the same conversation.
What do you usually do with children for a few hours? Walk me through it.
Why ask it
A concrete answer, with a game and a craft and time outside, tells you whether the evening will be filled or handed to the television. Ask what they would do on a rainy day in a small apartment.
Are you comfortable preparing meals, and have you dealt with food allergies before?
Why ask it
Cooking for children involves both hygiene and reading labels, and allergy management is a specific skill. If your child carries an epinephrine auto-injector, ask them to show you how they would use it rather than confirm that they could.
What is your approach to bedtime if we get back later than planned?
Why ask it
Reveals whether they will hold the routine or let everything slide, which decides what you come home to. It also opens the practical conversation about how late they can stay.
Would you be driving my children anywhere? If so, tell me about your car and your driving record.
Why ask it
This covers insurance, car seats and whether they have ever been in an accident. If the answer is that they would not drive, agree explicitly that this includes unplanned trips.
Would anyone else ever be in the house while you are sitting?
Why ask it
Friends and partners dropping by is one of the most common problems with new sitters, and it rarely comes up unless asked. Say your rule plainly so there is no ambiguity later.
How do you use your phone while you are watching children?
Why ask it
Everyone says they put it away, so listen for a specific practice rather than a promise. What you want is agreement on how you will reach each other and an acceptance that scrolling and supervision do not mix.
Have you cared for a child with a medical condition or additional needs?
Why ask it
Relevant even if your child has none, because the answer shows how they handle instructions they cannot improvise around. If your child does, ask them to repeat the medication or care routine back to you.
What kind of updates would you send while we are out, and how often?
Why ask it
Settles expectations before you spend an evening waiting for a message that never arrives. Agree on a single check-in time and a rule that anything worrying gets a call, not a text.
What is your rate, and how do you handle a late finish or a last-minute cancellation?
Why ask it
Talking about money and cancellations now avoids an awkward conversation at midnight. Ask what notice they need and what they expect if you cancel on the day, then say what you can offer.
What days and hours are you usually free, and how much notice do you need?
Why ask it
Availability is often the reason a good sitter does not work out, and it is better known now. Ask about school terms, exams or another job that could take priority.
Could you give me two families I can call, and would they mind if I did?
Why ask it
Hesitation here tells you as much as the references do. Ask each family whether they would hire this person again, and whether there was ever a moment that gave them pause.
Is there anything you would want to know about our house or our children before you say yes?
Why ask it
A sitter who asks about routines, allergies, house rules or the dog is one who is thinking about the job. No questions at all is the answer most worth noticing.
Hiring a sitter you have not used before
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Running the interview
- 1Meet at your home with your children there. How the sitter greets a child, and whether they get down to their level, tells you more than any answer.
- 2Ask about situations rather than qualities. What did you do when, not are you good at.
- 3Pay a short trial session while you are at home doing something else. Two hours in the next room shows you what an evening would look like.
- 4Let your child spend time with them and ask afterwards what they thought. Children notice whether someone actually played with them.
- 5Say your own rules out loud in the interview: phones, visitors, screens, food, driving. Assumed rules are the ones that get broken.
Checking references properly
Ask the question that gets a real answer
Would you hire them again, and is there anything you would want to know if you were me. Both invite hesitation, and hesitation is the signal you are listening for.
Ask about the boring things
Punctuality, whether the house was tidy afterwards, whether they cancelled at short notice. These are the reasons most arrangements end, not dramatic incidents.
Ask how long they used them and why it stopped
Someone who sat weekly for two years is a different proposition from someone who sat twice. If it ended, the reason is usually mundane, and if the reference will not say, that is worth noting.
Before the first evening
- 1Leave one written page on the counter: your mobile numbers, a second adult who can come over, the address of the house, the nearest urgent care, and your child's doctor.
- 2Write out any medication with the dose, the time and what it is for. Never leave this verbal.
- 3List anyone allowed to collect your child and make clear that nobody else is, including relatives.
- 4Show them the exits, the first aid kit, the fuse box and how the door locks. Walk it, do not describe it.
- 5Tell them what your child is likely to try on a new sitter. Every child has a bedtime negotiation, and forewarning is a kindness.
Afterwards
- Ask your child how it went before you ask the sitter, and ask openly rather than for reassurance.
- Ask the sitter what was hardest. A sitter who says everything was perfect every time is either lucky or not telling you things.
- Pay when you said you would, at the rate you agreed, including the extra half hour. It is the main reason good sitters keep saying yes.
- If something was not right, say it once, plainly and early. Most habits, phone use, letting bedtime slide, correct easily when raised the first time.