What Questions to Ask a Babysitter
The part of a sitter conversation that tends to get squeezed out by rates and availability, kept on its own so it does not. It covers first aid training, a head injury, choking, medicine, water, the door, and what happens when your phone has no signal. Each question is also a prompt to say your own rule out loud, so run through it alongside a full hiring interview rather than instead of one.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Are you trained in first aid and child CPR, and when did you last renew it?
Why ask it
The renewal date is the useful half, since a course taken at fourteen has usually faded. If they are not trained, that is not automatically the end of it, but decide deliberately rather than assuming someone is covered.
If one of them fell and hit their head, what would you do first, and when would you call me?
Why ask it
Two things you are checking: that comforting and checking the child comes before the phone, and that they would call you early rather than wait to see. Sitters who worry about bothering you are the ones who call too late.
What would you do if you couldn't reach me?
Why ask it
Reveals whether they think past the first phone call to a second contact, a neighbour, or emergency services. It is also your cue to leave a written second contact rather than assume your phone will have signal.
What would you do if one of them started choking?
Why ask it
You are not looking for a textbook recital. You want to hear that they would not leave the child to go and phone, and that they know the response for a baby differs from the one for an older child.
If I left a dose of medicine out with written instructions, what would you do before giving it?
Why ask it
The checking step is the whole answer. Reading the label back, or messaging you to confirm the amount and the time, is what you want. Easy confidence with no checking step is the thing to be wary of, even from someone experienced.
Do you know how to use an auto-injector, and would you be willing to?
Why ask it
Only relevant if allergies are part of your house, and then it is the most important question in the set. Ask them to talk through the steps rather than simply confirming they are comfortable, and show them where it is kept.
What would you do if somebody knocked at the door?
Why ask it
You are listening for a default of not opening it, and for them to check with you about anything expected. It also prompts you to say who might legitimately turn up, such as a neighbour or a delivery.
What would you do if a relative arrived saying I had asked them to collect the children?
Why ask it
This is the scenario that catches out even careful sitters, because refusing a familiar face feels rude. Agree now that nobody leaves with anyone unless you have said so directly, and that a phone call to you settles it.
Would anyone else ever be here with you?
Why ask it
Ask directly rather than hoping it is understood, and state your rule out loud. Hesitation, or a question about whether a partner or friend could come round, is worth taking seriously rather than smoothing over.
Where would your phone be while the children are awake?
Why ask it
Ask it neutrally; everyone has a phone and nobody expects it to be off. What you want is an answer that puts it away during bath and bedtime, and a sitter who volunteers that without prompting.
How do you handle water: baths, a paddling pool, a bathroom door left open?
Why ask it
Water is the highest-risk part of an ordinary evening and the one people are most casual about. Say plainly whether baths are on or off, and if they are on, that nobody leaves the room for anything.
Would you ever leave the children alone in the house, even for two minutes?
Why ask it
Bins, a parcel, a car moved off the drive: the answer is meant to be no, and asking makes it explicit. A sitter who says they would step out briefly has told you something useful before it mattered.
What would you do if a child got hold of something they should not have, such as a cleaning bottle or a pill?
Why ask it
You want the poison line or emergency services called before anything else, and the container kept. It also tells you to walk them past the cupboards and say what is in them.
What would you do if the smoke alarm went off, or the power cut out?
Why ask it
Practical rather than dramatic. Where the torch is, where the fuse box is, which door they would take the children out of, and where to stand outside. Five minutes now covers the whole category.
What do you do if one of them hits you, or hits their sibling?
Why ask it
The answer should involve separating them, staying calm and telling you afterwards. Any suggestion of physical discipline, shaming, or a punishment you have not authorised ends the conversation there.
What would you do if a child said they did not feel well, but seemed fine otherwise?
Why ask it
The honest answer is usually to sit with them, take a temperature if you have said where the thermometer is, and message you. It is a low-stakes question that shows how they judge the in-between cases.
Would you be driving them anywhere, and are your licence and insurance current?
Why ask it
Only worth asking if driving is part of the job, and then worth asking properly, including car seats. If you would rather they did not drive your children at all, say so now rather than implying it.
Would you tell me if something went wrong even if nothing came of it?
Why ask it
Most sitters who hide a bump do it out of embarrassment rather than dishonesty. Saying out loud that you would rather hear about it makes the difference, and their reaction tells you whether they believe you.
What would you want written down before I go out?
Why ask it
Numbers, the address, allergies, the bedtime routine, where the first aid kit lives. A sitter who asks for these unprompted has done this properly before, and a sitter who asks for none needs the list all the more.
What is the closest thing to an emergency you have dealt with while sitting?
Why ask it
Experienced sitters have a story and tell it plainly, including what they would do differently now. Nothing ever having happened usually means few hours logged rather than an unblemished record.
Hiring and briefing a sitter
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you commit to a first night
- 1Do the interview when the children are around, and watch the first two minutes. Whether the sitter gets down to the child's level and speaks to them rather than about them tells you a great deal.
- 2Call both references and ask concrete questions: did they arrive on time, what did you have to remind them about, would you leave a newborn with them, why did you stop using them.
- 3Pay for a trial session while you are still in the house, doing something else. An hour of this reveals more than any interview.
- 4For an agency or an ongoing paid arrangement, check what screening has been done and ask to see it rather than taking a claim on trust.
- 5If you have cameras or a monitor, say so before they start. Discovering it later damages the relationship and, depending on where you live, may raise legal questions.
The sheet you leave on the counter
- Your full address, including the street number, and the nearest cross street. Someone calling emergency services from an unfamiliar house needs this in front of them.
- Both parents' cell numbers, where you will be, and a second local contact, ideally a neighbor who is in that evening.
- Each child's full name and date of birth, allergies, medical conditions, and any medicine with the dose and the exact time it may be given.
- The doctor's name and number, plus your insurance or health service details as they apply where you live.
- The bedtime sequence in order, with times: dinner, bath, teeth, story, lights out. Also what is allowed if a child wakes up, and whether they may come into your bed.
- House basics: where the first aid kit is, how the door locks work, the alarm code, the furnace or thermostat, and what to do about the dog.
Agreeing the terms out loud
- State the rate, when the clock starts and stops, rounding, and how you will pay. Ambiguity about money is the usual reason a good sitter quietly stops being available.
- Say what you expect after bedtime: kitchen tidied, toys away, or nothing at all. Sitters who are not told tend to guess, and both guesses cause friction.
- Confirm your rules explicitly rather than by implication: no visitors, no drinking, no leaving the house with the children, no posting photographs of them.
- Agree how you want to be contacted, and that you would rather have an unnecessary text than a late one. Say the words: no bother is too small.
- Give written permission for medical treatment if that is relevant where you live, and check whether the sitter may give any over-the-counter medicine at all.
Warning signs
- Reluctance to give references, or references that turn out to be relatives.
- Answers to emergency questions that reach for the parents' phone before the child, or that treat contacting you as a last resort.
- Any mention of physical punishment, shaming, or locking a child in a room, however lightly phrased.
- Pushing to bring a friend or partner along, or asking to be paid in advance for a series of nights before working any of them.
- A first night where the children were unusually withdrawn afterwards, or where the account of the evening does not match what your child says. Trust that enough to make a change.