Questions to ask a babysitter: The questions every parent needs to ask

Опубликовано: October 14, 2022 в 11:31 am

Автор: alexxlab

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The questions every parent needs to ask

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From previous experience to what they find most challenging about the job, here are the questions to ask a babysitter during your interview.

One of the most important parts of hiring a new babysitter is getting the chance to interview them about their qualifications. The word “interview” might sound intimidating to some people, but in reality, the interview is your chance to get to know a potential sitter on a deeper level — to see what makes them tick and most importantly, to determine whether you want to open your home and expose your children to them.

While you may be inclined to get to know a potential sitter on a more personal level, you’ll also want to be sure to ask the right questions so that you glean the information needed to make an informed decision about their child care skills. We asked two industry experts, The Babysitting Company founder Rachel Charlupski and NannyTrack co-founder Leah Clarkson, to tell us key questions to ask a babysitter during an interview interview. Here’s what they had to say.

Basic babysitter interview questions

If you’re planning to hire a neighbor or someone who was recommended by a friend, you likely won’t need to conduct as extensive an interview as you might with a stranger. But you’ll still want to ask some baseline questions about their experience, talk about any specifics related to house rules or discipline and go over any must-know information about your children and family.

You might ask a potential babysitter questions like:

How long have you been babysitting?
Are you ever available on short notice?
Do you have reliable transportation?
Do you have experience caring for children of [X] age?
What activities do you like to do with kids?
How comfortable are you enforcing household rules?
How do you typically deal with behavior issues?
This is a [screen-free/sugar-free/dairy-free/pet-friendly/non-smoking/etc. ] home. Are you comfortable with that?

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43 Babysitter Interview Questions (& Responses to Look For)

It is essential that the person you put in charge of your child is capable and experienced. They need to be a great fit for your family, and have a great personality too!

A good babysitter can make life much easier for you as well as a fun experience for your children. A bad babysitter, however, can sometimes be more trouble than they’re worth!

Finding the right babysitter can be hard. That’s why you need a list of interview questions to test your sitter and make sure they will measure up to your expectations.

Here are our top 10 babysitter interview questions:

How many families have you babysat for?
Why do you like working with children?
How many years have you worked with kids?
What activities do you do with the children?
What do you like least about babysitting?
Do you smoke?
Do you have CPR and first aid certification?
Can you drive if there is an emergency?
What do you think children like most about you?
What is your proudest babysitting moment?

Now let’s go through our full list of 43 babysitter interview questions and explain the types of answers you should be looking for.

General Questions

It’s good to ask your babysitter as many questions as you can think of. Some things that might seem obvious or expected to you could be unusual for a babysitter. The more things you talk about upfront, the less chance there is of any misunderstandings later on.

1. How much do you charge / what is your hourly rate?

There’s an old saying when it comes to negotiating that “the first person to say a number loses.”

It’s best to let your babysitter tell you how much they want to earn before you throw a number out. You might be willing to pay them $12 per hour, but they might be perfectly willing to do it for $10.

Just make sure you’re taking other factors into account like your babysitter’s age and experience. The cheapest option isn’t necessarily the best.

Refer to our complete guide to babysitter pay for help deciding on an appropriate pay rate for your situation.

2. What aspects do you like most about caring for children?

This answer doesn’t matter so much, as long as it’s not something superficial like “the money. ” You’ll mostly use this question to get an idea if they have experience with children.

3. What do you look for in a family / employer?

You will probably get some pretty standard answers here, like easy-going families with well-behaved children. You might also get some answers about things they don’t like as well.

4. Are you okay if we sometimes have to call and have you stay later than planned?

You won’t want to abuse this regularly, but ideally, your babysitter will be flexible and not be super resentful if you need them to stay a couple of hours later. Life is full of unexpected situations that might come up.

5. Do you live nearby? If not, do you have a car or reliable form of transportation?

In other words, if we call will you actually be able to show up?

6. What’s one thing you wouldn’t want me to know?

It seems like if you asked this kind of question to a criminal or someone with something big to hide, they would just lie. But that isn’t always the case! I’ve actually heard of one group interview where the interviewer asked everyone this question and one of the candidates just flat-out admitted to doing cocaine before the interview!

7. What are your views on discipline? Would you change if we ask?

Discipline is a very important subject as it is essential that you and your babysitter are on the same page when handling challenging behaviors from your children.

You really want continuity of care while you are out, so I would advise spending a lot of time discussing your family’s current discipline process and ensuring that the babysitter is on board with what you are already doing. They may even have some ideas that you haven’t heard of before and want to implement them yourself!

At Kidsit we strongly discourage spanking and do our best to promote positive discipline techniques as an alternative.

8. What days and hours are you available? Have you got a curfew or certain time you need to be home by?

You’ll need a babysitter whose schedule lines up with yours.

9. What’s your favorite age of child to care for and why?

Ideally, you want a babysitter who is confident caring for kids of any age. So a flexible answer is best here, but you at least want them to include your own children’s ages.

A good babysitter should be able to adapt to all different ages, personalities, needs, and skill levels.

10. Are you looking to babysit for a family long term?

You want to make sure your babysitter is serious and committed because there’s no point going through this whole interview process again next month if you can avoid it.

11. What do you like least about babysitting?

This is kind of like the dreaded “what’s your worst quality?” interview question that you’ve probably got before and had to answer with some corny answer about how you’re too much of a perfectionist.

But you might get an honest answer here that could give you some valuable insight.

Basically anything besides “the kids” or “it’s a lot of work” is probably fine. Even if a babysitter’s answer was changing diapers, I’d probably be fine with that, because at least it’s honest. It’s my least favorite part of the job too!

Background and Experience

All of the questions in this section have pretty straightforward answers, so I won’t elaborate on each one individually. You’re just trying to get a good idea of your babysitter’s experience and history.

12. How many families have you babysat for? How old were their kids?

13. What kind of jobs or volunteer work have you done with children in the past? (Other babysitting jobs, sports coach, etc.)

14. How many years have you worked with kids?

15. Do you have specific experience with X (newborns, special needs, potty training, or whatever you’re looking for.)

Sitter’s Current Situation

16. What are you studying in school?

This is more of a get-to-know-you kind of question than anything else, but bonus points for an answer involving education, childcare, etc.

17. Do you have any other part-time jobs? Or other commitments?

This probably already came up when discussing availability if they’ve got one, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

18. Are you allergic to dogs, cats, or any other pets?

If you’ve got one that matches their allergy, the interview might be over at this point. Unless they want to take an antihistamine every time they come over.

19. Do you smoke?

You definitely don’t want them smoking in the house or around your children.

If they need a smoke break during their shift and need to step outside for a few minutes, are they going to bring your children out with them, or just leave them unattended?

Even if they only smoke a cigarette or two per day and won’t need to smoke while they’re at your house, the smell of smoke could still transfer from their clothes into your furniture and might not be worth the hassle.

20. Are you scared of any kinds of pets?

Especially important if you have more exotic things like snakes or tarantulas. But they should be okay with dogs too because they’ll probably need to let them outside if you’re gone for more than a few hours.

21. Do you have any vacations or time off planned in the next 6 months where you won’t be available?

Another part of their availability and making sure there are no scheduling conflicts.

Safety and Training

22. Do you know CPR? Do you know first aid?

Basic First Aid and CPR are a must! This is the person that will be looking after your precious children in your absence, so you want the peace of mind of knowing that they can handle an emergency situation.

23. Do you know what you would need to do if a child is choking?

It happens more often than you’d think, especially with younger children. If your child is choking, they only have a couple minutes before they pass out. So you need a babysitter that won’t panic and knows the first aid action plan for choking. They would have covered this in their first aid course, but it is a good topic to bring up to refresh their memory.

24. Can you drive if there’s an emergency?

In case something happens that’s not so bad that they need to call 911, but still bad enough that they should go to the emergency room.

25. Can you swim?

This one is important if you have a pool.

Behavioral Interview Questions

I really like behavior-based interview questions because they tend to focus more on getting your babysitter to come up with a specific real-life example of something, as opposed to answering hypothetical “what if” questions.

26. What was a specific time where you faced a crisis at a job? How did you deal with it?

Here you’re looking for proof that they can keep cool and hold things together while under pressure.

27. What has your proudest babysitting moment or accomplishment been and why?

This one shows they’ve spent a significant amount of time around kids and have made a difference. It might be something like a baby’s first word, learning to crawl or walk, a child making a drawing for them, etc.

28. Tell me about a specific time when you had to prioritize several tasks and manage your time efficiently. How did you decide what was most important?

Multitasking is an important skill to have as a babysitter. The more kids they’ll be watching, the more important it is.

They need an effective way to prioritize for those times where one child is throwing a tantrum, the other is trying to shove markers in your dog’s ear, and the phone is ringing… all at the same time.

29. What activities do you do with the children on an average babysitting shift?

Your babysitter should be engaging with your children and have plenty of suggestions for games and craft activities that they could do together.

If your babysitter has trouble coming up with answers to this question, they might be the type that will just sit on the couch and watch TV with your child for 3 hours, every single time.

30. What do you do if a child refuses to go to bed? How have you handled tantrums in the past?

Both of these give real examples of how your babysitter would discipline your child.

31. Under what circumstances would you call me?

There’s a balance you’re looking for here. A babysitter shouldn’t be interrupting you with basic questions multiple times while you’re out, but you don’t want them to be too nervous to call for something serious either.

32. If you can’t get ahold of me, who would you reach out to for help?

It doesn’t matter who it is. They just need some type of support structure they can reach out to for help and advice. Whether that’s their mom or another family member, a friend, or maybe they look through your phone book to find someone.

33. Give me an example of a time and place when you faced a stressful situation that demonstrated your coping skills.

Similar to the question about prioritizing and multitasking.

Having a stressful situation is okay and it happens. You want to know what actions they took to fix the situation, and what the end result was.

34. Share a specific example of a time as a babysitter when you used good judgment or fact-finding skills to solve a problem.

You’re not expecting them to be able to fix a burst pipe with a shoelace and a piece of chewing gum. But they should have an example that shows they have some common sense and can think on their feet.

35. Share a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty as a babysitter.

Anything that shows they’re willing to take that extra step. Staying late, taking a child to the mall to see Santa, tutoring, etc.

36. Tell me about a time you were forced to make an unpopular decision.

If they’re anything like me, it probably involves taking away TV or candy.

37. Give me a real-life example of a time when you had to make a split-second decision, without parental input.

Anything that shows a willingness to take the initiative or do what they think is right, even without clear guidance. This might be hard for a babysitter without much experience to come up with.

38. Tell me about a work situation that irritated you. How did you handle it?

You need a babysitter that can keep their cool under pressure.

39. What three words would your friends use to describe you?

You could get a huge range of responses here. Kind, positive, loyal, friendly, honest, practical, or mature are good ones.

Words like “fun” might be a sign that they have trouble being serious when needed.

40. Are you comfortable giving the children baths and dressing them?

Most children only need a bath once or twice a week anyway, so it’s not a huge deal if the answer is no. But it would be nice to have it all done for you if the babysitter is going to be there on bath night and they’re willing to help out.

If you don’t feel comfortable having the babysitter give your child a bath, then you can just skip this question.

41. Are you willing to take children out to the park or library? Or would you just want to stay at home with them?

The more engaging of activities that your babysitter is willing to do with your child the better. Plus it shows a lot of confidence that they’re willing to go out in public with your child and not worry about losing them.

42. How do you handle conflict with a child you’re watching? (like not following instructions or refusing to go to bed.)

You likely already asked about discipline in general, but here is a chance to get some real examples of what they’d do.

43. What do you think it is that children like about you?

You’ll probably get pretty generic answers here like being friendly, nice, fun, or goofy.

If they take a while to think of an answer, they might be making one up. Which could be a bad sign and mean kids they’ve babysat before haven’t liked them!

See our complete list of essential babysitter qualities that you should be looking for during your hiring process.

Questions You CAN’T Ask A Potential Babysitter

Now you should have a great idea of what questions you should ask your babysitter. But we also need to discuss some questions that you absolutely can’t ask.

It’s unlikely that a babysitter would ever try and sue you for discrimination, but it’s still best to avoid some illegal interview questions.

To keep it simple, don’t ask questions about:

Age
Race / ethnic background
Religious views
Sexual orientation
Marital status / plans on becoming pregnant
Disability
Arrest record

Note: Laws vary about what you can and can’t ask during a job interview depending on where you live, so check your local labor department’s website for more information.

Babysitter Interview Questions (Checklist)

When conducting an interview it’s always best to be well prepared.

Download our checklist with the top 20 questions to ask a babysitter so you don’t miss anything important. It’s also good to use the same questions across multiple candidates so they’re easier to compare afterwards.

Free Download

(babysitter-interview-questions.pdf 107kb)

Also, see our complete guide: How to interview a babysitter for other essential tips and trusted techniques to use during the interview process.

Interview Questions for Nannies & Babysitters By Topic

Finding caregivers that are best for your family takes work. But it’s entirely worth it. Once you’ve found a handful of candidates who meet your criteria on paper, the next step is to interview them. There’s no substitute for the give-and-take of an interview with a potential babysitter or nanny. You can have your more in-depth questions answered and also get a feel for the sitter as a person.

Begin by preparing a list of qualities that are most important to you and prioritize them. For example, do you want someone who is CPR certified or someone who has formal early childhood development training? If that’s important to you, add that to the top of your list. When you’re interviewing a potential caregiver, start with your top priority and work down from there.

Below we’ve outlined typical topics to address when interviewing a nanny or babysitter. Each topic has a list of sample interview questions for caregivers. We suggest using this interview checklist as a starting point and adjusting it to fit your family’s needs.

Questions You Can Ask a Potential Nanny or Babysitter

General

What is your child care rate?
Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a crime?
Do you live nearby? How can you get to jobs with us? Car, etc. ?
Do you have any allergies to cats, dogs or other pets?
Are you uncomfortable around or scared of any particular pets?
Do you have any particular religious affiliation that might affect the way you care for our children?

Experience

How much experience does the potential caregiver have with children?

How many years have you been working with children and in what ways?
Can you tell me about your past experience specifically as a sitter?
What ages do you have experience caring for?
How many children have you watched at one time?
Do you have any formal training or certifications in early child care?
Do you have specific child care experience in [fill in the blank depending on what you’re looking for – special needs, potty training, infant care, etc.]

Availability

Does the potential caregiver’s schedule align with yours?

What is your course of study in school or what is your full-time job?
How many hours a week would you like to work?
When would you be able to start?
Do you have other responsibilities outside of child care?
(For full time/regularly-scheduled jobs) Do you plan on taking any time off in the next six months?
Are you OK if a job runs later than planned?

Personal Responsibility

Is the potential caregiver dependable and can be trusted to remain in control of any situation?

Do you know First Aid/CPR and have you been trained or certified?
Are you familiar with the Heimlich maneuver?
Can you swim?
Are you familiar with emergency numbers?
Can you drive in an emergency?
Have you ever had an emergency situation? What did you do?
Do you have any experience administering medicine to children?
Are you comfortable having a background check run on you?

Responsibilities and Tasks

Is the potential caregiver willing and able to fulfill all the needs your family has?

How do you feel about play dates for my kids? Can you help arrange these?
Can you care for more kids if we have a play date in the house?
Are you OK assisting with homework, possibly making dinner and/or doing light housework?
Are you comfortable watching my child as a mother’s helper if I decide to stay home during a job?
Are you willing to help with overnight care if needed?
Can you travel with my family if we need you to?

Enthusiasm

People are best at what they are passionate about—does the potential caregiver love what they do?

Why do you enjoy being a sitter or nanny?
What are your favorite activities to do with kids?
What do kids like best about you?
What’s your best on-the-job memory?
What do you look for in an employer/family?

Dedication

Will the potential caregiver act with professionalism?

Are you looking for a family that you can grow with?
What would you do if you were sick and unable to make it into work?
How much notice would you give if you had to leave for another job offer?
How long were you with each family you’ve worked for?

Behavior

What is the temperament of the potential caregiver?

Tell me about a time where you faced a crisis on the job. How did you handle it?
What would you do with the kids on a day like today?
What do you do when a child refuses to go to sleep?
What do you think is the best way to handle tantrums?
What is your proudest moment in babysitting and why?
What are your views on discipline? Are you willing to change if we ask?

Newborn Care

Are you comfortable sitting for newborns?
What is your experience caring for newborns?
Can you change a diaper?
Do you know infant CPR?
Do you know about SIDS and how to prevent it?
Do you have experience preparing and heating formula?
Are you familiar with Shaken Baby Syndrome?
Do you know the proper size for baby chewables and how to prevent choking?
Can you tell if a room is childproofed?

If the Sitter Will Be Driving

Are you comfortable driving kids in the car?
May I see your driver’s license?
How many years have you been driving?
Do you have any marks against your driving record (speeding tickets, accidents, etc)?

Ask for References

Be sure to ask for child care references with both the phone number and email address so you can contact them easily. When searching for a babysitter or a nanny on Sittercity, log into your Premium account, go to the profile of the sitter you’re interested in, and scroll down to the References section to find that info.

Meet Your Kids

Give each candidate a chance to spend some time with your child during the interview. Are they excited to meet your child and at ease when interacting with them? Pay attention and trust your instincts.

After the Interview

Ready to make it official with a sitter or nanny?

We’re doing our part to help you confidently find the child care help your family needs on Sittercity. We encourage you to spend some time in our Trust & Safety Center (for both families and sitters).

If you’re ready to move forward with a candidate, look over the background checks you could run for some extra peace of mind and consider writing up a child care contract. Caring for your child is an important job—make the choices that are best for your family.

Nanny interview questions – important things to ask

Plus: when to listen to your gut

Hiring a nanny or babysitter can feel like a pretty big deal. You have read through countless profiles and selected a few standout candidates to interview. But what questions do you need to ask when interviewing a potential nanny?

You want to make sure the caregiver you hire has the right experience for your family’s particular needs, but also that they’re a person who you can trust to do what’s best for your children, even when something unexpected comes up. You want to learn as much as possible about who they are, but you only have limited time and multiple candidates to interview.

To reduce any potential stress in the hiring process, we have developed this in-depth list of the most important interview questions to ask a nanny or babysitter candidate to give you peace of mind – and make you feel confident about hiring the best caregiver for your family.

Start with common interview questions

Before you get to know your nanny candidate better, try to get a solid sense of their relevant experience. A great way to start the conversation is to ask a candidate why they love working with children. This eases you into the more black-and-white experience questions and can often give you a great sense of the candidate’s personality when it comes to working with kids.

Here are some suggestions for interview questions you may want to ask a prospective nanny about the basics:

Nanny interview questions: relevant experience

How long have you been babysitting?
Why do you love working with kids?
Tell me about your previous experience with my child’s age group.
Do you have experience with siblings or working with multiple children at once?
What is your schedule like, and how much flexibility do you have? Do you foresee any scheduling conflicts?
Do you have much experience interacting with or overlapping care with parents, parents who work from home, and/or families with other household staff?
Are you willing to help out with child-related household tasks (such as the children’s laundry, tidying up after playtime, meals, etc. )?

What is your style of discipline? How do you handle conflicts, disagreements, sibling arguments, or behavioral issues?
If applicable, have you ever worked with a stay-at-home parent?
Do you have experience working in our neighborhood or are you familiar with the area?

Nanny interview questions: comfort levels and flexibility

Are you comfortable commuting with kids, taking them to various activities by subway, bus, or cab?
Would you be comfortable caring for additional kids during playdates, carpools, etc. if that information was given to you in advance?
How have you communicated with parents in previous positions (text, e-mail, phone), and are you comfortable with our preferred methods?
Are you comfortable helping with homework?
Are you comfortable cooking or preparing food for kids?

As long as Covid-19 continues to be a part of our daily lives, it’s important to know your comfort levels and make sure anyone working in your home is on board as well. The interview is a great time to mention any adjustments and precautions your family is taking and what you expect from a nanny.

Read more about Covid-19 provisions to include in your job contract.

Nanny interview questions: personality and interests

What are your hobbies and interests? How do you spend your time when you’re not babysitting?
Do you have any special skills (languages, arts, etc.) that you’d be open to teaching to my kids?
Do you have any pet or food allergies that we would need to know about?

Interview questions for a nanny for an infant or baby:

Tell me about your experience with infants/babies.
Do you have experience caring for infants who have a difficult time taking a bottle?
What is your approach to establishing a sleep schedule?
If applicable, do you have experience working with new parents?
What is your experience with pumping and/or supplemental feeding?
Are you comfortable with our methods of sleep training, play, and/or feeding? What are your preferred methods?

Dive into your nanny’s details

Having relevant experience is important when it comes to caring for kids, but it isn’t the only factor to take into account. As a parent, you know that unexpected and unplanned situations arise all the time when it comes to caring for kids, whether it be missing a bus, rescheduling an activity, or a diaper blowout at the playground with no spare clothes.

By asking your candidate how they have handled unexpected situations or conflicts before – or how they would hypothetically handle it in the future – you can get a sense of how they think on their feet:

Can you tell me about any emergencies or accidents that happened while you were taking care of children, and how you handled those?
Can you tell me about a conflict that came up with previous employers or the kids and how you addressed the situation?
Have you ever worked for a family that had a different method of discipline, routines, or parenting style than you? How did you negotiate that?

A nanny interview is a two-way street

It’s important to remember that not only does a nanny candidate need to be the right fit for your family, your position needs to be a good fit for this candidate as well. If a candidate is juggling other endeavors and really only has part-time availability but interviews for your full-time position, there’s a high risk they will not stick around in the long term. This is true even if they love your kiddos or seem to be a great fit in other ways.

Try to get a good sense of what the candidate is ideally looking for and leave space during the interview for the nanny to ask their questions as well. Make sure the candidate knows the schedule and general job outline either ahead of time or by the end of the interview.

You can help the conversation along by asking questions like:

What kind of position are you ideally looking for?
What has been important for you to learn about a position or a family when you’ve been interviewing?
Is there anything in our job description that gives you pause or that you would like us to clarify?

Trust your gut, too

At the end of the day, the nanny-employer relationship is a special kind of professional relationship. Your employee works in your private home and is an integral part of your child’s daily life, so it’s important that you feel comfortable with each other. By making an interview feel like a conversation rather than just a list of questions, your gut instincts can get a feel for your rapport with the candidate – and that’s an important factor too!

Consider scheduling paid trials with your top candidates to really get a sense of how they interact with your kids, their ability to pick up on your routines, and that they really are as punctual as they said in the interview. Seeing your kids’ excitement at the end of a trial can be what really solidifies your choice, or can convince you of a right fit when the interview made you think a candidate didn’t quite have the perfect experience.

Have you discovered any magical questions that get the most out of a nanny interview? Tag Smart Sitting in your Facebook and Instagram posts so we can share the insight.

how to hire a nannyGuest UserJanuary 10, 2022

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12 Questions You Should Ask Every Babysitter

I had a major personality flaw. I was way too considerate. I cared way too much about what other people thought. These seemingly pleasant personality traits put my kids at risk. When interviewing for a babysitter, they caused me to not ask the right questions. I didn’t want to be rude. I didn’t want to be presumptuous.

I will never make that mistake again.

I share some of my story to not highlight my parental inadequacies (although it is a risk). But rather to help other parents learn from my mistakes.

We spent over $500 at a nanny placement agency. I know that sounds crazy, but I was willing to spend any amount to ensure my children’s safety. The agency was supposed to complete a full background check, check all references and ensure the applicant had enough expertise to care for our children. I trusted them. Mistake #1.

We got to interview the applicant they sent over. Our guard was down – as we felt she had already been properly screened. After all – we had forked over $500 for that very purpose. Mistake #2.

We never asked her the hard questions. I ~~have always been~~ was overly polite. I never liked to step on anyone’s toes. I have replayed that interview over and over again in my head. What if I had asked her better questions? What if my guard had been up? Would I have seen things – warning signs?

We had our sitter for over a year before any hint of a problem showed up. What had I missed before then? She was always friendly. My son always went to her – he never cried in her presence. She had children of her own. She was dependable. She was nice. She was a nightmare.

Trust me – this could happen to anyone. As a therapist, I read people for a living. I get people. I used to go into daycare facilities to observe their staff. I missed this because I was looking in the wrong direction. Asking the wrong questions.

Parents do this all the time. I hear similar horror stories in my child therapy practice. They thought they could trust their sitter. They thought they knew their sitter well. They thought because it was a relative they were safe. They thought wrong.

If you are searching for a babysitter, save yourself the guilt (trust me it’s not fun) and ask the sitter these tough questions. It is not important what sitters say to these questions (because frankly, if they have a problem, they aren’t going to admit it)), but watch how they say it.

Have you ever had any problems with drugs or alcohol? Did any previous employer have these suspicions?

The last part of the question is meant to make applicants second guess themselves. Did you hear something from one of their references that indicated an issue? Either they will adamantly deny an issue – or will stammer and try to defend themselves.

Do you have to take any prescription medications that make you drowsy or impair your thinking?

You don’t want babysitters sleeping all day. Some prescriptions can make people extremely lethargic. You have a right to know what their mental state will be when they are watching your children.

If I had known the real answer to this question – it might have made me second guess putting my children in her care. It might have made me second guess her story about how my child got ant bites all over his body because he was playing in the backyard for just a “minute” while she was on the phone.

Do you have a history of anxiety or depression? If so, what normally makes you feel anxious?

I have absolutely nothing against anyone who suffers from anxiety or depression – after all those are the people I try to help at work. But, I do want to know if those issues will interfere with their ability to keep calm under stress.

I knew our sitter had anxiety, but I did not realize that it made her sleep all day or that it made her go into such a panic that she didn’t know what to do when minor situations popped up.

Will you ever need to bring anyone else to come with you when babysitting? If so – do they have issues with drugs, alcohol or mood instability?

Even if applicants insist they will never have to bring someone with them – probe further. Ask them, “But if you did, who would it be?”

I doubt my sitter would have been honest if I had asked – but it would have been worth asking.

Instead I had to find out the hard way – with the discovery of little liquor bottles hidden all around our house and a browser full of visited porn sites that had been viewed while she was watching our kids.

It turned out that our sitter had a pretty disturbed 20-something son. Apparently she would drop him off a block from our house and call him to come over when we left.

Was he safe to be around kids? Did he have a criminal history? I will never know. I do know, however, that he felt free to drink and view porn in a stranger’s home.

What’s the worst scenario you have had to deal with while babysitting?

Stop asking the happy questions – and focus on the hard ones. Did the applicant have an example? Did the applicant handle the situation well?

Who would you call in case of an emergency?

This may seem obvious, but when our infant son had over 100 ant bites from head to toe – our sitter called her teen daughter for help. Not us. Not poison control. Not the doctor. Her teenage daughter.

Have you ever hit or come close to hitting a child?

They won’t be truthful, but if you are able to read people – this would be a good question to ask.

Have you ever had any issues with the law or has your license ever been suspended?

Let them know that you will do a background check – that you do it for all applicants. Once they know this they might be forthcoming.

Describe the most annoying kid you’ve ever babysat.

Get a window into what bothers them the most. Does their example show some impatience? Is the answer sugar coated?

Describe the most annoying parents you’ve ever had to work with.

Are they describing you? Are they more annoyed by involved, caring parents or indifferent, uninvolved parents?

If you had to discipline our kids, how would you do it?

Such an important question to ask. Don’t assume they won’t hit your child or punish them in another way you might find unacceptable.

How were you disciplined growing up?

If you want a better peek into the last answer – ask them this one. What do they describe? If they experienced harsh discipline do they support it or talk about how they would do things differently?

Trust your gut!

When I look back – there were many times my gut told me something was not right.

When she told me she took him to the store, but something told me she went to her home.

When I told her not to take him out anymore, but when I forgot my bag they were no where to be found.

The warming signs goes on and on. But with each warning sign I had a rational explanation to dial back my concerns and she had good excuses.

I will always trust my gut from now on. I will not care if other people think I am paranoid or overreacting. I will not worry about hurting other people’s feelings. I will react. I will protect.

I am one of the lucky ones. I dodged a major bullet. My kids are okay. Four years later and my kids don’t even remember her name. But, I do. And I will never forget the lessons she taught me. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Because sometimes the cover is nice, but the story is ugly.

Have you had a similar experience with a babysitter? Do you have any other good questions we should ask sitters? Leave a comment and help us all do a good job screening the people we are entrusting to care for our kids.

Do you know other people who need to ask babysitters these tougher questions? Share this article and protect their kids.

What questions to ask a nanny at an interview

The truth is cruel – there are no ideal nannies. However, you can find the governess closest to your personal vision. To make things easier, we have prepared questions to ask her before making a decision. You can ask them in any order.

What questions to ask the nanny by phone

The phone conversation should be short and cover key issues. Its purpose is to check whether the respondent meets the criteria and whether it is worth dating.

1. I am looking for a nanny who will take care of… (insert basic information such as child’s age, hours of operation, address). It suits you?

Be sure to ask this question. Even if you specified the requirements in the ad, it is worth checking if everything is clear. If the future governess does not live up to expectations and at the same time tries to convince you that the selection criteria are meaningless, tell her that she is not suitable for you.

2. What are your financial expectations?

If you ask a question now, you can avoid problems in the future. Do not expect that the payment will decrease after the negotiations. State the maximum amount you are willing to pay and find out how much an extra hour in the evening or weekend will cost. Determine the payment period – once a month or depending on the number of hours worked. When a nanny agrees to pay below market average, try to find out why. One of them is a protracted job search, because the woman is “new” in this business or is known to employers in a negative way.

3. Where do you live?

By asking this question, you can determine the time spent by the nanny on the road, the chance of possible delays and how quickly she will get to you in an emergency.

4. Do you have experience?

It’s good when you have experience, but remember – taking care of your own child, siblings is not the same thing. Of course, the fact that the respondent has children suggests that he has practical knowledge, but this does not mean that they are suitable for professional activities. For example, it is not known what kind of patience a woman has and how she applies educational methods. When you have experience, ask the nanny to provide you with several phone numbers of former wards.

What questions to ask the nanny at the interview

1. How long did you work and how did you care?

This is one of the important questions to ask. Listen patiently to the story and draw your own conclusions. Write down the dates and names, then look at the note and make sure the notes form a cohesive whole. Remember, some people have trouble reproducing accurate data from memory, so keep that in mind. If the nanny changed jobs or residence frequently, find out why.

2. Tell us about your responsibilities in your last family. What did you do all day at work?

The nanny will tell you the whole day with details, which will allow you to find out the real scope of her duties and about cooperation with former employers. You will get to know a woman better – how she amuses the child, does it, whether she takes into account the wishes of the baby.

3. What are you doing now?

The answer brings a lot of important information. For example, if she finishes her studies, she will probably soon begin searching for a position in her profession, abandoning her old activity. Have you recently sent your toddler to kindergarten? Most likely, she will need not rare “days off”, as constant colds are possible. Is there a child she plans to take care of while working? We advise you to abandon such an idea, even if they are the weather. Put yourself in her place. What do you do when students fight? Whom do you blame – a baby from a strange family or your baby?

4. How long have you been looking for a job?

If within a few weeks, be sure to ask the reason, because good nannies are in great demand. Pay attention to the information received, it is quite possible that the nanny was not satisfied with the time of employment and the agency did not have suitable offers.

5. How did the previous collaboration end?

One of the most promising answers is “the child went to kindergarten. ” However, there may be some bad news as well. For example, that the employer delayed wages or hurt self-esteem. If the phrase “I have been unlucky lately” or “I come across exploiters” was heard, this may indicate that the people who hired her are unhappy with her help. There is a high probability of a repeat of the situation.

6. What is important to you?

The candidate may say that he would like to work in a clean room. This means that conflicts can arise if the order in the house is not well maintained. Perhaps the nanny appreciates fixed hours, which is difficult to achieve when you often stay late at the office.

7. What are your shortcomings?

Ask a question with the addition – “because everyone has them.” Of course, most talk about overzealousness, inability to rest, or endless love for all living things. There will also be those who talk about their real weaknesses, such as frequent lateness, which some employers are willing to turn a blind eye to. In the course of a conversation, inappropriate confessions may be heard, such as “I can’t control myself when I’m angry” or “I am sometimes inattentive.” Such statements indicate that a person made a mistake with the choice of position.

8. What are your benefits?

Ask this question when there are no objections to the candidate, but for some reason doubts remain. Usually, a person talks about the benefits without thinking.

9. What is your education?

If the governess is a nurse, pediatrician or psychologist by training, then of course this can be considered a good asset. However, remember that a child first of all needs an attentive and caring adult. In addition, there are nannies who believe that their education allows them to put their opinions above the requests of their parents and they promote their educational measures without permission.

10. In addition to babysitting, do you agree to iron clothes, cook food…?

Such a question will save you from misunderstandings, tell your chosen one about additional responsibilities. At the same time, you must understand that too many additional cases negatively affect the care of the ward due to lack of time.

11. Do you smoke?

The only correct answer is “no”. If the candidate says she quit, ask how much time has passed. There is a risk that the bad habit will return at any time.

12. How do you feel about alcohol?

Most people drink alcohol from time to time. People who don’t have a problem with it answer honestly, “Sometimes I drink beer on the weekends or on holidays.” The statement “I never drink alcohol” sounds more often not from abstainers (there are very few of them), but from a person who has serious problems. Before drawing conclusions, ask about the reason for the abstinence, and then find out from former employers if there were any situations when the nanny was regularly excused from work for various reasons. This can be a warning sign of alcohol addiction.

13. What are your expectations for the holiday?

Specify if there are any plans or requirements regarding leave. Does she think that her vacation should be paid, if so, what amount does she expect – full from the trip or partial. The answer is not decisive when choosing, the only exception is the circumstance when the planned vacation lasts too long – more than a month.

14. Describe the most difficult situation that happened

Difficult circumstances are an integral part of any work. Sometimes stories about them can show the strengths or weaknesses of a person. An example is the situation when a child is hysterical, begging for chocolate, and the nanny at this time patiently waits for him to calm down and calmly reminds him of his parents’ order – no more than one chocolate bar a day. It is a bad sign if the nanny reports a situation where they had to call their parents from work because she could not calm the ward.

15. Have you ever hit a child?

Feel free to ask this question, especially since some nannies openly admit it or say that physical punishment has never hurt anyone.

16. What will you do if the baby refuses to eat/sleep/fulfill the request?

Ask about the reaction to the behavior that is most typical for your baby. The answer will allow you to explore educational methods. Keep in mind that if your methods are very different from the standard ways to calm or put to sleep, the nanny may not live up to expectations, especially if she is elderly and has previously worked with a group of young children. In this case, ask her if she agrees to follow the rules presented. Some people need time to adapt, only after a while you will be able to assess whether the promise is being kept. There are also nannies who prefer to act on their own and consider this the most correct. Think carefully whether such a governess suits you.

Questions asked to the nanny at the interview should be spoken calmly and confidently, in addition, do not be afraid to embarrass or offend. A conscientious person answers without hesitation and long pauses.

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15 most important questions about a nanny that every mother should know the answer to

In a modern family, having a nanny is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity. Moms and dads have to work hard to provide the family with a decent standard of living, and for themselves career self-realization, so it turns out that a responsible adult who is able to take care of a child in the absence of parents is a real must-have. But often finding a good babysitter is harder than finding a needle in a haystack. In his new column, the expert “Oh!” Psychologist Anna Skavitina answered 15 most popular parenting questions about nannies. Every mom should know this!

Anna Skavitina, psychologist, analyst, member of the IAAP (International Association of Analytical Psychology), supervisor of the ROAP and the Jung Institute (Zurich), expert of the Psychology journal

Modern families often face a serious problem: living in their separate, rather comfortable apartments, they are deprived of the help and support of relatives in the care and upbringing of children. In the morning, dads go to work for the whole day, and moms are left alone with the kids. It happens that in this mode, during the day, mothers do not even have enough time to have breakfast, clean up or change clothes. Grandmothers in our time less and less want to help their adult children in raising their grandchildren: they have their own life, hobbies, work. They believe that they have already raised their children, they want to do something for themselves.

In addition, young mothers often conflict with the older generation also because they believe that they themselves were raised incorrectly, therefore they deliberately do not claim the presence of grandmothers in the house on a regular basis. But it is not enough for any mother to raise a child without the help and support of others. That is why a nanny for many families becomes the only way out, the grandmother that the family chooses itself.

Long gone are the days when the presence of nannies indicated the elite status of a family. According to very inaccurate statistics, every tenth family with children uses regular babysitting services, and almost all irregular ones. With questions about nannies, they also come to a child psychologist. What are the most important things for parents? I will try to list the most popular questions and briefly answer them, and if you do not find the answer to your question in the text, write it in the comments, I will try to answer separately.

When to hire a babysitter?

The moment you realize you’re missing one more hand in the house and there’s money you’re willing to spend on it. Do not pull, do not make a heroic deed out of your motherhood. A child needs a kind, calm mother, ready to respond to his needs, and not an exhausted creature that does not respond to any signals.

I won’t hurt my child if I take a babysitter, because mom is always better?

One very good mother who made a big business gave birth to three children. Contract. At the same time, she was sure that it was not worth giving birth to children if they were then given to a nanny, so she did everything herself, involving only the father of the family to the best of her ability and ability to care for the children. When the children were 3, 2 and a year old, the housemates mistook the young mother and father for grandparents. After that, she looked in the mirror and decided: “That’s it! Three nannies – and immediately! And I take care of myself!” For her children, it was traumatic both the time spent with her mother without nannies – because her mother could not cope at all, and the time when her mother decided to take a break, transferring care of the kids to other people.
It’s not about leaving your kids, it’s likely to hurt them. It’s about accepting the help you need for a limited time.

What if the children love the nanny more than me?

A question asked by very insecure mothers. Believe me, in order for this to happen, the mother needs to try very hard: not to take care of the child at all, to constantly scream or do something else of little use. But even in such conditions, a mother will still remain a mother. The child has a huge credit of trust! Advice on the Internet that calls for changing the nanny more often so that the baby does not have time to become attached to her is tantamount to mockery of your own child. Imagine that you become friends with a person, and he suddenly disappears from your life.

What can I ask a nanny to do?

What you are willing to delegate. Think about what you are ready to share from your affairs? For example, I wanted to spend more time with children, less time in the kitchen and other household chores, and it also seemed to me that the child did not care who was pushing the stroller with him on the street. Some of the mothers are not able to stay awake at night, so they take a night nanny. Someone needs a person who will take the child to doctors, someone – to circles. Make a list of what you do and think about what you can outsource without harming yourself and your children.

Is it necessary for a nanny to have a special education: medical or pedagogical?

Not always. Moms want to be able to get qualified professional help from a nanny, although they often just need second kind, calm and supportive hands, and they take them to doctors and developing circles not to a nanny, but separately. It is important that the nanny has experience interacting with children: professional or personal.

For example, mothers of several children usually do not work well with nannies who themselves have one child and therefore do not have experience in resolving conflicts between brothers and sisters. If you need constant medical manipulations with your child or you want to organize developmental classes at home, then special education is obviously needed.

One very interesting and intelligent woman with a PhD in pedagogy retired as a nanny. She cleaned the apartment with high quality and cooked food, but she wondered why the employer was looking for a nanny with a higher pedagogical education, which was in no way in demand, except that her mother, on occasion, bragged about him to others.

What should I do if I don’t like my nanny?

It is important that mother and nanny are psychologically compatible. Even if the mother cannot really explain why she does not like the nanny, it is worth listening to the mother’s intuition and changing the nanny. First try to invite the nanny for a trial day, see how she communicates with the children, with you, listen to your feelings. It is clear that the nanny will not be able to do everything exactly as you want, but is she ready to accept criticism without intense resentment and change her behavior?

What if the parenting style that the nanny uses is very different from the parent’s, is it harmful to the child?

Most likely, the parents themselves will not like it. Therefore, it is better to immediately look for a nanny who matches your style of upbringing.

Does a mother need to maintain the nanny’s authority and what to do if he is too big in the family? What if the nanny builds alliances with other family members (with children, grandmothers)?

If you want to be sure that your child is safe, support the authority of the nanny. The child must trust the nanny and listen to what she says. But do not forget that the main thing in the family is the parents. They are responsible for everything that happens to the child. If the nanny begins to “befriend mother” with other family members, contradict mother’s ideas about upbringing, communicate with the child’s grandmothers by phone, “surrendering everything about everyone”, she must be separated immediately. Suggestions and conversations do not work here. Mom needs to take her place in the family structure.

Who should like a nanny – a mother or a child?

Firstly, the nanny should please the mother and match her ideas about what kind of help the family needs at this stage. Secondly, it is important for the mother to take a closer look at the child: does he enjoy spending time with the nanny, is he afraid of her coming, does he run away when she appears, especially if the nanny has already worked for you for some time. If possible, it is sometimes worth spending time with the child and the nanny to look at their relationship from the inside. If you like several of the proposed nannies, ask the child to choose the one that he liked. One mother I know, while looking for a nanny at an agency, asked her child at the age of 1 year and 8 months to approach one of the five girls that he would like the most. The kid held out his hands to the young woman. Subsequently, the mother was not disappointed in the choice of the child.

What are the most important questions to ask a nanny during an interview?

Not very many:

What experience do you have with children?
Do you have children of your own?
Who did they stay with when you worked? Who will they be with now if they are small?
What is your relationship with your children? (It’s great when the nanny has experience in raising her own children and she is on good terms with them. It’s strange if the nanny leaves her children and goes to take care of strangers, even because of a difficult financial situation).
Give an example of how you usually respond to criticism. (You will try to understand if the nanny is ready to hear you and change).
How do you cope in situations when the child does not fall asleep / does not eat / does not want to go out / refuses to learn lessons? (This is how you define the nanny’s parenting style).
Do you apply punishments? Which?
Do you have experience working with families? What can you tell about families? (For example, I don’t trust nannies who immediately start leaking information about former employers and their children).
What do you like to do? What do you prefer to do with children? (You’ll be lucky if the babysitter likes to do things that you don’t like to do even though you think it’s good for the kids.)
How do you feel about surveillance cameras? (Even if you are not going to put them in the house, ask to see if the nanny is ready to work under control).

If the nanny is not of the same nationality, what is the child? For example, a Filipina, how important is it for a nanny to have a good knowledge of the child’s native language?

If you hire a nanny during the formation of your native language, from birth to five years old, and you know that the nanny will spend a lot of time with the child, then it is important that the nanny’s speech is competent and clear. If you take a nanny who speaks another language (English, French, Chinese) in order for the child to learn a second language from birth, then you must be sure that the nanny speaks a foreign language correctly, because in this case she speaks with the child in in their own language, and not in the baby’s native language, all the time.

Different religions of the family and nanny. How to treat this?

If everything suits you, and you are tolerant of people of a different religion, nationality, skin color, then this will only serve as a good example for children and expand their understanding of the world. Public opinion may be different, you are not responsible for it.

What should I do to prevent my child from copying the nanny?

The child copies what he sees. This is one of the main ways of learning. Spend more time with your kids and/or hire babysitters who can be role models for your child.

What should I do if a nanny who has been working with a child for a long time suddenly quits? Do I need to say goodbye, remember, be sad, or is it better to forget as soon as possible?

We are all living people, and such situations happen to everyone. If possible, regardless of the age of the child, he needs to say goodbye to the nanny, explain in understandable terms the reason for her departure. If you parted on good terms, then from time to time it is worth meeting with the nanny, inviting her for a day or two to the child. But even if you say goodbye to the nanny in connection with a grandiose scandal, the disappearance of a person close to the child must be mentioned.

Are there good nannies?

Yes. Although on TV and in other media they often talk about terrible ones, but it just causes more emotions. Talking about good nannies is not so exciting. I know nannies who got a job in a family through an agency, who fully raised the child entrusted to them, because the mothers withdrew themselves and even stopped paying salaries. But the brave nannies raised the children as their own, released them into the people, gave them an education. Often, nannies become practically relatives, working with the family for many years. It’s great when your baby has another person who loves him and for whom he can have warm feelings.

Photo: Stokkete/Liderina/Lordn/Shutterstock.com

psychologydevelopmenteducationuseful adviceAnna Skavitina

Intensive: how to interview a nanny | Posta-Magazine

In the new Intensive section, we tell you how to master the skills and abilities that will definitely help you improve the quality of your own life. As well as the quality of life of your children – in the debut material we understand the intricacies of an interview with a nanny.

Recommendations are provided by four experts: deputy director of the recruitment agency Tatyana Rebrova, teacher Maria Nikolaeva, as well as a practicing psychologist working with children of preschool and school age, Marina Arzhanykh, and educational psychologist Yulia Kazachkova.

Preliminary preparation.

“Before starting an interview, it is necessary to analyze all the information provided,” recommends teacher, founder of the English Nursery and Primary School Maria Nikolaeva. – The nanny must provide all the documents in advance, which the employer is obliged to check in the most thorough way. The fact that the nanny claims to have graduated from the Pedagogical Institute in 1985 says nothing – a diploma can be bought. In addition, there must be a certificate of non-conviction, a full set of medical tests (it is better to pay for them yourself – then you will be sure of the quality and veracity of the studies), for foreign nannies – a visa with the right to legal employment, a certificate from the police (in England, the form is called CRB check), diploma of education (“Very often, people who have completed two-week online courses pretend to be foreign language teachers”). Next, Maria Nikolaeva recommends checking the nanny on a polygraph (“This is as important as installing cameras in all rooms except the toilet”), and also inviting a psychologist for an interview: “For the greatest efficiency, I recommend that the mother herself also be tested – in order to her communication with the nanny was as comfortable as possible. People with different psychotypes often don’t get along together.”

Where to begin?

At the next stage, it is important to decide exactly how you plan to hire a nanny – on your own or through an agency. If you choose the second option, start with a good manager – a person to whom you can outline all your requirements and wishes. “As a rule, at the first stage, an experienced manager takes on the role of a conversation moderator, helping to create a cozy atmosphere and establish the first contact,” says Tatyana Rebrova, head of the Second Mother recruitment agency. – Another thing is that modern mothers are very active, and often they are the initiators of the dialogue. There is an unspoken rule: at the interview, the nanny must first tell about herself. Your task is to carefully track factual information, remembering everything that is in doubt or, say, does not coincide with what is said in the resume. This monologue must necessarily contain a biographical block with a story about where she was born, in what family the nanny was raised, what education she received, whether she has her own family, what kind of relationship she has with her husband and children, where and with whom she lives at the moment, as well as detailed comments about work experience, in particular working with families. ” According to Tatyana Rebrova, after an impromptu self-presentation, you can move on to questions and answers, but before doing this, the mother should ask herself: is this person pleasant to her, does she see him next to the child, or, on the contrary, intuitively feels some antipathy. If the answer is no, it is better to try to end the conversation delicately or give a sign to the manager so as not to waste your time and the time of the applicant.

How to build a conversation?

All experts agree on one thing: there is no universal list of questions. Every child, like every mother, has her own needs: for some, gentleness and sincerity are important, while others, on the contrary, are looking for a nanny-educator with iron discipline. However, there are a number of recommendations that will help build a constructive dialogue. Maria Nikolaeva advises using the situational survey method: “It consists in the fact that you offer a situation, and the applicant must provide its solution. Let’s say you say: a six-month-old child is naughty, itches and does not find a place for himself. What’s happening? Any specialist who has worked with children of this age will give a clear answer. Ask the local pediatrician to offer you a couple of medical situations that the nanny will have to comment on. The task of the nanny, of course, is not to treat, but she is obliged to sound the alarm in case it is necessary. The child fell: what signs are alarming? What to do if the baby chokes? Another block of questions is pedagogical. Again, the situation: the child is three years old, he has never been left alone with the nanny. What to do if mom left and he does not calm down? Any specialist will offer several solutions to choose from. Or another situation – the child categorically refuses to eat, what should I do? A good specialist will not have pauses in his answers. If you yourself are not sure about them, consult a doctor, teacher, child psychologist. Remember: a nanny should not be a doctor or a psychologist – she should be all at once.

What questions should be asked?

“Everything here depends on the mother and her wishes,” says Tatiana Rebrova. – During the interview, I would recommend that you make sure to clarify how the nanny’s educational concept and her approach to caring for a child correspond to your views (it is interesting that one of the trends is nannies without experience working in families: many mothers want the nanny not to broadcast in a new family installations of previous employers). The question that is unlikely to be answered honestly, but which needs to be asked, is about intentions: how long does the nanny plan to work in the family, why did she decide to become a nanny? Sometimes a person wants to finish his son’s education, earn money for TV or solve some other financial issues and is not going to stay in the family for several years, as you, for example, planned for yourself. But it is very important for a child that from a certain age there should be one person with him – say, from two or three years old to school, just as from birth to two or three years it is also desirable that there be one nanny. A very good question – what employer would not suit a nanny? Often in this way it is possible to reveal the very irreconcilable contradictions, which otherwise would have been revealed only after some time. “When talking with a nanny, it is best to use hunter tactics,” recommends Maria Adzhanykh, a practicing child psychologist at the Lomonosov School. – Ask not about successes, but about problems with past employers and how the nanny solved them, return to questions to which you did not receive a detailed answer or doubt its veracity. For example, if the nanny claims that she has never had disagreements with previous employers, ask her after five to seven minutes what kind of mother’s behavior annoys her (comes late from work, asks to cook food, does not allow her to use the home phone, etc.). e.) – the answers of the nanny will give out her past experience.

What else to pay attention to?

Be sure to pay attention to the appearance of the future nanny. In this case, you should trust your first impression. “According to the laws of psychological perception,” Maria Adzhanykh explains, “regardless of your desire, the assistant, by her example, will also influence the child’s external and verbal behavior, his taste preferences in clothes, music, art, and everyday life.” Tatyana Rebrova also agrees with this opinion – she is sure that it is necessary to be vigilant in relation to any trifle: “Everything is important, even details that seem insignificant at first glance: appearance, the ability to verbalize one’s thoughts, the ability to listen. What should be of concern? Outward negligence, excessive activity, attempts to interrupt a potential employer, critical reviews of a previous employer, not to mention obvious factual inconsistencies.

Should I invite a child to an interview?

“We always recommend that our parents, who decide to invite an assistant to their family, arrange a first date with the baby,” continues Maria Adzhanykh. – How quickly she can establish contact with the child, what will she say, how friendly, will she give instructions – watch the first reaction of the child, if the baby makes contact – you are on the right track. The main selection criterion for parents should be the attitude of the child. If your baby categorically does not want to communicate with the nanny, cries at the mere sight of her, hides or does not leave his parents – this is not your nanny. Or now is not the right time for a new person in your child’s life. Her colleague, educational psychologist Yulia Kazachkova, who works with school-age children, echoes her: “Bring the child to part of the interview. Let him drink tea with cookies with you for 20 minutes. Here your task is to observe. Accurately and imperceptibly. What is important to pay special attention to, only you know, since it is you who know your child. So, for example, if a usually talkative kid is squeezed and does not want his favorite cookie, this is a sign. If the child is always a little shy, then his stiffness in this case is not a sign of a bad nanny.

Stress interview. Yes or no?

“Today, psychologists are arguing about the appropriateness and usefulness of this type of interview in general,” Yulia Kazachkova comments. – Each side has a lot of arguments, but everyone is convinced of one thing: such an interview should be conducted by a qualified specialist with a good education in management psychology. Therefore, for a private conversation, a stressful interview at home is more likely to harm your further relationship with the nanny if you and the child like her.

What trends exist today in the market of services for hiring nannies?

Firstly, nannies and governesses of foreign origin are still popular: Filipinas, Americans and English women, less often Italians and French women, even less often Chinese women. “If we talk about market trends,” explains Tatyana Rebrova, “as already mentioned, there was a request for nannies without experience in working in families (in fact, for the same reason, nannies recommended by friends, neighbors, colleagues very often do not take root in new families ) and without pedagogical education – modern mothers want to give the child more freedom, self-expression, and not orientation to pedagogical manuals, many of which were written quite a long time ago. There is also a demand for male tutors, but in our country it is, unfortunately, minimal: as a rule, mothers are interested in men, raising their sons alone and thus hoping to bring a male shoulder into the family. 9April 10, 2017 Arina Yakovleva for the section Psychology Recruitment agency MosNaim.ru

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Blog Maria

Nanny selection. Interviews with candidates.

Do you need a babysitter? The selection of a nanny begins with an interview – this is the most significant stage in hiring staff. At the interview, you can clarify important information for yourself, evaluate the knowledge, appearance and manner of communication of the nanny. The main thing is not to bet on the first impression of a person, because it is like a freshly filled glass of champagne – give it time to stand and you will see its fullness. Experts say that to determine the degree of attractiveness to a stranger, we need up to 4 minutes. This time must be spent to your advantage and not be deceived by the first impression. Indeed, sometimes “the most interesting book is hidden in a dusty cover”, and vice versa, a person who knows how to impress does not know how to do anything else.

The first thing to do at home is to prepare questions for the nanny. Correctly formulate so that the nanny understands you and can give a clear answer.

Note:

~ A person perceives only 70% of what they are told, understands – 60%, remembers only 10-25%;

~ A person’s memory can store up to 90% of what he does, 50% of what he sees and 10% of what he hears.

Write questions about the babysitter’s qualities and skills. Start with the nanny’s personal characteristics: marital status, children and family influence on work; health; education, both basic and additional; teaching or medical experience. Next, consider questions about your experience as a nanny for families. For example, how the working day went, what was included in the duties, what kind of food the nanny cooked for the child, how she behaved in various situations (whims, tantrums, injuries, illnesses, etc. ), about the reasons for dismissal, the level of wages. It is also worth preparing questions related to the specifics of your family (about the characteristics of your child, whether you are ready to linger after the end of the working day, go out on weekends, accompany you on trips abroad or trips to the country, run errands around the house, etc.). The last questions to ask are whether the nanny needs to think or consult with the family before deciding when the nanny can start work and when she is ready to go on trial days.

How to start an interview? First of all, explain to the nanny what kind of employee you need and what will be included in his terms of reference. Next, take the time to ask the babysitter, and then give him the opportunity to ask questions that interest him.

Tricks to use when meeting with a nanny:

Ask incriminating questions about the families in which the nanny worked. If she starts telling intimate details from the life of employers, then you can be sure that this will not bypass your family either. But do not put an end to this nanny, perhaps she is an excellent specialist. Take note of your observation – “Forewarned is forearmed.”
Ask the nanny what educational games and activities suitable for the age of your child she knows. If the nanny owns a large amount of educational material, then your baby will always be busy and develop in step with his peers. And one more important fact – he will not have time for whims and tantrums. If the nanny does not have the necessary knowledge, consider whether she is worth the money she claims. And if other human qualities suit you in a nanny, then you will need to purchase developmental aids. For example: “School of the Seven Dwarfs”, “Lomonosov School”, etc.
Ask the nanny what salary she received at her last job. If this figure is higher than your level of offered pay, then most likely the nanny will work for you until a better option turns up. If possible, a good nanny or governess can be motivated by an increase in salary based on the result of work and after a certain period. First, ask what salary the nanny started working in the last family and after what time her salary was raised.
If, when communicating with candidates, you are interested in a specific nanny and you are inclined to make a decision in her favor, then do not tell her about it immediately at the interview. Be sure to take a specific time to think, thus you will develop a “feeling of loss” in the candidate you like, and give yourself the opportunity to let go of emotions and make a sober decision.
If you liked several nannies at the interview, then you don’t need to suffer and choose one. Invite them all in turn for trial hours, so to speak, to get to know the child. A child is the best sensor for good people. You will have the opportunity to test the nanny at work, as well as in interaction with the parents, i.e. with you.

What to look for during an interview with a nanny:

Pay attention to the look of the nanny. “The eyes are the mirror of the soul”, they will tell you everything about a person: whether he tells you the truth; Is he interested in your nanny job? whether he is currently experiencing or confident in himself, etc.
At the interview, do so that the nanny talks more than you. Thus, you will have the opportunity to pay attention to her competent Russian speech.
If the nanny at the interview does not answer the question posed, but instead speaks a lot and not to the point, then we can safely call such a person unable to hear and non-executive. In work, he will not hear any of your recommendations and will do what he sees fit.
If the applicant at the first communication with you talks a lot of irrelevant things, then practice shows that in work such people will be more eager to communicate with you, on the phone, with other staff in the house or with strolling mothers or nannies on playgrounds.
Pay attention to the questions the nanny asks. Whether they relate to the work process itself (child, your views on upbringing, regime moments, etc.) or only salaries and the frequency of payments, additional payments for overtime, weekends, vacations and sick days. Maybe the nanny does not plan to work, but only intends to create the appearance of the nanny’s active work, receive a salary, as well as get sick and rest at your expense.
If the nanny at the end of the interview said that she needed to think for a few days, then most likely she planned to go to other interviews, where she was probably offered better working conditions or pay, and then make a choice. Remember that managers of the MosNaim recruitment agency tell all applicants about your working conditions and pay, and also give time to think and consult with loved ones about the proposed vacancy. Therefore, most often, when a candidate takes a time-out, practice shows that he is not satisfied with either the employer or those nuances that were not specified by you to the agency manager. Do not bet on this candidate, or already at the interview, find out the reason and try to find a compromise. Of course, provided that you liked the candidate 100%.

Do you want not to make a mistake and make the right choice when choosing a nanny? Trust the experienced managers of the MosNaim recruitment agency, they have helped many families find “their” nanny, they will help you too.

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Need a nanny for a child. Questions at the meeting.

June 4, 2017 Of course, finding a nanny makes parents worried. Still, how to recognize in a short interview time what kind of person is in front of you, whether you can trust him with your baby. To make it easier for you to form your opinion about a potential nanny, here is a list of questions that you can ask at the first meeting.

There are a lot of questions, let’s make a reservation right away, you don’t need to ask all of them, both you and the nanny will get tired. Choose the most important for you and be attentive to the answers. Sometimes the nanny is so worried that she can answer inappropriately. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this. Anxiety can and should be forgiven. And sometimes, on the contrary, a person answers questions clearly, logically, reasonably, but your soul did not respond. Nobody canceled intuition, listen to your heart.

1. Full name, mobile number, registration.

We advise you to ask this first of all, because you can get carried away with the conversation and forget to write down the data when you say goodbye. In addition, knowing the full name, you can make inquiries about this person. By the way, you can contact our agency, we are ready to inform parents if this nanny is on the “black list”.

Tyumen registration is important. So calmer for you. I know that some parents do not take domestic workers from other settlements as a matter of principle.

2. Age, married/single. If it’s important for you – ask. But remember, married women are more calm, but not ready to work with heavy loads. For the option with an irregular working day, with frequent delays of parents from work, with trips with a nanny abroad, it is better to consider women who are not burdened by family stress, preferably with adult children.

You also determine the optimal age for a nanny. It is easier for someone to interact with young nannies, their peers, someone trusts the older generation more.

3 . Education, if that’s a priority for you.

4. Work experience in other families:

— How old was the child at the time of joining the family.

– How long did you work.

-Why did you leave.

— What schedule did you work on?

– Can I be delayed, do I have a passport (if this is relevant for you).

— What were the duties?

-What salary do you expect? By the way, this is a very important question. He says a lot about the nanny, in particular, about the adequacy of her professionalism and salary expectations. You can read more about this in the article “ Nanny Tyumen. Salary expectations .”

By completing these surveys, you will receive important information for yourself, which you can check by calling the referrer, as well as select a person with the experience closest to your requirements.

5. Obligations to feed the child. Did you have to cook? Do not be shy to ask for a recipe for any dish, if the nanny knows how to cook, she will easily answer this question. This is especially important if your child is allergic. Summarizing my experience, I will say that specific questions on nutrition are almost never asked.

6. Did you have to do massage and gymnastics? If your baby is often sick, it makes sense to ask this question.

7. You can ask: “Why is the baby crying?” This concerns the little ones who themselves will not tell yet what they need. Based on the answers, you will understand how experienced the nanny is. You should get some specific answers: hungry, thirsty, hot, cold, tired, hurt, wet, etc. The answers are vague, like something is bothering him, you should not be satisfied.

8. Ask: “If your child makes you angry, what will you do?” Analyze the response.

You can hear a lot of interesting things for yourself. One nanny, without waiting for a question from the parents, was the first to ask: “How do you punish a child?” This answer of the parents alerted and the nanny was denied a job. As it turned out later, the nanny asked this question for the sole purpose: she wanted to find out the level of control of the child.

That is, whether he can hear remarks or is he used to more severe forms of punishment, for example, to a belt. Naturally, she does not consider the belt option, but she draws conclusions for herself how easy it will be for her to communicate with the child, what interaction strategy to build. By the way, at an interview in the second family, she also asked this question, but explained why she was doing this. Parents understood the nanny, and now she works perfectly in the family, raising two boys. From what actions of the nanny parents are shocked – read in the article “ Babysitting services for a child ”.

9. If you really want to test the nanny’s professionalism, do not hesitate to ask what games does she know that are suitable for the age of your child. If the nanny answers with general phrases (for example, “games according to the Montessori method”, games using Zaitsev’s cubes, etc.), then this is not an indicator. It’s better if the nanny gives an example of a specific game, it’s good if there are several games. The specifics show real knowledge of games, and general phrases can only speak of general erudition.

10. You can also ask: “ What is the most difficult thing about babysitting for you? » Most people say that it is most difficult to find a common language with parents. There is nothing terrible in this, every person is worried when he comes to the family. Here, more than ever, the proverb “with your charter does not go to someone else’s monastery” is relevant. Just specify which specific situations were difficult. This will help you to know the employee better and build an optimal system of interaction with him.

11. Important question: “What is the most important thing for you when caring for a child? » Answers vary. It is good if the nanny did not forget to put the health and safety of the baby in the first place, although for most this is a matter of course, therefore this axiom may not be voiced.

12. You may ask, what is the nanny proud of? Of course, this is not necessary, but you will receive additional information about the person.

13. There is a provocative question: “Why do children love you?” Analyze the answers, this is how your opinion about the employee gradually develops.

14. You can come up with questions – tests. These can be any questions about how the nanny will behave in any situation. Maybe you will take a question from your life practice.

For example, question: “You are stuck in an elevator with a toddler. Your actions.”

If you get reasonable answers, such as “call the elevator operator by pressing the button, call the mobile to inform the foreman about the breakdown, if the child is warmly dressed, you need to undress him, in no case show your panic, try to turn the situation around into the game, etc.”, then your nanny, most likely, will not be at a loss in difficult times. Analyze answers and draw conclusions.

Another important safety question: “If a child hits his head, what should I do?” It is important that the nanny can distinguish a dangerous injury from a trifling one, she knows what symptoms are dangerous in the next 2-4 hours, that is, when an ambulance needs to be called. In addition, it is necessary that the nanny immediately inform the mother about this. The answer “I have never had this” is not a plus.

15. Be sure to ask for medical book , especially certificates from a psychiatrist and narcologist.

16. Certificate of no criminal record. Ask or not. In our opinion, it is never redundant. In addition, she shows the degree of openness of the nanny.

17 . Recommendations. Ask, check. The question of when it is better to check, before the trial day or after the trial day remains open. If you are very anxious, you can make inquiries before the trial day. But at the same time, you will not yet have your own opinion, and you will have to rely on the characteristics of the recommenders. There is a chance that you will become a hostage to their opinion. And if you call after the trial day, then you will already have your own impression of the nanny, and you will be able to ask more important and necessary questions.

18. Nanny or not. For some, this is also an important issue. If a believer, then specify what faith. You don’t need Jehovah’s Witnesses, do you? Tips for interacting with a believing nanny in the article “ Nanny for a child – a believer ?”

We say again: you don’t need to ask ALL questions at once , decide on the most important ones for you. This will help you find exactly YOUR nanny.

Domashniy Servis Agency is ready to provide you with quality services in the selection of domestic staff. Always ready to be of service to you.

Head of the agency, psychologist Larisa Neguritsa.

Tags: need a nanny for a child, nanny Tyumen, nanny for a child, babysitting services for a child

questions to ask a future nanny at an interview

Recently, questions related to how to choose the right nanny for your child have become topical. After all, modern society makes young parents work hard, and a beloved baby has to be trusted by professionals. But everything will be fine if you interview the nanny correctly. And for this, it is worth choosing the right questions.

Documents for the provision of services

Usually it is enough for the nanny to ask a few questions and, after listening carefully to the answers, understand how much she is ready to ensure the safety of the child. By the way, questions should be prepared in advance, so that later at the interview you don’t get lost and don’t invent on the go, and then regret that you didn’t have time to ask a lot.

As it turns out, it is enough to ask the nanny just seven questions that will allow you to decide whether to take her to work or to look further for one that will be safe for the children. The same questions can be asked to the kindergarten teacher in order to understand how safe this institution is for the child.

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Psychological recruitment: how the resource for ensuring the health of employees works to find out what valid training certificates you already have. This primarily concerns kindergartens, which must have licenses to provide such services. You can additionally ask the nanny what training programs she owns.

Find out right away if your child care provider is certified in first aid. And, most importantly, they should not be overdue. So you can make sure that your child will fall into safe hands, and nothing will threaten him.

Disinfection and rules of conduct

The second question asked of the babysitter should be one that will give you information about how she copes with cleaning the premises and disinfecting. This, of course, is not part of the duties of a nanny, but when she is next to a child, anything can happen. So, the child may spill some liquid or make a mess associated with food.

That’s when a thorough cleaning of rooms, toys, surfaces, and other things that the baby could come into contact is required. And this will have to do the nanny.

Thirdly, do not forget to ask the nanny what her rules of behavior with a child on the street are. After all, the child should not only be dressed for the weather, but he should always have access to drinking water, and there should also be sunscreen if it is summer time.

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behave badly. And what does he do in such cases? Discipline, of course, is good, but it can be achieved in different ways. It is necessary that the nanny use only positive methods, which are not to use force, but to resolve conflicts smoothly, and also try to prevent any problems in the future.

Nanny’s behavior with a sick child and in emergency situations

It is difficult to find such a child who would be completely healthy. More and more often in our society there are children who suffer, for example, from food allergies. Is the nanny prepared to accommodate the unique needs of the child? She must be able and know how to act in such cases and how to apply the necessary medicines for this. If she herself cannot cope, then she should always have an emergency way out of such a situation.

The sixth question you can ask is one that will help you find out how the nanny will act in an emergency and whether she has already been in such situations with a child. This will give you confidence that your child will not be left in a situation where he will be in danger.

The seventh question is about what the nanny will do if the child suddenly falls ill, for example, he has a stomach ache or a fever. And it is necessary that in such a situation the child also feels comfortable before the arrival of the parents. After all, it is necessary that both the physical and mental state of the child is always in order.

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43 Babysitter Interview Questions (& Responses to Look For)

General Questions

1. How much do you charge / what is your hourly rate?

2. What aspects do you like most about caring for children?

3. What do you look for in a family / employer?

4. Are you okay if we sometimes have to call and have you stay later than planned?

5. Do you live nearby? If not, do you have a car or reliable form of transportation?

6. What’s one thing you wouldn’t want me to know?

7. What are your views on discipline? Would you change if we ask?

8. What days and hours are you available? Have you got a curfew or certain time you need to be home by?

9. What’s your favorite age of child to care for and why?

10. Are you looking to babysit for a family long term?

11. What do you like least about babysitting?

Background and Experience

12. How many families have you babysat for? How old were their kids?

13. What kind of jobs or volunteer work have you done with children in the past? (Other babysitting jobs, sports coach, etc.)

14. How many years have you worked with kids?

15. Do you have specific experience with X (newborns, special needs, potty training, or whatever you’re looking for.)

Sitter’s Current Situation

16. What are you studying in school?

17. Do you have any other part-time jobs? Or other commitments?

18. Are you allergic to dogs, cats, or any other pets?

19. Do you smoke?

20. Are you scared of any kinds of pets?

21. Do you have any vacations or time off planned in the next 6 months where you won’t be available?

Safety and Training

22. Do you know CPR? Do you know first aid?

23. Do you know what you would need to do if a child is choking?

24. Can you drive if there’s an emergency?

25. Can you swim?

Behavioral Interview Questions

26. What was a specific time where you faced a crisis at a job? How did you deal with it?

27. What has your proudest babysitting moment or accomplishment been and why?

28. Tell me about a specific time when you had to prioritize several tasks and manage your time efficiently. How did you decide what was most important?

29. What activities do you do with the children on an average babysitting shift?

30. What do you do if a child refuses to go to bed? How have you handled tantrums in the past?

31. Under what circumstances would you call me?

32. If you can’t get ahold of me, who would you reach out to for help?

33. Give me an example of a time and place when you faced a stressful situation that demonstrated your coping skills.

34. Share a specific example of a time as a babysitter when you used good judgment or fact-finding skills to solve a problem.

35. Share a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty as a babysitter.

36. Tell me about a time you were forced to make an unpopular decision.

37. Give me a real-life example of a time when you had to make a split-second decision, without parental input.

38. Tell me about a work situation that irritated you. How did you handle it?

39. What three words would your friends use to describe you?

40. Are you comfortable giving the children baths and dressing them?

41. Are you willing to take children out to the park or library? Or would you just want to stay at home with them?

42. How do you handle conflict with a child you’re watching? (like not following instructions or refusing to go to bed.)

43. What do you think it is that children like about you?

Questions You CAN’T Ask A Potential Babysitter

Babysitter Interview Questions (Checklist)

Related Questions

What responsibilities should I ask my babysitter about during our interview?

What are some infant-specific babysitter interview questions?

Can I ask my babysitter about driving?

What questions should I ask babysitter references?

Interview Questions for Nannies & Babysitters By Topic

Questions You Can Ask a Potential Nanny or Babysitter

General

Experience

Availability

Personal Responsibility

Responsibilities and Tasks

Enthusiasm

Dedication

Behavior

Newborn Care

If the Sitter Will Be Driving

Ask for References

Meet Your Kids

After the Interview

Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Babysitters — Apiari