When choosing a babysitting service, there are several things to look for. These factors influence the safety and health of your child, and determine whether the nanny herself will be responsible nanny services near me.
Applicant Screening
One of the main things to determine when choosing the nanny service is the nanny service’s method of screening their own applicants. Anyone can apply to watch children, but only some people should be doing this. A good nanny service will have an extensive screening program to vet potential sitters for the safety of your child. One such thing to ask about is a background check. Are the nannies investigated fully when applying for the service?
Applicant Skills
Another factor when determining whether a nanny service is worth using is whether their people are good with children, specifically your children. Often, parents get so caught up in determining whether or not a babysitter is safe, and has no criminal record and other such red flags that they neglect to find out whether the sitter will be good for the child. This means that the sitter will both have a certain, definable set of skills, and another less-definable “way” with children.
The set of skills that the sitter needs to have include changing a diaper, feeding a baby, giving baths, and other procedural things. Other skills are also helpful. CPR should be a skill that any quality babysitting service will require of its members. If a nanny agency doesn’t require every nanny to know CPR, this is a sign that the agency does not really take its purpose seriously. The nanny should also know how to swim, and if he or she is a trained lifeguard this is even better. However, this should not be a limiting qualification, unless the nanny will specifically be watching the kids at the ocean, when there is no other lifeguard on duty (probably a rare situation).
Applicant Rapport
Among the less-quantifiable set of skills a nanny should have is the way he or she gets along with children. Do children like the babysitter? This is important, both for the happiness and well-being of the child and the ability for the babysitter to enforce discipline, which further contributes for the child’s safety. The way to determine whether a nanny agency is likely to have a sitter who is compatible with your child is to check the nanny’s experience. Often this will be part of the resume presented by the nanny agency. If the babysitter has extensive experience, chances are good that they will be able to connect and build rapport with your child.
Applicant Experience
Finally, something to consider when vetting a nanny agency is whether or not this agency has experience with special needs children. Even if your child does not have special needs, the ability to safely deal with the demands that special needs children often have demonstrates an above-average ability.
So, in short, you’re looking for a nanny agency that pays attention to detail when screening nannies, in order to weed out any that might deliberately harm a child. Furthermore, these nannies need to have the necessary skills to keep kids safe and entertained, and be likeable enough that the child will be happy.