About babysitters

A babysitter is someone who looks after your child in your home.

A babysitter is a good occasional child care option. For example, you might use a babysitter if you want to go out for an evening or if you have an appointment when your child isn’t in school or at child care.

When you use a babysitter for the first time, it’s a good idea to use a babysitter checklist. This might cover your house rules, your child’s routines, your expectations, home safety and emergency procedures.

How to find a babysitter

There are many options for finding a babysitter:

• Ask a trusted family member, neighbour or friend.
• Ask friends or other parents for babysitter recommendations. This might include teenagers they know or even their own teenage children.
• Talk to the parents of your child’s friends about setting up a babysitting club, where you take turns to babysit for each other.
• If your child attends child care, ask your child’s educators for babysitter recommendations. Or ask them whether they’re interested in babysitting after hours.
• Check noticeboards at child care centres, local schools, community centres, universities, libraries or local shops. You could also look in your local newspaper.
• Use a babysitting agency. Agencies can provide experienced babysitters.

It’s best to avoid using social media to look for a babysitter because this can have safety risks.

Babysitter experience, references, qualifications and age

The right babysitter is someone you can trust with your child.

Once you’ve found a potential babysitter, you can work out whether they’re trustworthy by looking at their experience, references and qualifications. Their age might also be a consideration.

Experience

Generally, the younger your child is, the more experienced the babysitter should be. For babysitters employed to look after babies, experience in looking after babies is vital.

These questions can help you assess a potential babysitter’s experience, especially if you don’t know them personally:

• How much babysitting experience does the babysitter have?
• Has the babysitter looked after children without help before, and how many children has the babysitter looked after at one time?
• Does the babysitter have experience with children the same age as your child?
• If your child has a disability, does the babysitter have experience with children with disability?
• Has anyone you know employed the babysitter, and were they happy?

References

It’s also important to check the babysitter’s references. If the babysitter doesn’t offer references, make sure you ask for some and check them carefully.

Qualifications

You might prefer to employ someone with qualifications – for example:

• a first aid and/or a CPR certificate and perhaps anaphylaxis training
• a current driver’s licence
• a working with children check
• early childhood, teaching or child development qualifications.

Carefully checking a babysitter’s experience, references and qualifications is part of protecting your child from emotional, physical and sexual abuse. It’s also a good idea to learn about signs of grooming.

In Australia a babysitter under 18 years of age can’t be legally responsible for a child except in special circumstances. So it’s your responsibility to ensure that someone under 18 is sufficiently mature to babysit your children.

Babysitters: rapport with your child and family

A good babysitter is someone you and your child get along with. They’re also someone who’ll follow your family rules and routines in relation to bedtimes, food and behaviour, and respect your family’s cultural and social traditions.

To work out whether a babysitter will get along with your child, you could arrange for the babysitter to spend some time with your child while you’re there too.

It’s ideal for this time to be when your child is relaxed and happy. It’s also good if the babysitter can see your meal and bedtime routines, your approach to guiding your child’s behaviour and so on.

This is a good chance for you to see how the babysitter communicates with your child at your child’s level and responds to their needs. For example, the babysitter should know how to play with your 2-year-old or comfort your 10-month-old.

If this first meeting goes well, it can help everyone feel more relaxed the first time the babysitter cares for your child when you’re not there. Just remember to offer a payment for this introductory session.

To work out whether the babysitter is a good personal fit for your family, you can watch your child’s reaction to the babysitter before and after a babysitting session. You can also ask your child later how they feel about the babysitter, if your child is old enough.

The babysitter’s availability

The right babysitter is someone who’s available when you need them.

If Saturday nights are when you often need a babysitter, there’s probably no point asking your friend’s sociable teenage child to do the job. Likewise, if you usually need someone at short notice, a busy aunt or uncle might not be the best option.

You could talk to potential babysitters about:

• when they’re usually available
• how much notice they need
• how they’ll get to and from your home – if you can offer them a lift, it might mean they’re more available.

Babysitting fees

Always agree on fees with the babysitter before any care takes place. Check with other parents for an idea of the going rate, or ask an agency for standard rates before you start your own selection process.

If the babysitter has a lot of experience or qualifications, they might expect a higher rate of pay. Be prepared to negotiate a fair rate. You can use the Miscellaneous Award as a guide for what to pay your babysitter, taking into account the babysitter’s age and experience.

If your babysitter has to travel a long distance to get to your house, you might also need to consider their travel time and transport expenses.