5 important things to leave with your babysitter

I remember when we had our first child, and how hard it was to leave her with a babysitter. Even the thought of it made us feel uncomfortable because they were so many terrible scenarios that ran through mine and my husband’s heads. But this is why criminal background checks are necessary before hiring anyone. Finding qualified individuals is important, but ensuring the kids are in safe hands should be the top priority.

BUT then it got to a point where we were really missing our quality time together, just the two of us. The hard thing is, we do not have any family or grandparents who live near us. We are very fortunate to have great friends, but they have kids of their own, so we always felt bad asking them. FINALLY we made a decision, we needed to get a baby sitter. There are so many questions that run through a new parents’ head when they start this process. Where do you even start to look for a quality babysitter? What do you leave for them when you go out? Sticky notes everywhere? How about if something happens? Here is a list I use for my babysitter that has pretty much everything that you may want to leave with her/him before you leave the house, and hopefully it can help give you a peace of mind when you leave your little one for the first time.

1. Leave contact information for you and your partner. Leave your information with the sitter and also make sure you communicate with them where you will be (i.e. a restaurant, friend’s house, movie theater, etc.) An extra precaution you can also take is to leave a phone number of someone who is close by(such as a neighbor or friend) just in case the sitter cannot get a hold of you. Our sitter has our numbers and our neighbors/friends number stored in her cell phone. We have made it to a point to introduce her to our friends and neighbors so she knows whom they are and would feel comfortable calling them in an emergency.

2. Make a print out with all of your child’s health issues. Allergies, Medications they are taking that are time sensitive, asthma, etc. Leave it on your fridge so the babysitter can look at it. Additionally, you can make a list of choking hazards when it comes to certain foods. Keep in mind, not everyone has kids and knows which foods can be dangerous.

3.Make a copy of your children’s medical card information and communicate to them where the closest ER or hospital is located. You can also add the local police phone number, poison control, and fire station, or any other IMPORTANT information/phone numbers you want them to have. We have ours on the refrigerator so it is easy access for the sitter.

4. Food and routine list. Make sure to have this written down just in case your babysitter cannot get a hold of you. Have a list of foods your child likes or dislikes. A majority of the time I usually make dinner ahead of time so then all the babysitter has to do is bake it or warm it up. Also, have a routine list written down as well so the sitter can have a reference to look at just in case she cannot figure out why your little one is not satisfied. My older two have the routine down pretty well and so does my little one, but sometimes you can have off days, and trust me your babysitter will appreciate having this as a reference for moments like that.

5. Transportation. Just in case there is an emergency leave your car seats or even your car with the car seats because you never know what can happen. We usually always take my husband’s car when we go out or carpool with friends, so that we know there is one car with car seats available.

* You can even type all of this information up and put it into a binder with organized tabs so the sitter can easily access/find all the information. It’s also comes in handy for any relatives or if you have multiples sitters watching your child(ren).

Being a momma of three I feel like we have our system down and we are comfortable leaving our children with our sitter. We are very fortunate to have had amazing sitters that have followed our rules and that have been good to our kids. Following these tips may not ease all your anxiety (which is completely understandable), but I hope they will you give you some peace of mind, so you can enjoy a night out every once in a while.

*Thanks Ms. Jaime for taking care of my kiddos!