When Amanda Arevalo, 34, of Huntington Beach needed a babysitter for her 8-month-old son, she went to a place where she knew she could find good referrals fast: Facebook.
“I have so many different types of friends on Facebook,” Arevalo said. “I’m sure one of them knows a great sitter we can use on-call when my son can’t go to day care or we need a night out.”
An honest referral is worth its weight in gold, according to Jennifer Seward, the communications manager for Safe Sitter, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit devoted to training babysitters nationwide, including locations in Orange County.
“The best place to begin a search for a babysitter is with people you know and trust: other parents, friends, co-workers or neighbors,” she said.
Safe Sitter trains teens ages 11 to 14 in child choking rescue, injury prevention, first aid, feeding and decision-making. The skills potential sitters learn can be useful throughout their lives.
Safe Sitter also trains sitters in business negotiation skills, including how to set fees, when to say no to a potential job and when to call a backup adult.
“A trained sitter can command a higher fee because they have skills and maturity that an untrained sitter may not,” Seward said.
The Red Cross also offers babysitter training in Orange County. Both organizations offer introductory and advanced sessions throughout the year at local hospitals, churches and other locations.
“The training boosted my oldest daughter’s self-confidence, and her babysitting business boomed,” said Jennifer Weyenberg, 41, of Garden Grove, whose three daughters took Red Cross training.
“Safe Sitter graduates have to show a mastery of skills in order to complete the course,” Seward said. “So our trained sitters are a great choice to care for children.”
When attorney Sarah Odegaard, 33, relocated to Irvine from Minnesota this year, she needed to find a good sitter for her two children, ages 3 and 6 months. Without a local network of contacts or a longtime social circle, she used one of the more popular babysitter-locator websites for her search.
“We ended up finding a great sitter on Care.com,” Odegaard said. “We interviewed her extensively and made sure to call her references and do a background check, which (the site) provides as one of its services.”
Odegaard works from home, so she is able to check in on her kids at any time. “And we know things go well because our kids are always smiley and happy to see her.”
Once you have found a potential babysitter, asking the right questions is key.
“Don’t be afraid to talk about money,” Seward said. “We train our sitters to communicate and agree on their rate before the job begins.”
Odegaard says the money question was handled during her online search.
“We had a general idea of how much we could afford to pay,” she said. “And we were able to search for sitters in that range. There were only short discussions about money.”
Other important talks should focus on expectations, the child’s routine, activities, feeding, pet peeves, positive reinforcement, gentle discipline and what to do in the case of an emergency. Safe Sitter also recommends going through “What if?” scenarios with a potential sitter.
The group also suggests that parents “trust their gut” and move on to another potential sitter if something just doesn’t feel right in an interview.
“A well-prepared sitter will come into an interview with good questions,” Seward said.
Experts also recommend a trial run: hiring a potential sitter to spend time with the children while the parents are at home but in another part of the house. This gives parents and the sitter time to see if the job is a good match for the sitter and the children.
Whether a parent is hiring a teen or an adult, Seward said, “Babysitters provide an essential service. You are an employer. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Preparation is key.”
