Whether you need some extra help with taking care of your children or you need somebody to look after the little ones while you’re ticking off items from your bucket list, it’s of the utmost importance that you hire somebody who you not only trust but who can take good enough care of your kids. The selection progress can be stressful, but it’s worth doing your due diligence and taking care. Here are our top tips for finding good childcare for your family.

Top Tips for Finding Good Childcare

Ask Around First

Before you put up an ad online, it’s worth asking around to find out if any of your friends have any recommendations. If they can recommend somebody that they have found is trustworthy, you will save a lot of time and feel more confident from the get-go.

Prepare a Job Description

If none of your friends can recommend any childcare staff, you can put out an ad in the classifieds or on one of many websites online. You need to talk with your family and write a list of objectives, as well as expectations and a work schedule. This will save you time and interviews as it will filter out anybody that won’t satisfy your demands anyway.

Think of Transport

You need to specifically think of how your childcare helper will need to use transport. Will they need to accompany your children to school? Will that be by driving or by taking public transportation? If you need a nanny that drives, you need to make sure that they are safe to drive, have a reliable car and have no driving misdemeanors. You then need to make clear how you will pay for their transportation (do you need gas receipts etc.?).

Always Consider Health and Safety

If you’re employing anybody, you need to think of health and safety to avoid having to pay a workers compensation settlement if there’s an accident while they’re under your employment. If you’re concerned about this, look into health and safety training, which can help to protect you against claims of negligence.

Remember a Background Check

Before you hire anybody that works with kids, especially your kids, you should complete a background check. This check should look at criminal history and employment history as well as credit ratings. You can get this done through some trusted websites online.

Ask for References and Follow Up on Them

Always ask for references, but don’t just look at them – follow up on them. It’s unlikely that you’ll be given references that won’t portray the nanny or potential childcare staff member in a positive light. Still, with a good series of questions, you will be able to find out more information than you would through just screening. A tip here is to ask about what they have done in response to moments of crisis or any specific problems that you feel would be important. By asking questions about actual behavior, you reduce the importance of the reference’s feelings about the person, allowing you to make your own mind up.