Checking References

From your pool of potential babysitters, you’ll need to make some preliminary eliminations based on their experience and references.

Here’s a list of some questions you should consider asking the babysitter’s references:

How old are your children?
How many times did she babysit your kids?
Is she still babysitting for you? If she isn’t, why?
Would you recommend her as a babysitter?
What was her greatest weakness as a babysitter? Greatest strength?
Could you rely on her? Was she dependable?
Do you have any additional thoughts or comments?

If possible, you should consider doing a background check. This obviously depends on your personal preference, the age of the babysitter, and whether you want to use this babysitter long-term. A full background check can be as expensive as $250. A basic background check at nannybackgroundcheck.com runs at $115.