Two 22 year old babysitters are in custody, after a mom returned home to find her kids beaten and bruised. These two face hundred of charges. They were looking after four Pennsylvania children while their mom took a week-long to North Carolina. When she got home, the kids told her the babysitters tied the kids to a dog cage, forced them to drink urine and beat them. The pair was friends with the mom and she trusted them enough to watch her kids for a week.
So how would you know if a potential babysitter could be dangerous? Here a few tips.
A big mistake parents make when interviewing a potential babysitter is having the babysitter come over to the house when the kids are well-behaved, well-rested and cooperative. It's easy to take care of kids when they're happy. So invite the potential sitter back to your home when the kids will be a bit cranky, frustrated and uncooperative. Why? Because you want to see how the sitter reacts. Do they help you? Try to distract the kids? Talk to your kids? Or, do they withdraw, make a face and seem uncomfortable?
Parents tend to ask easy questions such as do you like to color or take the kids to the playground. It's more revealing to give the sitter scenarios and ask how they would handle the situations. For example, what would you do if Charlie threw the toys when you asked him to put them away? What if Lauren won't walk out of the house when it's time to go to swim practice? Then listen to and watch for their responses.
Look for two things in their answers. 1) The number of solutions they come up with because you want to know how easily they give up or if they're persistent. 2) "I don't know - it depends" responses. Ask them, "It depends on what?" You want to encourage the sitter to think so you can understand them better.
Use my tips with your own observations of the interactions between your kids and the sitter as well as reference checks to help you make a final decision.
You can continue the conversation with me on my Facebook page: Blanca Cobb-Body Language Expert. While you're on my page, give it a "like" and write a message on my timeline. I'll be sure to get back to you.