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Home › Articles › Child Care Issues › The Business of Babysitters

The Business of Babysitters

Finding the Right Daycare for Your Child

By Amy Carey

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Go over the completed contract with the candidate and ask her to suggest any changes she thinks are necessary. Specify the duration of the contract – will you revisit the terms in a year? Six months? When the two of you agree to a draft, sign it and keep it in an easy-to-access place for reference. If conflicts, uncertainties or misunderstandings arise later, you can always refer to the contract for clarification.

The (Ongoing) Assessment
Now that you've chosen a childcare provider and both of you have signed the contract, you're still not ready to run out the door without looking back. The most important part of maintaining a relationship with your child's caregiver is frequent communication.

Make time before you leave each day to chat and get an idea of how your caregiver is feeling. You also should set up regular informal meetings with your employee to ask how things are going. If your child goes to a daycare center, ask about regular meetings with the head teacher or director to keep tabs on how well your child is doing in that environment. When you notice a problem, no matter how small it seems now, don't let it fester. Address it. For instance, has your sitter been arriving 10 minutes late every other day?

While you're looking for signs of satisfaction (or lack of), don't overlook the most important key to assessing the relationship: your child's response to the caregiver. If you notice any changes in your child, like sudden clinginess, reluctance to go to the caregiver or any unusual anxiety, try to get to the bottom of the problem quickly. Your child is the best barometer of how well the relationship is progressing.

Finally, be open to your caregiver's complaints. Is there anything she'd like to change? Does she need an adjustment in hours? Try to be as responsive to her needs as you expect her to be to your needs (and your child's, of course). You also might offer her pay increases to mark work well done, get a token gift for her on holidays or give her the day off when her sister's in town. If you show your caregiver how much you value her, she is likely to return the favor by going out of her way to be a positive, loving figure in your child's life.

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