Hiring a nanny is one of the biggest decisions you make, but unfortunately, you can run into problems during our search. After several interviews, online searches, and asking friends, you will learn a lot about this process. Here are the eight things to do when hiring a nanny:
1.Hire experienced nannies
We all know that leaving your little ones to head to work may be the worst part of your day. Trustworthy and experienced person is the reason you can leave for work peacefully. They know how to ease your parenting woes while adapting their methods to your personal parenting style.
Casual babysitting is fine for date nights, but you’ll need someone more experienced if she’s your full time babysitter for your child.
2.Discuss your preferences and parenting methods
Before you hire your nanny, sit down and discuss discipline guidelines with her. The nanny needs to understand your needs and protocols, and you should make sure that she’ll do a good job in your absence.
Make sure your nanny is not too harsh. If the nanny does not demonstrate her willingness to make an immediate change, it may be time to look for a new babysitter.
3.Be clear about pay, vacation and other details
You will want to know the full details about your nanny before you hire her.
- Her days off. How many days off she’ll get a month, and will that include sick days, holidays and vacation. Will she be paid for that time too?
- Your vacation policy. Will she take several days off, or does she usually take a day or two off throughout the year?
- How she’ll be paid. Will you pay hourly, or monthly? Are you paying her every Friday, end of the month? Will she take a check, cash, or online payments?
4.Schedule a few days for the nanny
Ask the nanny to come for a few days before you hire her so you can see how she takes care of the baby. Try at least two to three days, or a couple of hours.
- Day 1: Walk her through all you do. Show her how you feed the baby, change the diaper, play with him and put him to sleep.
- Day 2: Get her to do these tasks with you. Have her feed the baby a bottle or change the diaper, and make adjustments as necessary.
- Day 3: Get her to take care for the baby on her own with you around but not nearby. Tell her how to put the baby to sleep. She’ll have the opportunity to do things on her own, that’s how she’ll be trained.
5.Interview more than one candidate
Take time, do not rush to hire a nanny. One of the most important thing is finding the perfect childcare provider for your baby. So ask as many questions as you want.
- Since when you started caring for children?
- How many children have you cared for in the past?
- How and why did you leave your previous jobs?
- What was the age of the children you have taken care of?
- How do you plan to entertain my child during the day?
- Have you taken childcare or child development classes before?
- What would you do when you disagreed with a parent?
- How would you handle sick days?
- Are you ready to take the child to activities and play dates?
- What is your rate? How much do you charge?
6.Background check
When you hire a nanny, background checks are necessary because you want to have as much information as possible about the person who will be coming into your home to care for your baby. Most parents skip this step because they haven’t experienced this before and assume that, as individuals, they don’t have the means of running a criminal background or legal status check. Thus, be alert about the person you are going to hire.
7.Making the offer
Once you’ve settled on the nanny you want to hire, it’s time for a proper offer. Many parents feel uncomfortable talking about sensitive deal points like salary, or asking about their background, so the easiest way to keep the conversation professional is to write down an agreement. The agreement is not a legally binding contract, it can be changed or ended at any time.
In this final step, you prepare work agreement for nanny that descibes all the details of your job, along with any other rules or specifications that the nanny has asked for, or that came up during the trial.
