How to get the best babysitter for your child

Don't hesitate to ask a few scenario-style questions: 'What would you do if my child had a fever or if someone came to the door'? Check, too, whether the potential sitter has taken a babysitting course. ''At least then he has some basic knowledge about child behaviour, so he knows it’s not appropriate to give a toddler food to take to bed or he doesn't think, 'Wouldn't it be great to bring over my Lego set to share with the baby?' '' says Ann Douglas, a mother of four in Peterborough, Ont., and the author of numerous parenting books.

If the prescreening is successful, pay the sitter to watch your children for a few hours while you’re there, too.

Check in on occasion during the trial run to see how everyone's getting along. ''If the sitter is on the couch reading a book and ignoring the children, you can pretty much gauge how things will go in your absence,'' says Douglas.

Be clear about your expectations
Review the house rules with your sitter (no reality-based TV shows, for example), preferably with the kids present. ''Children are always going to be testing; 'Let's see what we can get away with,' '' says Calgary babysitter Erin Nikota, 22. ''That way, you can make sure everyone is on the same page.''

Marryn Mahar, 20, recalls babysitting a six-year-old whose parents were ''health nuts.'' When 
the parents found out she'd shared a Popsicle with their daughter and painted her fingernails princess pink, they flipped out. ''I was just trying to be nice to the little girl,'' says Marryn. ''They really laid out the rules after that!''

Take time to spell out to a fledgling sitter what he can or can't do after the children are tucked into bed: watch TV, use the computer or phone, have a friend over, etc. When Marryn's younger brother, Graeme, pinch-hit for her on a job, he spent most of the night sitting on the stairs. ''I was listening to make sure everything was OK,'' he says, laughing. ''I didn't know I could go in the living room and watch TV or do my homework.''

Follow up with the kids
Children are good judges of character, so don't forget to quiz little Susie and Johnny when the babysitter has left, advises Martha Scully, a mother of two in Nanaimo, B.C., and founder 
of Canadiansitter.ca, an online babysitting service. What TV shows did they watch (always a good indication of how much TV they watched), what games did they play, what books did they read? Did the sitter raise her voice? Did they like and trust her? Did anything happen that made them feel uncomfortable or afraid?

Show respect
Once you’ve found your own Mary Poppins, you'll want to keep her at all costs. That may mean digging a little deeper in your pocket at the end of the night. ''People think nothing of paying their cleaning ladies and dogsitters more than their babysitter,'' says Michelle Facette, 24, of Canmore, Alta.

Page 2 of 5