How to get the best babysitter for your child

Two for one?
Supervising a particularly rowdy group of kids or being in charge from dawn till dusk may be more than one sitter can handle. ''Consider the event or situation and ask yourself if you would feel prepared caring for 'x' number of children in that situation,'' says Samantha Wilson, president of Kidproof Child Safety. If you’d need more help to ensure all the kids are safe and properly supervised, then hire a second sitter.

Great resources
Babysitting courses range in price from about $30 to $100. Here's where to get more information on some of the courses available:

• Kidproof Child Safety: 1-866-467-2338; kidproofcanada.com
• Canada Safety Council: safety-council.org
• St. John Ambulance: sja.ca to find your local St. John Ambulance office
• Canadian Red Cross: redcross.ca to locate the zone office near you

Help for babysitters
• The Babysitter’s Handbook (Kidproof Safety, 2007) by Samantha Wilson.

• The What to Expect Baby-Sitter’s Handbook (Workman Publishing, 2003) by Heidi Murkoff, with 61 questions babysitters ask most often.

What to pay a good sitter
How much you pay your babysitter will vary from about $5 to $20 an hour, depending on where you live, how much experience she has (including specialized training such as early childhood education or CPR certification), how many children she'll be watching and what her duties will be. ''One autistic child can be the same amount of work as three children without special needs,'' says Martha Scully, a mother of two in Nanaimo, B.C., and founder of Canadiansitter.ca, an online babysitting service.

Ask around and find out what your neighbours, friends and your babysitter’s references pay. ''At the very least, be prepared to pay minimum wage,'' advises parenting author Ann Douglas. ''That way they'll think, I could be trying to serve a customer every 20 seconds at a drive-through window, or I could be playing with cute babies and toddlers.'' If you find a sitter who volunteers to do chores and is great with the kids, you’ve struck gold. Reward her accordingly.

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Read more:
• Babysitter's checklist
• Leaving baby for the first time
• Active family games to play