Take good care of my baby

When you're interviewing a caregiver who would look after your baby in her home rather than yours, be sure to meet the rest of the family. Even though you aren't hiring her teenage daughter or husband to care for your baby, there's a good chance they'll be in the home while your baby is there.

Questions you should ask
• How long have you been looking after children?
• What do you like about this job?
• How will the children spend their day? Tell me what a typical day is like.
• Will the children spend time outside playing? Will you take a walk outside with the baby in his carriage?
• Where will the baby be when you're preparing meals or bottles?
• When the baby cries, what do you do?
• What do you consider misbehaviour?
• What is your policy on misbehaviour?
• What do the children eat for lunch and snacks?
• Will the television be on during the day? If so, for how long and what type of programs will be watched.
• When do you do your housework?
• Will there be anyone else, older children and their friends or a spouse, home during the day?
• Will you or anyone else in the house be smoking? If you smoke outside, who will be watching my baby?
• Do you have any first aid training?
• Should a child become ill in your care, what is your procedure?

Excerpted from Growing with Your Child: Pre Birth to Age 5 edited by Christine Langlois. Copyright 1998 by Telemedia Communications Inc. Excerpted, with permission by Ballantine Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.