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If you’re looking for a night out without dragging your children along, you’ll need to find a good babysitter who can be trusted to keep your children safe while you’re gone. You should find a babysitter in advance, so you have someone to call when you need a night out or must attend an event without your children. Trying to find someone to watch the kids last minute can result in making rushed decisions. Here are some tips for choosing a good babysitter you can trust:

Ask for Referrals

Talk to friends and relatives who live near you and who have children. Who do they use when they need a babysitter? If they have someone they trust with their children, ask if you can call the babysitter. The best person to watch your children is someone who has experience with kids and good referrals. Your friends and family aren’t likely to refer a babysitter to you that they wouldn’t hire to watch their own children, so you can feel confident their referral is a good one.

Ask at Church

Another good place for babysitting referrals is through your church, if you belong to one. Ask around to see if any of the teenagers who go to your church babysit and if they’d be interested in babysitting for your children. Chances are they live near by, which means you get the added benefit of their parents being close in case of an emergency while they’re babysitting for your children.

Ask Potential Babysitters Questions

Once you have one or two people in mind for potential babysitting, conduct an interview with them. Ask questions about how they would handle certain situations that could come up when they’re babysitting. Some ideas for questions to ask a potential babysitter include:

• What would you do if Ryan started choking?
• What would you do if someone falls down the stairs?
• What would you do if someone knocked on the front door?

Qualified babysitters should have no problem answering these types of questions.

Talk with Teen Babysitters’ Parents

If you’re considering a teenager as your babysitter, it’s also a good idea to talk with their parent or guardian, if possible. Find out if they feel their teenager is mature enough for the responsibility of caring for children and whether they have any experience babysitting. If the teenager has experience, ask to contact other parents they’ve babysat for to get references.

Have Babysitter Meet Your Children

Before hiring the babysitter and leaving him or her alone with your children, it’s a good idea to have them come to your home to meet the kids while you’re home. See how the kids react to the babysitter, and whether or not he or she seems comfortable with your kids. His or her interaction with your children should help you feel comfortable hiring them to babysit the next time you need to leave the house without the children in tow.