First contact with the family

First contact with the family

By Babysits
4 min read

Meeting the babysitting family for the first time can be exciting and nerve-racking. Here we provide tips on how to make the most out of the first contact with the family and make a good first impression.

A Babysitter's guide to meeting the family

The first moment of meeting the family from a potential babysitting job can be a make or break into whether you get the babysitting job and whether it goes well! There are a few key traits that can help you truly succeed in this first impression making meeting and help you land your perfect babysitting gig. Read on to find how you can make a great first impression with the family you want to babysit for.

How to meet the family when babysitting

1. The meeting in general:

Actually have a first meeting with the family

  • While it is not necessary to meet parents and children ahead of time, we strongly encourage babysitters to meet the parents and children in advance.
  • Furthermore, for your own safety, we recommend that you ask parents to meet in a public space and to bring someone along with you.

Take your time to make sure you feel comfortable

  • You should also take your time to feel comfortable with the other party, even if that means meeting each other multiple times before the first day.
  • Parents may also ask you to first babysit their child while they are at home. In this way, they can get to know your babysitting style better and you can ask them questions.
  • If you opt to babysit the child at your home, make sure that the parents have already visited your home at least once before you start babysitting for them.

2. During the first contact

Dress appropriately

  • Dressing in a suit isn't necessary, however, wearing clothes appropriate for babysitting or being relatively well-dressed can give parents a positive impression.

Be prepared for questions

  • Being prepared to answer questions about yourself and your babysitting or childcare experiences will impress the parents interviewing you.
  • This can further convey overall that you are a prepared and responsible person. Try to think ahead of time about what sort of questions parents may ask you!

Have your own questions prepared

  • This also shows that you are prepared and organized.
  • Having your own questions also helps you better gauge what the full responsibilities of the babysitting job are; this can help you be an even better babysitter!

Be interested in the child

  • Make sure you spend some time getting to know the child well and interact with them!
  • This will help the child be more comfortable with you and will help you figure out the child's personality, what they enjoy, and what babysitting style may be the most effective with them.

3. After the meeting

If you had a good meeting and want to babysit for the parent, then we advise you to sort out all of the important details before you start babysitting so that you are better prepared. You can use our intake form as a guideline.

Babysits provides a private messaging service to facilitate communication between users. It is essential that you communicate with other users through Babysits first, until you are comfortable enough to exchange contact information with them and switch to other messaging platforms. Please keep in mind that we can't help you with complaints about messages that have been sent externally to our messaging service, as we will not have a record of the exchange. If you use another messaging platform, it is at your own risk!

Hopefully these tips help you give the best impression of yourself that you can! Did you nail that first contact and get the job? Find out some ideas about what activities you can do with the children you are babysitting here!

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