Choosing the right babysitter or nanny for your child is a big decision. You want to find someone who enjoys spending time with children and will feel true affection for yours, while also ensuring they keep your children safe.
Guide For Choosing The Right Babysitter or Nanny For Your Children
This guide helps frame what to look for when choosing the right babysitter or nanny, including their experience, qualifications, training, and ability to honor household values and expectations.
Babysitter vs. Nanny: What’s the Difference?
There is a significant difference between a babysitter and a nanny.
Babysitters provide infrequent, shorter-term care
In short, babysitters usually:
- Work infrequently and for shorter shifts (usually not more than a handful of hours)
- Charge per hour.
- Do not live in your home or drive your vehicle.
- May be younger and less experienced than a nanny.
Babysitters are typically used off and on for shorter periods and are paid by the hour. They don’t require benefits, vacation time, or paid time off. Also, in most cases, your babysitter wouldn’t work overnight. They are not considered “professionals,” and are often teenagers, trusted neighbors, or very young adults who love babies and young children, are attentive and playful, but don’t necessarily have the higher-level qualifications you’d look for in a nanny.
For example, you may use a babysitter for a couple’s date night (essential for preventing parenting burnout!) or for the occasional errand running, workout sessions, or social gatherings with friends. Having a list of “backup babysitters” is also a good idea if you have a nanny but want someone to fill in the gaps when they have a day or evening off.
Nannies are professional baby/child caregivers
In short, nannies:
- Are full-fledged adults, providing professional childcare services.
- Are hired for part-time or full-time positions.
- May require a salary rather than an hourly wage.
- Usually require medical benefits, IRA, and/or paid vacation/PTO time as part of their contract (especially if they’re full-time).
- May use your/their car for transporting the children.
Nannies are professional caregivers. While some may work as nannies to put themselves through college or work toward other childcare-oriented careers, others choose nannying as their lifelong profession and are typically hired part-time or full-time.
What To Look For in a Babysitter
“Safety first” is your motto when it comes to trusting your children into others’ care. So, any babysitter you hire should be currently certified in infant/child CPR and basic first aid through the American Heart Association or the Red Cross. The American Heart Association also offers a course called Advanced Childcare Training, which helps babysitters learn more about the tenets of baby/childcare, leadership, child behavior and discipline, professionalism, etc.
When you’re ready to hire a babysitter, we recommend:
- Checking in with friends and trusted neighbors about who they use/recommend.
- Joining local mom/parenting groups and/or follow local vetted parenting groups on social media and ask for referrals.
- Researching local parent babysitting swap groups or creating your own neighborhood group (where parents are the “babysitters” and swap with one another for free!).
- Ensuring any prospective candidate is currently certified in infant/child CPR and first-aid (if there’s a teen/young adult you trust, it may be worth it to pay for this certification for them that first year).
- Don’t assume adults are better than teens when it comes to engaging with your child. When it comes to who spends more time “on the ground” (often literally) playing with and interacting with your child, teens and young adults’ willingness often supersedes that of older adults. Teenagers who love children are often more apt to play with them, read to them, and interact with them for the bulk of the time you’re away.
- Being prepared to pay minimum wage (or higher). You may have only made $5.00 an hour when you babysat, but that’s not what most babysitters expect anymore. You can ask what they charge per hour, but don’t be surprised if they quote current minimum wage or higher (Portland’s minimum wage will be $16.80 as of July 1, 2026).
- Asking for references and for previous childcare experience.
- Conducting an interview that includes asking questions about what they would do in the most likely emergencies (child injured or sick, house fire, etc.)
Finally, have prospective babysitters over for some paid “parent helper time” before leaving them alone with your children. This gives you a chance to see how they interact with your children, and your older children can provide feedback as well.
How to Hire a Nanny
When it comes to hiring a nanny or au pair, we highly recommend using a professional nanny agency. As mentioned above, nannies are professionals and work under contract. Because you’ll be employing them part- or full-time, and they have longer-term access to your home and personal lives, background checks are essential.
Nanny agencies are often run by former nannies or parents who’ve used nannies in the past. While you’ll pay more at the outset (a flat fee or a percentage of the nanny’s wages), nanny agencies do all of the heavy lifting for you when it comes to:
- Vetting the prospective nannies’ resumes and references.
- Running professional criminal background checks.
- Sorting through the nannies to provide you with a handful of “optimal fits,” which you can interview. Otherwise, running private ads can become extremely time-consuming, resulting in dozens or even hundreds of responses you’ll have to sort through.
- Tracking current safety and other professional certification status, such as first aid/CPR, driver’s license, auto insurance, memberships/certifications from nanny training organizations, labor laws compliance, etc.
- Handling the professional accounting portion (paychecks, taxes, benefits, etc.). Nannies are considered professional, W-2 employees and should never be paid “under the table.” Not only is it illegal, but it can get you into serious trouble if a private nanny files a complaint of any kind.
Additionally, when you work with an agency, they are a resource for learning about standard best practices for maintaining clear boundaries and healthy client-nanny relationships.
If you opt not to use a nanny agency and hire a private nanny instead, it’s important to know the legal responsibilities, such as complying with tax laws, labor laws governing working hours and overtime pay, and workers’ compensation coverage. Failure to comply with these and other employer responsibilities could put you and your nanny at risk.
Setting Reasonable Expectations Leads to Positive Household Cultures
Your babysitter or nanny should be willing to uphold reasonable expectations and your household values to the best of their ability. That said, they are not parents and will have a different relationship with your child in their role as an authority figure. Keep this in mind when setting your overall expectations.
Here are some tips to help you get off to a good start and set the tone:
- Put together a guide for your babysitter or nanny that outlines the general schedule, favorite things to do/places to go in your neighborhood and the surrounding area, the house rules, and family values.
- Create a written agreement that is shared and signed by both parties. Remember that an experienced nanny may have very experienced input about what works – and what is more challenging to uphold – so be flexible and open to their ideas.
- Plan to overlap your time together in the first days/weeks so expectations, schedule, and Written Agreement can be amended as needed.
- Try not to hover or micromanage. The overarching goal of a nanny is to ensure your children are seen, heard, and kept safe when you’re not there. It’s okay if things are a bit different with a babysitter or nanny, as long as those differences do not pose a threat in any way or go against your core family values.
Selecting the right babysitter(s) or nanny for your children is well worth the benefits. As pediatricians in the Portland area, we recognize the importance of finding help and support in caring for children. Every family deserves a strong support system, and this looks different for everyone. For some, it’s babysitters and nannies. For others, it’s family members who live nearby. When it comes to trusted, compassionate healthcare, PANW is honored to be part of our patients’ parenting community.
