get a babysitter today!

One of the most important decisions you have to make in your children's lives is the hiring of their nannies. You will be entrusting your children's well-being to complete strangers! Follow these steps and protect yourself when getting a nanny.

Unless you have a good friend and neighbor who happens to be an experienced nanny, the best place to go for prospective childcare providers are nanny agencies. These agencies usually perform preliminary background checks - education, experience, personal references, and even psychological testing - copies of which should be forwarded to you.

You should not rely on the documentary personal references alone. Call the persons listed in the resume as character references. You can ask questions like work performance, duties and responsibilities, and even reaction to nanny cams. You must, however, introduce yourself and state the reason for your call.

You should be as thorough as possible about performing background checks. This does not mean that you have to enlist the Federal Bureau of Investigation, only that you must insist that all background checks are completed by the agency.

You should avoid hiring nannies on the first interview. You can conduct two personal interviews at the minimum, where you can ask questions like childcare philosophy and ideas, personal interests, discuss compensation package and work expectations, and opinions on nanny cams.

After the two personal interviews, you also need to conduct a working interview. You can observe how she interacts with the children (under your supervision) as well as study how the children take to her. Only after being satisfied with the above procedures should you consider hiring the nanny.