Hiring the Right Babysitter for a Child with Special Needs

How can parents create an atmosphere that promotes success for their children with disabilities?

All children deserve to be positioned for success – this includes children with disabilities and special needs. The most powerful atmosphere that can be created is the one at home, for this is where children spend much of their time. A child’s home is his or her “safe place”; this makes it even more important that parents work to develop a healthy home atmosphere.

Hiring the right babysitter is a great way to create a success-promoting atmosphere at home.

Parents often worry about who they can trust with their children, especially parents of young people with disabilities. They often have many concerns about who can be trusted to look after their children. This is a valid and wise concern. The good news is excellent babysitters may not be as hard to find as you think.

Before Hiring a Babysitter for Your Child with Special Needs

Are you looking for a babysitter for your child with disabilities or special needs? If yes, here are a few things to consider:

• Choose one babysitter – Your child will probably do better with one babysitter than several. This will allow your child to appropriately bond with the babysitter and become comfortable with him or her.

• Find someone who is open to instruction – One of the most important things a good babysitter should possess is openness to instruction. You will likely have many instructions for the person who cares for your child, so that person must be willing to learn about your child’s disabilities and needs.

• Decide on someone you like – It’s important that you actually like the person you hire to be your child’s babysitter. Why? Because that person may be around your family much of the time. Make sure you choose someone you like as much as your child does.

• Experience is a plus – If a babysitter has experience working with children with disabilities or special needs, that is wonderful. This will lessen the time and work you must put into training that person. Also, you might have more peace of mind leaving your child with someone who has experience caring for kids with disabilities.

Learn more tips for finding a babysitter for your child with disabilities at http://www.families.com/blog/give-me-a-break-finding-a-babysitter-for-your-special-needs-child/.

Have you found a great babysitter for your child with special needs? How has having a regular babysitter for your child with disabilities benefited you as a parent?

Please share your childcare tips with us and other readers by leaving a reply in the comment section below.