Parenting Guru

Selecting who should be a nanny for your children can be a painstaking process. You want to take great care in choosing who is going to be watching over your child’s safety when you can’t take care of them yourself. Finding out the history of your prospective nanny is imperative.

When selecting a nanny, it’s vitally important that you perform an interview with the candidate to see of you’re comfortable with their up-front answers. If the interview goes well, then it’s time to get a detailed nanny background check to assure yourself that the candidate was telling you the whole truth and ignoring other areas that may have made them a risk to your child.

Make sure you ask any prospective nanny these questions:

* Why do you want to be a nanny?

* What’s the most interesting part of taking care of a child?

* Why did you leave your previous job?

* What make you discipline a child and what sort of punishment do you hand out?

* How do you differ from others in making sure my kids get good mental growth?

* My child’s physical development is important to me. Is there anything you would do differently than other candidates for this position?

* How would you enhance my child’s learning habits?

* What is your background with respect to having my kids learn music and art from you?

* Do you have experience playing outside as well as inside?

* When you have free time, what kinds of things do you like to do?

* How do you handle tantrums or irrational moods?

Tell your prospective nanny that you always run a comprehensive background check on leading candidates as a final quality certification. If they act surprised, confused or ornery then you probably want to avoid hiring this individual.

It’s wise to have your nanny candidates fill out a basic job application form that includes references, current contact info, their work history and the last places they’ve lived.

Make sure you check each reference and if the reference cannot be contacted, ask for a replacement reference. Ask the applicant about any part of the application that you don’t find contains enough information. This application should also include his or her state issued driver’s license number, social security number and the date and location of birth.

Get a copy of their current identification (with photo). Then have them sign a consent statement so that you can easily perform a background search on them.

The nanny background check should include the following:

Identity Verification: Make sure that the nanny’s social security and drivers’ license number really belongs to him or her.

DMV Records: You’d be surprised what you can learn from a driving record. In addition to the more mundane speeding tickets, you may find that there are multiple DUI’s or reckless driving. These are not the acts of a responsible nanny.

Financial Records: You can find out how responsible your prospect is from these records. You’ll find their previous addresses, previous employers and whether or not they can pay their bills on time.

Criminal Records: A criminal record check is imperative to the safety of your kids. You might be surprised to find criminal activity that you can’t live with – including that of being a convicted sex offender.

You can’t be too careful when doing a nanny background check. After all there is no such thing as being too careful when it comes to the safety of your children. There is just no such thing as being too thorough. A good nanny knows this and won’t mind submitting to a nanny background check.

Matt A. Thomas is a publisher of Court-Records.info. He provides more details on nanny background check information and business opportunities where you can explore at any time, at any hour, on his website.