How to Choose a Great Babysitter

You're going to a your parents' wedding anniversary and have successfully secured a babysitter. So far, so good. But does the sitter have what it takes to ensure your outing is worry-free for you and safe and happy for your kids? Here are the top three tips to ensuring you are on the right path to selecting the right person to care for your littlies: 

  • Interaction
    Invite the sitter over to ask questions and see how they interact with your children. This type of interaction shows how much your prospective sitter likes kids and if he or she is open to your methods of parenting. Be sure to ask about the sitter's training in first aid or CPR. Discuss what he or she may do in certain emergency situations. A competent sitter will be able to answer these questions and prove he or she can handle the job.

Trust
While you must check your sitter for skills, including first aid/CPR training, their maturity, good judgment, common sense, and friendly nature, beyond any qualifications, you must go with your heart. Do you trust this person with your child? Childcare experts say trust and crisis management are the two most important skills the caregiver should possess.

Planning
After you hire a sitter, have him or her come to your house a half-hour before you leave to go over all emergency issues. Would you believe that many parents who leave their children with baby sitters don't leave emergency telephone numbers!!!

Have a great night out! To find a first class babysitter who meets these criteria, call the Angels on (07) 3878 1077.

Dial-An-Angel is 45!

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DIAL-AN-ANGEL® Founder Dena Blackman with the current CEO who is also her daughter, Danielle Robertson.
DIAL-AN-ANGEL celebrate 45 years of looking after Australians this year!
Self-made Woman!
The iconic Australian brand was founded in 1967 by 29-year-old mother-of-three Dena Blackman, prompted by her own difficulties finding home help; with just a $200 loan from an impressed bank manager and a $20 a week office in Lindfield. Fast-forward 45 years and Dena’s business now has three franchises, seven company-owned offices and more than 10,000 registered Angels.

"DIAL-AN-ANGEL® is the only national home care service to offer a full range of home needs, including care for disabled children ... babysitting and childcare"

To Smack or Not?

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Mum and dads should be banned from smacking their children, the head of Australia's leading paediatric body says. What do you think? Tell us on the forum.

Kids and Puppies

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Kids love puppies. We all know that. Most kids warm to puppies quickly and would often ask for them as gifts for their birthdays or for Christmas. more...

Child Care:
More Stories
Industry Boom
DIAL-AN-ANGEL® is the only national Australian home care service to offer a full range of home needs, including care for disabled children and adults, eldercare, domestic duties (cleaning/housekeeping), babysitting and childcare. Dena's  daughter and DIAL-AN-ANGEL® CEO Danielle Robertson says: “We’re experiencing a boom in domestic demand at the moment. People simply don’t want to spend their valuable spare time cleaning and are learning to ask for help.”



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DIAL-AN-ANGEL® is experiencing a boom in domestic demand.
Strict Vetting
The company has the strictest vetting process of any home care service in Australia, accepting only one in every 10 applications from potential Angels, and is one of few agencies around the world to meet every person and conduct comprehensive, in-depth reference checks to assess applicants.

Visionary
In 1967, Dena foresaw that outsourcing home help was the way of the future. In 1985, Dena was still ahead of the race, taking ads in The Australian and The Australian Financial Review headlined, “Keep Your Staff Where They Belong: At Work”. It’s taken nearly 30 years, but big businesses have now become major clients of DIAL-AN-ANGEL®buying emergency home care support for their staff.
Danielle (who calls her mother Dena at work) says Dena had the instincts of a futurist when she foresaw corporations funding home care for staff. “Dena knew that companies would need to support staff more, especially during child care emergencies. The Department of Defence (Army and Navy) were clients from the late eighties and other businesses came on later.”

X-Factor Angels
"Our Angels definitely have an X factor. They need to ‘want’ to become an Angel; it’s not just another job. We have more male Angels now. We pay well above-award rates because we want the very best people to work for us.” Danielle was once an Angel herself. She says former Angels have become clients and former clients have even become Angels.