Women are the safety monitors for family and friends and usually the ones who select babysitters for their children. This week, in San Diego, California, a babysitter was apprehended after it was known that he turned over the kids he was babysitting to pedophiles in exchange for money. Let's look at some simple ways you can avoid a dangerous babysitting situation.

7 Tips for Babysitter Selection:

1. Take your time. Grabbing someone who can "watch your kids" on a moment's notice may have them "watching your kids" in the wrong way. Find a responsible babysitter long before you need one.
2. Your job is to DISqualify the applicants. If you sitter prospect doesn't have a current CPR card or a handy card with Poison Control Center, missing child agency and other important phone numbers in their possession, it's time to look further.
3. Pay the price for quality. Would you trust the most important person in your life to someone who "just wants to make some extra bucks?" Pay more for a good babysitter. This person deserves to make good money for taking the health and safety of your child seriously.
4. Trust you gut feelings! Gut feelings are survival instincts you were born with and their job is to keep you (and your child alive). They have nothing to do with logic. If you have an uneasy feeling about an applicant, they are not the right one for you.
5. Get references. Instead of just getting names and numbers, CALL! Ask other parents about the applicant. Just having the sitter prospect fill out an application with references on it will scare away many who are unworthy.
6. Build a relationship with your sitter. Have the sitter you choose come over for lunch with you and your kids. Watch the interaction. Hire your sitter while you are at home so you can get things done and observe. You will feel it if something is awry.
7. Establish and enforce personal boundaries. Know ahead of time what is acceptable to you and what isn't. This way, you won't be swayed to go with a sitter you have reservations about. Check out my other articles for excellent info on how to establish and enforce personal boundaries!

Your children will be much safer and you will have greater peace of mind when you use these simple tips to help you select a babysitter; and remember, if it doesn't feel right, it isn't. Canceling important plans is better than allowing your child to end up in the hands of a pedophile!