Babysitter Instructions Template
Everything a sitter needs on one page — routine, allergies, who to call.
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| Children | [names and ages] |
| We are out | [when] |
| Address | [home address] |
The evening
[the routine, one line at a time]
Food and allergies
[what they eat, and anything they must not]
If you need us
| Who | Number |
|---|---|
| [add one contact per line] |
In a real emergency call the emergency services first, then call us. You will not be in trouble for calling.
What is a Babysitter Instructions?
Babysitter instructions are the single page a sitter can read in two minutes and refer to at eleven at night when a child has a temperature and your phone is in a cinema. It covers routine, food, allergies, medicines, house rules and who to ring. Without it, a competent sitter is left guessing about the things that matter most, and the ones they guess wrong about tend to be allergies and bedtimes.
Parents write these for evening sitters, regular after-school helpers, grandparents doing an unfamiliar week, au pairs in their first fortnight and holiday-club staff. The same page does double duty when a neighbour steps in unexpectedly. It is most valuable for the sitter who is new to your house or your child — an experienced sitter still does not know that the back door sticks, that the youngest will insist bedtime is nine, or that the inhaler lives in the kitchen drawer.
Some things on this page are governed by rules rather than preference. Whether a sitter may drive your children, give medicine, or be left alone with them at all depends on local law and on your childcare arrangements: minimum ages for babysitting, the rules for paid childcare registration, and what an insurer requires for driving other people's children all vary by country and often by state or province. If your sitter will be paid regularly, employment and tax obligations may apply — check the current position with your national tax authority.
This page is information, not authority. It does not give a sitter legal power to consent to medical treatment for your child; in an emergency clinicians treat on their own judgement and try to reach a parent, and a written note from you is helpful context rather than consent. It is not a contract, does not set out pay, and is not a safeguarding check on the person you have hired. Do not use it as a substitute for meeting the sitter, checking references, or a proper handover in person.
What to put in a Babysitter Instructions
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Children | For example: Micah (7) and Nora (4) |
| You are out | For example: Saturday 19 September, 6:00 PM to about 11:00 PM |
| Routine | One per line |
| Food and allergies | One per line |
| House rules optional | One per line |
| Emergency contacts | One per line: Who | Number |
| Doctor / medical note optional | For example: Dr. Halbrook, Kinnear Family Practice — (614) 555-0288 |
| Home address | For example: 588 Kinnear Road |
How to write a Babysitter Instructions
Put the emergency numbers at the top
Both parents' mobiles, the address you will be at, a named local backup who can be at the house in ten minutes, the GP surgery, and the national emergency number. Write the house address in full at the top as well — a sitter calling an ambulance from a house they have visited once cannot always recall the postcode under pressure.
Write the allergies and medicines first
Name each child, each allergy, what happens on exposure, and exactly what to do. ‘Nut allergy — adrenaline pen in the blue pouch on the fridge, use it and call an ambulance immediately’ is usable. ‘Allergic to nuts’ is not. Do the same for regular medicine: drug, dose, time, and whether it has already been given today.
Set out the evening in order
Dinner at six, bath at half past seven, two books, lights out at eight, and what happens if they get up again. A sitter who knows the sequence can hold the line on bedtime; one who does not will be negotiated into an extra hour. Note the things that are non-negotiable and the things you genuinely do not mind about.
Explain the house — doors, alarm, pets
Wi-Fi name and password, which door to use, how the alarm arms, where the fuse box and stopcock are, which windows do not lock, what the dog does when the doorbell goes, and whether anyone is expected to call round. A sitter told that a neighbour may drop off a parcel at eight will not panic when someone knocks.
State the rules you actually care about
Screen time, snacks after teeth, who may enter the house, whether the sitter may take the children out, and what to do if a friend or relative arrives unannounced. Be explicit about the ones with consequences: no driving the children, no visitors, ring us before giving any medicine we have not listed. Vague guidance gets interpreted, not followed.
Common mistakes
- Burying an allergy in a paragraph about food preferences means it reads as fussiness rather than as the thing that could put a child in hospital.
- Listing only one parent's mobile leaves the sitter with nobody to reach when that phone is on silent or out of signal.
- Writing ‘bedtime around eight’ invites a negotiation the sitter will lose, and you come home to overtired children.
- Forgetting to say that a medicine has already been given today creates a real risk of a double dose.
- Leaving out the full house address means an emergency call takes longer than it should while the sitter hunts for post to read out.
Frequently asked questions
What should I leave for a babysitter?
One page: your contact numbers and where you will be, the house address, each child's allergies and medicines, the evening routine with times, house and alarm details, a named local backup, and the rules you actually enforce. Leave it somewhere fixed, such as the fridge, and tell the sitter it is there. Anything longer than a page will not be read at the moment it is needed.
How old does a babysitter have to be?
There is no single answer. Some places set a legal minimum age for leaving a child in someone's care, others leave it to parental judgement, and paid childcare above a certain frequency may need registration. Check the rule that applies where you live before booking a young sitter, and separately satisfy yourself that this particular person can cope with your particular children.
Can a babysitter give my child medicine?
Only if you have written down the drug, the dose, the timing and whether it has already been given — and only if the sitter is comfortable doing it. Write it as an instruction rather than a permission: ‘paracetamol suspension, 5ml at 8pm if temperature is above 38, last dose 2pm’. For prescription medicines and anything for an allergic reaction, walk the sitter through it in person before you leave.
Should I include the Wi-Fi password?
Yes. A sitter who cannot get online cannot look something up, and a sitter watching your streaming account is not a problem. What should not be on the page is anything that unlocks money or accounts: no card details, no banking logins, and no alarm master code you would rather not have written down. Give the alarm code verbally if you are uneasy about it.
What do I write about an emergency?
Name the situation and the action, in that order. Fire: get everyone out of the front door, ring the emergency number, do not go back in. Injury: ring us and the emergency number. Allergic reaction: use the adrenaline pen, then ring an ambulance. Sitters freeze when instructions are conditional, so keep each one to a single unambiguous line.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.