SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – Summer trips are coming up, so you may be busy picking the right person to care for your kids or your pets if they’re staying home.
With summer here, some pet owners and parents are on the hunt for child and pet care providers.
Finding reliable caregivers can be a difficult process. Child and pet care experts recommend thoroughly researching your options and getting first-hand accounts from other customers.
Parents and pet owners should also discuss what policies and specific care needs are the most important to them.
These could include questions like:
- Do the discipline techniques of this caregiver align with yours?
- What would be the daily routine for your child or pet?
- What is the ratio of caregivers to children or animals?
- How transparent is the business or individual about daily updates?
Many parents and pet owners might want to run background checks. Leigha McKinney, the Injury Prevention Specialist at Mercy SafeKids, recommends a driving background check, especially if the caregiver would be driving their loved one.
“You’re kind of screening their driving records if they’re gonna drive your kiddos anywhere. Make sure you take that license number, kind of what their driving looks like,” McKinney said.
The biggest tip that experts gave is to have the child or pet directly involved in the interview process.
Amanda Coleman, Vice President of Early Childhood and Family Development at the Community Partnership of the Ozarks, advises parents to closely supervise their children when introducing them to a potential caregiver.
“During the interview process, you want to have your kiddo there, whether or not you’re interviewing somebody to come to your home or taking a child to a home, facility, or center. Take your kiddo with you because they will have the intuition to know whether or not they feel comfortable with that person, ” Coleman said.
The same goes for a pet sitter. Alex Heath, Population Supervisor at the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri, also suggests that slowly introducing your pet to someone new is the best way to determine if it will be a good fit.
“The biggest thing to watch for is making sure your dog isn’t growling or lunging at them. You want your pet to be able to be handled by them for both their safety and the person’s safety,” Heath said.
And even if a pet can’t tell you how they feel, they have ways of showing it.
“So if they are more aggressive towards you or are scared of you, as if somebody was hurting them, those are things you would want to address with whoever you were pet sitting with to see why those issues arose after you came home,” Heath said.
The Community Partnership of the Ozarks has a comprehensive checklist for potential childcare providers, and the Humane Society encourages individuals with questions to call for additional tips.
To report a correction or typo, please email [email protected]. Please include the article info in the subject line of the email.
Copyright 2025 KY3. All rights reserved.
link