Family logistics
Prepare a babysitter handoff
A good handoff lets a sitter get through the evening without calling you. It needs a timeline, food rules, and a place for emergency contacts, but those numbers can stay off the screen and go in by hand.
A text to start with
Draft a babysitter handoff for two kids, ages 4 and 7. Dinner is at 6, and the 4-year-old is dairy-free. Bath is at 7 for both. Bedtime is 7:30 for the younger child and 8:30 for the older one. The 7-year-old can have 30 minutes on a tablet after bath. Add an empty section for emergency contacts, which I will fill in by hand.
Example request. Change the details to fit your situation.What to check in the answer
Read the draft as a sitter who has never been in the house. Each routine step should have a time, and the dairy-free rule should sit beside the dinner instructions, not at the bottom of the page. The assistant is not a medical source, so anything about allergies beyond avoiding an ingredient should come from your own notes or the child's care plan. Check that the emergency contact section is blank and labeled to be filled in, with no invented numbers or placeholder names.
Where to go from here
Print the draft, write in the contact numbers, and keep that copy for the sitter. Spend a few minutes walking through it when the sitter arrives and point out anything that is different tonight. A spoken run-through often turns up questions the page does not answer, especially for a new sitter.