What to Put on a Babysitting Resume With No Experience
Nobody has read a babysitting resume for longer than twenty seconds. Write for the twenty seconds.
Two different things get called a babysitting resume and they are not the same document.
One is what you send a family who is thinking about hiring you. The other is how you list babysitting on a resume for a job at a store or a college application. This covers both, starting with the one people ask about more.
The one you send a family
It is one page. It is probably half a page. A parent deciding between two sitters is looking for four things and everything else is decoration.
1. Who you are and where
Name, neighborhood, and how to reach you. If you are close enough to walk, say so, because it quietly answers the question of how you are getting home at eleven.
2. What you can actually do
Not adjectives. Facts with edges on them:
- Ages you are comfortable with, and be honest about the bottom end
- How many children at once
- Whether you can drive, and whether you have your own car
- Whether you can cook a real meal or only heat one
- Whether you are fine with pets
- Bedtime routines, homework help, whatever you have genuinely done
3. Anything certified, with a date
CPR, first aid, a Red Cross babysitting course, a lifeguarding qualification, anything from a school first aid club. Put the month and year on it. "CPR certified, March 2026" reads as true. "CPR certified" reads as something somebody's mother typed.
4. Two references, with permission
This is the part people without experience think they cannot do, and it is the part with the most workarounds. You do not need paid work for a reference. You need an adult who is not related to you and who has seen you with children.
- A teacher, especially one who has seen you with younger students
- A coach or a club leader
- A neighbor whose children you have watched, even unpaid
- Anyone who ran a summer camp, vacation bible school or after-school program you helped at
- A family friend you have babysat for informally
Ask first, every time, and tell them roughly what they might be asked.
If you genuinely have nothing: offer a paid trial. Two hours on a Saturday afternoon with the parents in the house. It costs a family almost nothing to say yes to, and after one of them you have a reference and an actual booking.
The free calculator builds your rate from your area, your experience, the ages and how many children. Two minutes, no card.
Work out my rateWhat to leave off
Your GPA. Your hobbies, unless they involve children. An objective statement, which no one has read voluntarily since about 2004. A list of adjectives. Your full address, which is not information a stranger needs before they have met you.
The half page, laid out
Maya Ellison · Oak Park · 555 0142
Available Friday and Saturday evenings, Sunday daytimes
Ages 2 and up, up to three children
Rate $22 an hour for one child, $24 for two
Certification
Red Cross Babysitting Basics, March 2026
CPR and first aid, March 2026, valid two years
Experience
Regular sitter for the Kaurs, two children aged 4 and 7, since January 2026
Volunteer helper, Oak Park summer camp, ages 5 to 9, summer 2025
References
Priya Kaur, 555 0198
Dan Whelan, camp coordinator, 555 0177
That is the whole thing. It takes a parent fifteen seconds and answers everything.
Listing babysitting on a resume for a different job
Different problem. Here you are not selling childcare, you are proving you have worked, and the trick is to describe it in the language of the job you actually want.
Do not write "babysitter". Write what you did:
| Instead of | Write |
|---|---|
| Babysitter | Childcare provider, self-employed |
| Watched kids | Sole care of two children aged 4 and 7, up to six hours |
| Made them dinner | Prepared meals, managed allergy requirements |
| Kept them busy | Planned age-appropriate activities and homework support |
| Was reliable | Managed my own bookings and schedule for six families |
Every one of those is the same work. The right-hand column gets read as a job and the left-hand column gets read as a favor.
Put it under work experience, not under "other". Give it dates. If you were paid, it was a job.
And a resume is only useful once somebody has asked for one. Getting to that point is the harder half.
Common questions
How do I write a babysitting resume with no experience?
Lead with what you can do rather than what you have done: ages you are comfortable with, availability, whether you can drive or cook, and any certification with its date. Use references from adults who have seen you with children, such as teachers, coaches or camp leaders, and offer a short paid trial with the parents at home.
How do you put babysitting on a resume?
Under work experience, with dates, described in job language. "Sole care of two children aged 4 and 7" rather than "babysitter". If you were paid for it, it belongs with your other jobs, not in a hobbies section.
What skills should a babysitter put on a resume?
Concrete ones only: the ages and number of children you can handle, CPR or first aid certification with a date, meal preparation, allergy awareness, homework help, driving, and your actual availability.
Do babysitters need references?
Two is plenty, and they do not have to come from paid work. Any adult who is not related to you and has seen you with children will do, as long as you ask their permission first.