What to Leave with a Babysitter or Grandparent for a Weekend Away

Ammar Khatib · 7 September 2026

There is a version of this that takes forty minutes and produces four pages nobody reads. There is another that takes ten minutes and produces one page that gets used.

This is the second one.

The test for every line: would a calm, capable adult who does not live here need this at 8pm on Saturday? If yes, it goes on the page. If it is something they would work out, or something you are including to feel prepared, leave it off. A sitter who has to search four pages for a phone number is worse off than one with a short list they have actually read.

The one-page rule

One side of A4, or one note on the fridge. That is the whole handover.

It works because a sitter reads it once, at the start, and then glances at it under pressure. Anything past one page gets skimmed at the start and forgotten at the moment it matters.

Everything below fits on that page. If yours does not, you have included things that belong in conversation instead.

Contacts — in the order they should be called

Not an address book. A sequence.

1. You, and the other parent, with the note "if no answer, try the next"
2. One other adult who is nearby — a neighbour, a relative in the same town. Someone who can physically arrive
3. The GP or family doctor, with the out-of-hours number if that is different
4. The local emergency number, written out. Obvious to you; not obvious to a sixteen-year-old sitter in a country they did not grow up in

Say plainly what "can't reach you" means. "We are at a wedding, phones on silent, try both of us then call Anna next door" is worth more than three extra numbers.

Medical — the part that actually matters

This is the section that justifies the whole page.

• Allergies, and what happens. "Nuts — swells, use the pen in the green bag, then call an ambulance" is usable. "Nut allergy" is not
• Current medication, with the dose and the time. Written, not remembered
• Anything given regularly for a condition — where it is kept and how it is given
• Health insurance details, or the card itself
• The GP's name and the practice address

Two things people forget. Write down what a child is allowed for ordinary things: paracetamol, ibuprofen, a plaster, the dose and the last time it was given. And write what has already been given today, because a sitter who does not know that is a sitter who cannot safely give anything.

The consent question

For an evening out, nothing formal is needed. For a weekend, and especially where the carer is not a parent, it is worth leaving a short written note saying who is caring for your children, over what dates, and that they may seek medical treatment if it is needed.

Whether such a letter carries legal weight varies a lot by country, and a hospital's own policy may matter more than the letter. It is still worth having: in practice it removes a conversation at the desk at the exact moment nobody wants one.

General information, not legal advice — rules differ by country.

Routines that prevent a 9pm phone call

Most calls to parents are not emergencies. They are "she says she's allowed to watch this" and "he won't go to bed".

Pre-empt the predictable three:

• Bedtime, and what happens before it. The bath, the two books, the specific cuddly toy that must be found
• Food — what they eat, what they refuse, what they are allowed to negotiate for. "Yoghurt yes, second yoghurt no"
• Screens — how long, what, and whether it is before or after something else

Then one line that is worth more than the other three combined: "If you are not sure, say no and tell them we'll decide tomorrow." It gives the sitter permission to be boring, which is exactly what you want, and it ends the negotiation without a phone call.

House and access

Short and practical.

Where the keys are and how the door locks. The wifi password. The alarm code and what to do if it goes off. Where the fuse box is. Which neighbour has a spare key. What to do if the heating stops. And the one thing in every house that is weird — the tap that has to be turned a certain way, the door that sticks, the smoke alarm that goes off when you make toast.

That last one is the single most appreciated line on the page.

What to leave OUT

The instinct with a handover is to include everything. Some things are actively better left off.

• Full bank card numbers. If they may need to buy something, leave cash or a low-limit arrangement
• Passwords beyond the wifi. Not the tablet's parental control PIN, not your email
• Where the safe is, and what is in it
• Original passports and certificates. A copy if there is a reason. The originals stay where they live
• Anything about a child that is not the sitter's business. A carer needs to know what keeps a child safe and what makes bedtime work. They do not need their school reports or family history

A handover sheet often sits on a kitchen counter for a weekend, and other people come and go. Write it as something that could be seen by a visitor, because it probably will be.

Grandparents are a different job

A paid sitter needs instruction. A grandparent needs a different thing: what has changed.

They raised children, possibly yours. What they do not have is this year's allergy, this year's bedtime, this school's pickup rule, or the fact that the five-year-old now refuses food they loved in June. Skip the basics and write the deltas.

The one thing to be explicit about, kindly: medication. "Please don't give anything without messaging us first" is a normal sentence and it prevents the most common well-meant mistake.