How to interview a nanny — 25 questions Houston families should ask

An interview tells you who a candidate is at her best for one hour. The goal isn’t to get through a list — it’s to get past rehearsed answers to real experience and judgment. These are the questions we see work in the placements we coordinate, organized by what each group actually reveals.

Experience and track record

1. Walk me through your last two nanny positions — ages of the kids, your duties, and why each ended.
2. What’s the longest you’ve stayed with one family? What kept you there?
3. Have you cared for children the same ages as ours? What does a typical day look like at that age?
4. What certifications do you hold, and are they current? (CPR and First Aid are the baseline.)
5. Can I contact your last two families as references?

Listen for: specifics. A strong candidate talks about real children and real routines without prompting. Vague answers about “loving kids” with no detail are the most common red flag. The reference question should get an immediate yes.

Judgment and safety

6. Your charge falls and hits her head at the playground. Walk me through exactly what you do.
7. The baby won’t stop crying and nothing is working. What do you do?
8. When would you call me at work versus handle something yourself?
9. What’s your approach when a toddler hits or bites?
10. Have you ever had an emergency on the job? What happened?

Listen for: calm, ordered thinking — assess, act, communicate. On discipline, you want her philosophy to be compatible with yours, and a pro will ask you how you handle it at home. That reciprocal question is a great sign.

The day-to-day reality

11. What does a great day with a 2-year-old look like, hour by hour?
12. How do you handle screen time, and what do you do with kids instead?
13. What do you do when the kids are napping?
14. Are you comfortable driving children? What’s your driving record like?
15. Are you comfortable with light kid-related housework — their laundry, their dishes, tidying play areas?

Listen for: whether her instincts match how your household actually runs. Question 15 matters more than it looks — mismatched expectations about housework are one of the most common reasons arrangements sour, which is why we put duties in writing before day one.

Fit with your family

16. What schedule are you looking for, and how firm is it?
17. What hourly rate are you looking for? (Houston market context is in our cost guide.)
18. What made you leave (or want to leave) your current position?
19. What do you want in an employer? What did a past family do that drove you crazy?
20. Where do you see yourself in two years?

Listen for: honesty about rate and schedule now, not after you’ve fallen in love with the candidate. Question 19 is the most underrated question on this list — it tells you how she communicates friction, which you will eventually need.

Close strong

21. Is there anything on your background check we should discuss before we run it?
22. Do you have any travel, school, or family commitments in the next year we should plan around?
23. Are you interviewing with other families right now?
24. What questions do you have for us? (A pro will have several.)
25. Would you be open to a paid trial period before we both commit?

After the interview: the steps that actually protect you

The interview is one layer. Before anyone starts:

• Call the references and ask hard questions — “Would you hire her again?” and “Why did she leave?” beat “Was she good?”
• Run a criminal background check, and a driving record check if she’ll transport kids.
• Do a paid trial — a few real days reveal more than any interview.
• Put the agreement in writing: schedule, duties, rate, guaranteed hours, sick days, and how overnights or overtime are handled.

That checklist is most of what an agency actually does. At HoustoNanny, every candidate has cleared background checks, reference verification, and certification review before you meet them, you interview a curated shortlist instead of a stack of unvetted applicants, and we provide the contract template and trial structure — backed by a 90-day replacement guarantee. If you’d rather run the search yourself, take the questions above with our blessing. If you’d rather skip to interviewing three great candidates, book a consultation.