How to write a kid profile sitters will actually read

Every sitter on our platform reads your kid profile before they accept the booking. If the profile is thin, two things happen: more sitters decline the booking (they want to know who they are sitting for), and the sitter who does accept arrives improvising.

A well-written profile is the difference between a sitter who has already mentally rehearsed the bedtime routine before they walk in, and a sitter who is reading your written-on-a-napkin instructions while your kid is melting down.

When a sitter sees a match request, they glance through the profile in roughly this order:

• • Age and any developmental specifics. Not the diagnosis label necessarily — the lived stuff. 'Speech delay, mostly two-word phrases, signs for tired and hungry' beats 'autism spectrum.'
• • Sensory triggers. Lights, sounds, textures, foods. Anything that escalates fast.
• • Bedtime routine. The thing they will be doing within the first hour.
• • Behavior signals to watch for. Not in the clinical sense — the 'when she pulls her sleeves up, that is the first sign she is overwhelmed' sense.
• • Communication preferences. AAC device, sign language, scripts they use, words to avoid.

Sensory triggers and supports are usually the biggest fork in the booking. A sitter who knows your kid has noise-canceling headphones and where they live is a different sitter from one who does not.

Write specifically. Instead of 'sensory issues,' try 'overhead lights are too bright after 5pm — use the lamp in the living room instead.' Instead of 'noises bother him,' try 'the dishwasher running is the worst — pause it during dinner.'

Bedtime is the most-asked-about scenario our sitters handle. Write it as a step-by-step.

Example: 'Bath at 6:30. PJs by 7. Two books on the couch with the green throw pillow. Lights out by 7:30, white-noise machine on (it is plugged in next to the dresser, the button is on top). She will ask for water — give her the cup on her dresser, not a new one.'

Five sentences. That is the whole bedtime brief. The sitter knows what to do.

Two things: what your kid will actually eat, and what they will not. Specifics matter — 'no nuts' is a different fact from 'she will only eat the goldfish that come from the orange box, not the rainbow one.'

If meal prep is part of the booking, list it. If the sitter should heat up leftovers and not invent something new, say so. If your kid eats at a specific spot at the table and is upset by being moved, say so.

If your kid uses AAC, sign, or has a specific way of communicating big feelings — write it. List the top words or phrases your kid actually uses, not a clinical inventory.

If your kid scripts (repeats lines from a show or video), tell the sitter which scripts are calming and which are agitated. Scripts mean different things in different contexts.

Resist the urge to write a clinical history. The sitter does not need to know every diagnosis, every therapy, every IEP goal. They need to know what helps your kid right now, today.

If something is private and not load-bearing for the booking — financial details, custody complexities, family medical history — leave it out. The profile is read by sitters during a match request. Confidentiality is solid but the principle of minimum-necessary information still applies.