Babysitting 2122: Difficult Talks

Babysitters are many things while parents are away- a friend, a counselor, a guardian, a confidante. We hold many hats, and the lines can blur, especially when sitters see the same families. As a babysitter, unless you work with a particular age group, you will watch kids of all ages. Kids that won't just ask for their sippy cups. Kids that won't just want to play dinosaurs. 

As a babysitter, there have been several conversations where I have had to stop and think of what the correct response in this situation with a child this age should be. Of course, I haven't always gotten it right, but each experience has made me consider life from a child's perspective and what their future would entail. 

"Why do we get periods? Do they hurt? I don't want a period." Thank you, Turning Red, for these questions that the nine-year-olds I am watching throw at me. This was one of the easier questions, but I remember getting my first period and how everyone said it was no biggie and it was such a wonderful thing to become a woman. I didn't want that for the twins. Half-truths. I gave it to them straight, "Periods do hurt, and they come every month, but heating pads and raspberry tea help. You'll get through."

"Does it hurt when we die?" a five-year-old had once asked me, and I said, "Have you had this conversation with your parents?" She replied with her dad, and so I answered. "No, we just die." which wasn't a total lie. 

And the most complicated questions for me have involved race with caucasian children. Is it my duty to explain that the N-word isn't a word anyone should be called? After she told me some kids at her school called her the N word, and she said, "I'm white." Is it my job to explain that saying the apartments next to where you live aren't nice looking when you live in a mansion? Those apartments were occupied majority-wise by African-Americans. 

Babysitting is an enriching career. You have the power to change a child's life and perspective. You give them an insight into another world they would never have gotten from their lives. But it's also complex because you aren't sure where the lines blur and what's appropriate to say and not say. So my advice-be honest and be aware. You are talking to a child, so you want to carefully word your advice and contribute to raising socially conscious children.