DSIL very kindly asked if she could take DD out for the afternoon one day so she could spend some quality time with her. I know this is a really nice gesture and DD would enjoy it but I just don't feel comfortable with it.
My reason for this is she sometimes lacks basic common sense. To give an example, we were once going on a car journey and she was in the back of the car with DD. She was very helpfully trying to teach her (aged 4) how to get out of her seatbelt! 
I had to explain it was more dangerous if she took her seatbelt off without us realising and there was a car accident afterwards. She was like, 'oh yeah!' FYI, DSIL is nearly 40.
She also has a few mental health problems so will feel very rejected when we tell her no, so how do we break it to her nicely?
Many thanks
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SIL wants to take DD out for the afternoon. How to say no without hurting her feelings
Wearit · 05/06/2015 14:24
Is DD your first born, by any chance?
Honestly? I think you're being precious. We can all be scatterbrained at times. Your DD could just as easily get herself into trouble or have an accident of some sort whilst with you and your DH. I think your SIL sounds like the mad, kooky Auntie we all desperately want in our lives. I suspect your DD will find her lot of fun and I think it would be a tremendous loss for your DD not to bond and build a close relationship properly with her Aunt. I dread to think the things my sister and DD get up to when alone together - they would certainly not be things I as a parent would normally do with DD. But that's all part of the fun, surely? It's like Grandparents spoiling your children. No, you don't want them to come home loaded up with sugar and carting bags of new toys, but they've been to Gran and Granddads house, which basically equates to Disneyland, and they've had fun. So who gives a crap? Relationships are important.
At the end of the day, you're a parent. You will always worry a ridiculous amount about your child no matter what. What if a plane falls out of the sky? What if a dog suddenly attacks? What if aliens abduct my beautiful child?! Problem is, you can't live life based around a load of what ifs. And hampering a familial relationship simply because you deem this women to be a little lacking in the common sense department seems very unnecessary. There isn't a person on this planet who has perfect common sense. Jeez, I was training a new guy at work today. We were discussing stock rotation and how important it is to avoid food waste and missed use by dates. I later found him rotating fucking toilet paper 
He's doing a Master's degree in psychology at one of the top university's in Scotland. He's an incredibly intelligent young man. Yet I still found him rotating bog roll this morning. Does his lapse in common sense make him a moron or incompetent? No. It makes him human. We all get it wrong sometimes.
I think suggesting an activity close to your home (for your peace of mind) as a first initial step would be the right way to go. Take it from there. As others have suggested, soft play would be my first choice 
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