To take some wine with me when babysitting?

[UnrequitedSkink]

I'm babysitting for a fairly good friend tonight while she and her partner go to a party. She lives just round the corner. I babysit for them maybe 2 or 3 times a year, and I've learnt to dress warmly and take my slippers and a throw as they don't do central heating (the kids get too hot.) Fair enough, I understand that people's internal thermostats are set differently and I like to be toasty, she laughs at me as I come in with my big bag!

The thing is, when my friends babysit for me I always go out of my way to make sure they're as comfortable as I can make them - I buy nice snacks, soft drinks and make sure there's a bottle of wine in the fridge if they fancy it. My friend always says 'you know where the tea and coffee are', but frankly, on a Saturday night, I'd actually quite enjoy a glass of wine while watching whatever crap I can find on tv. I don't drink to excess, but it would be nice to have a glass or two of wine in her frankly chilly and not very comfortable home!

So, my question is this - would you think it odd if I turned up with a half bottle of wine to babysit your children? Will I look rude or like some kind of lush?

NB - she knows me pretty well, I wouldn't take it if we'd only just met!

I wouldn't drink any alcoholic drinks if looking after children (unless there was a responsible non-drinking adult with me).

I think the host is being unreasonable not to have the heating on though - and she should really be leaving you some nice snacks and soft drinks or tea/coffee/hot chocolate. It's freezing cold in the evenings here and the heating is on overnight. I hate to be cold!

Perhaps you should be blunt with her and say..."Please put the heating on before you leave - I'm very cold".

When we had babysitters we left tea / coffee and biscuits and definitely a warm house but I would have been very taken aback if they had arrived with wine! Mind you - this was a a babysitting agency and we were paying through the nose as it was.

Depends - if the family you are sitting for are non drinkers or anti-drinking, then no I wouldn't take booze. It would just seem oddly provocative.

But it wouldn't bother me if an adult babysitter had a glass of wine. Last time someone babysat for my toddler, I gave her a glass of prosecco, as I was having one myself before I went out. It seemed polite and appropriate.

If I thought they were going to neck a whole bottle in one evening (as seems to be totally acceptable for some mumsnetters...) then I wouldn't be leaving my child with them, full stop.

I wouldn't like it but then we barely drink.

I think of they have a glass when looking after the kids then you should be able too. If they don't then you shouldn't.

Your approach of just asking was fair but her response (if yes) should have been "it's not a problem but we have a bottle in the fridge, with some naice ham and bread".

5foot if you are paying that's completely different though - it's not normal to drink 'at work'. Doing a friend a favour is different though.

She expects you to babysit without wine?

When I look after my friends DD, I have to take DS with me (single mum), and he sleeps in the spare room with me. There is always wine and chocolate. I don't expect it, but does save me carting my own up there with me

Turning up with a half bottle of wine and your slippers = the sign of a good friend I would find out where their heating is though... Brrr!

Just out of interest, what happened to the other half of the wine?

You going to buy it from the offy (sp? I've never written it down before ) on the way and down it behind a bush in the park? with the other irresponsibles

i cannot imagine knowingly leaving a child in the care of someone who intends to drink alcohol.

Babysitting is a form of work (paid or voluntary), and most people wouldn't expect to be drinking at work.

I wouldn't be comfortable with my babysitter drinking, but I have ishoos with alcohol due to my past do I'm perhaps not the best person to answer. That said, I don't really have friends over to babysit, and if I did they'd need to drive because we live in the middle of fucking nowhere!

Kids generally go to my mums but if her and dad come here to babysit I supply their favoured snacks and either make them dinner (a casserole or something easily warmed) or offer up pay for a fish and chip supper. They don't drink so no wine required.

I used to babysit with my boyfriend when we were both 15 and one family we babysat for used to leave us wine.

I would turn up with a bottle of wine under one arm and an oil filled radiator under the other.

I wouldn't be babysitting for anyone I didn't know well enough, for them not to know, that wine would be a necessary requirement for me to muster up the courage to look after their brats spend a quiet evening babysitting.

Does it have to be wine?

YANBU to bring your own home comforts but at wine, as if that were necessary.

Lovebunny-my child is in the care of someone who is currently drinking alcohol-me!

And me lovebunny

cheers shewhowines!

lovebunny - seriously??? My DH, DS and I have just enjoyed a chinese meal with a few glasses of wine (for the adults), DS has now gone to bed. Do you seriously think that because DH and I have drunk too much to drive we are not safe to have charge of our own son ?

I think there is a real difference between paying a 'professional' babysitter and asking a friend round to sit with your children, I would always supply wine and food (and heat obviously ) if someone was doing me a favour.

Can't believe you still offer to babysit in such a cold and unwelcoming household !

I routinely leave wine for adult babysitters.

DH and I are right lushes and always enjoy a few wines together on a Friday and Saturday night. I would always, always leave the heating on, some nice food and a bottle of wine for a friend baby-sitting, and would be pretty miffed if they didn't do the same.

But I would never pitch up at theirs with my own vino. Even for me, that's taking it a step too far!

I would find it very offputting if I knew someone turned up to babysit with wine. When we (rarely) had a babysitter when the kids were small we would provide food and hot and cold drinks but alcohol would leave me thinking ...??huh??

I would say that "yes, I'm happy to babysit on thursday, but I always get very cold at your house in the evening, do you have a heated blanket or can you turn the heating on?" I think that that is a more than reasonable request.

Belgian I think there is a difference between having had too much to drive (which can be one glass of wine, depending on the size and strength) and being too pissed to cope with an ill or injured child.

A couple of glasses is too much to drive, but well within "coping" limits for most people.

I can remember babysitting from the age of 14 and I didn't have a driving licence til I was 29. So the whole 'sober enough to drive' thing doesn't really wash with me...

Other than that, well, as others have said - if I trust my friends to babysit I trust them to do it after a glass of wine. I'd provide it though!