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!

So you've got the wine sorted Op.
Now what are you going to say about the heating?
Surely they would put it on for you for one evening. It's really cold at night now.

I am really at the judginess of some people on this thread. How do you sit comfortably with those sticks up your arses?!

Just because someone wants one glass of wine of an evening, an evening that she is giving up out of kindness in order that her friends can go out, doesnt make her a lush or a bad babysitter.

And are mummy and daddy both staying off the sauce at the party? Or will they rock up at home a little tiddly? What if a stone cold sober babysitter was relieved by parents who are both squiffy? Should she stay to be the responsible adult?

OP, definitely say that you wont babysit again during the winter as it is too cold. You shouldnt have to be so bloody uncomfortable when you are doing someone else a favour.

Thats fair enough Belgian, you had to protect your DC from an alcoholic, no would criticise you for that.

If that was your "normal" then it must be hard to see that some people can stop at 2 glasses.

No it wasnt :)

I an babysitting right now for did. I arrived at 6.45 they will be back "latish". I put dgs 1&2
to bed and read two stories each and made up a "special story" involving each child as hero. Then I went downstairs. I realised I had forgotten last wees so went and got them up for toilet then settled them again. Went down to have my Tesco ready meal which I brought. Discovered I couldn't work the oven. Made a cheese sarnie and ate some pineapple which I brought then had a cuppa WIBU to eat some of the chocolate or some lemon cake which is in the kitchen. All wine in full bottles.
Also how does a wood burner work?

For me it isnt people who dont like drinking that bother me, each to their own. Its the "You dont need to drink" judginess that gets on my nerves.

She is a competent adult who wants a glass of wine on a Saturday night, when she is sitting in a freezing cold house doing someone else a favour. The idea that she is being judged for that doesnt sit well with me.

thegray you put wood in and it burns. Thats the extent of my knowledge!

Didnt they leave you a meal?! Be busy the next time they ask. I rarely ask my mother to babysit, but when I do she gets treated like the Queen!

No meal Bogey but I said I would eat at home then decided to bring it with me but can't work the oven :( . I wouldn't ever refuse I feel glad to be able to help.
Re wood burner if I pull the thingy out it looks as if chimney will catch fire but if I push it in the fire dies right down and I am cold. Ds-i-l thinks it will be cosy for me but I am scared of it

It won't catch fire, how long has it been lit? They need an hour or so to get up to temperature, I usually have mine going full blast till it has really warmed up then close it down a bit or the room gets like a sauna.

"Nope, no heating on at all after about 6 as far as I know, and I've babysat there in January!!!"

But does her front room not even contain a fire of any sort? Can you turn up with a fan heater or something similar?

I would be utterly miserable if I had to sit in the cold all evening. Being wrapped up in blankets is no substitute IMO.

That's it, I'm becoming a professional babysitter : Wine, chocolate, pizzas and getting paid to watch tv! can't believe I didn't think of this before.

Sorry for threadjack :-)
Fire has settled down though I seem to have used a lot of logs. Best of all boys have been silent all evening.

I trust my friend and know that she'd be fine....but she wouldn't drink a whole bottle...

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 ?
well, since you ask, no, i don't think its a safe or sensible thing to do. i think, as usual, mn and i are out of sync, but its mn that's wrong! i'm so glad i found you all... you'd be wandering around in the dark, without me

lovebunny.
You wouldn't have approved of my idiot DF, when i was little he used to get so drunk that he couldn't find his car in pub carparks so my sisters and I had to guide him to the car and put the key in the ignition so he could drive us home. It's amazing nothing ever happened to us
He wouldn't dare drink and drive now as he knows we would all go ballistic.

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

And yet it happens nightly in homes across the planet with no ill effect. :)

I know this is already resolved, but am adding my 2 cents worth anyways.
I would be concerned if someone could not manage to babysit for an evening without alcohol. That they would even think it was cool to do do. A hot drink or food will warm you up.

I wouldn't babysit at their home anyways with no heating. They could at least provide a plug in space heater for you.

YANBU ! My mate babysat for me recently and I left her a bottle of red, a box of celebrations, a french stick and pate and cheese and crisps. I was just so grateful to leave them in such good hands, and I wanted to tempt her back for future baby sitting.

Just remembered reading cahoots when I was 18, I used to babysit for this mad family, the children were really awful, and no one else in the village would do it. The Mum used to pay me loads, and would come home pissed, and ask me to drive myself home in her massive merc, she would be the passenger, and then once I had got home, she would drive it back.