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Original poster

Would you let someone without kids mind yours?

40 replies

Smurfgirl · 17/05/2005 14:55

I was contacted by someone yesterday needing a regular babysitter and after a brief conversation she said that I was nice enough but she did not feel comfortable leaving her children with me because I did not have any.

I have good childcare references, an enhanced CRB check, basic first aid/health and safety/food hygiene qualifcations, I work as a carer for the elderly so am obv patient and can deal will ickyness etc. So tbh I was quite taken aback. Especially as it would only have been 3 hours a week after school! I am 20 BTW.

Its not the end of my world, but it just surprised me! Is that a normal mum thing?

OP posts:
WigWamBam · 17/05/2005 14:57

With that list of credentials, I'd have taken you on like a shot! I think she's missed out by turning you down.

bundle · 17/05/2005 14:58

how did she contact you, was it through personal recommendation? i'd be far more influenced by that than anything else.

Chandra · 17/05/2005 14:59

Well, considering that I have left DS with my neighbour who is a mother of two and seemed to be a sensible person.... just to found her smoking pot, with the man who was tiling her bathroom when we arrived 20 minutes earlier than what we had originally said... I'm far more impressed by your references.

Original poster
Smurfgirl · 17/05/2005 15:00

It was a friend of a work colleage who contacted me.

OP posts:
Pruni · 17/05/2005 15:01

Message withdrawn

oliveoil · 17/05/2005 15:02

I would leave them with someone I knew or felt comfortable with rather than go down the 'you have kids, therefore you know' route. My neighbour has 5 and I wouldn't ask her to mind my handbag.

Nemo1977 · 17/05/2005 15:03

If i trusted someone enough then i wouldnt care if they had kids or not. Some people with kids are the worst parents i know..lol

expatinscotland · 17/05/2005 15:03

absolutely.

Original poster
Smurfgirl · 17/05/2005 15:05

Thats what I though, oh well

The mum was doing a course or something so just wanted me to pick the kids up from school and give them some tea and help them with homework.

OP posts:
Original poster
Smurfgirl · 17/05/2005 15:05

Thats what I though, oh well

The mum was doing a course or something so just wanted me to pick the kids up from school and give them some tea and help them with homework.

OP posts:
Original poster
Smurfgirl · 17/05/2005 15:05

bugger

OP posts:
piffpaffpuff · 17/05/2005 15:13

how bizarre! and did she look normal? does she know there are plenty of midwives who don't have kids either but they're perfectly capable of delivering them?

bundle · 17/05/2005 15:15

exactly, you don't necessarily want a cardiac specialist to have had a heart attack, just be the best guy/gal for the job.

Tommy · 17/05/2005 15:17

I taught quite a lot of children in school before I had any myself!
Surely most teenage baby sitters don't have children?! What a strange woman you encountered smurfgirl!

Blu · 17/05/2005 15:18

What a silly daft bat! If you had kids you wouldn't be available to b'sit for her, would you! (well, not so often or reliably, anyway).

Ooooh, I can see this ending up in a 'smug mums' column in the Observer...aaargh! How insulting!

motherinferior · 17/05/2005 15:28

Silly cow. Honestly.

flum · 17/05/2005 15:29

Yes, of course.

coppertop · 17/05/2005 15:31

It sounds like it's her loss. I used to do babysitting years before I had children of my own and would be happy to have a babysitter with no children of their own.

Marina · 17/05/2005 15:33

Definitely her loss smurfgirl. How silly.

handlemecarefully · 17/05/2005 15:35

To be brutally honest, I would be looking for someone older than 20. I am sure that you are very mature, but ...I know I wasn't at 20

I know I will be shot down in flames for this, and that my prejudice isn't rational or defensible, but then letting others look after your kids is an emotional choice isn't it.

I'm telling you this to be helpful as it might be the real explanation as to why she backed off

handlemecarefully · 17/05/2005 15:35

I think I fall into the daft old bat or silly cow category

handlemecarefully · 17/05/2005 15:40

I know we are all being loyal and supportive to smurfgirl but isn't a parents prerogative to have who they want to babysit / set the criteria?

Sponge · 17/05/2005 15:41

I agree HMC. When I interviewed for a childminder for my kids I looked at qualifications, experience etc but I was slightly put off by very young applicants (I consider 20 to be young). I know lots of the girls who looked after my dd at nursery were only in their early 20s but they weren't in sole charge. I'm sure you're very mature Smurfgirl, but all things being equal I would choose someone a bit older.

handlemecarefully · 17/05/2005 16:02

Phew! I'm not alone then Sponge

MrsDoolittle · 17/05/2005 16:28

I'm with you there HMC and Sponge.
It's probably totally irrational but I would have been far too irrisponsible at 20

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