Babysitter question--what do you think?

[Sarah1]

An EXTREMELY sweet girl expressed interest in babysitting, and as it happens I am actively seeking someone to occasionally babysit since my core twosome of babysitters have moved on to other things. Anyway, this girl seems great--my only reservation is, her English is really limited, and I worry that if there were some emergency, she might not be able to communicate with me that well. What do you think?

And if I don't ask her to babysit, what should I tell her when I call? How can I make her not feel bad? (and I can't just avoid her as she also cleans my house sometimes!)

Thanks!

[Melanie]

No advice on the first question, but I would say if you decide not just tell her something like "Thank you, I'll keep you in mind, but we do already have a regular sitter" or "Thank you, I will keep you in mind, but we don't need/use a sitter right now."

You could hire her as a 'mommy's helper' sometimes to feel out the situation.

[jojo2324]

We had a caretaker with limited English who spoke Spanish, and we have several good friends who are fluent in the language. We asked their permission first, but on our emergency contact sheet, we highlighted their names. We told her if it was a real emergency to call 911, and if it was not AS urgent, to call one of our friends, explain the situation, and then our friends would call us to let us know what was going on.

Between her limited English and my bit of Spanish, I was able to explain the basics, but no more. It was frustrating sometimes, to not be able to communicate to her what *exactly* I wanted done, but I knew that he was getting proper care. She has a child, so I knew she knew what to do, and DS loved her.

[flagger]

Good babysitters are hard to come by. Personally I would not have a problem using someone like this. I guess I don't think or worry about emergencies that could happen.

You didn't say what language this girl speaks. In the event of an emergency, as long as she knows to call 911, there will be speakers to assist her.

I would watch her interact with my child just as with any potential babysitter. You will expose your child to another culture and who knows you might pick up so phrases you never knew.