HGL: Hi, I am here for the home-educator interview. My name is Happy-Go-Lucky. I have one year of part-time experience looking after under 5's. I am able to look after your son five days a week, although on Tuesdays and Fridays I am not available until after 10AM. Why, you ask? I go to physiotherapy twice a week for an hour. I had a nasty fall a few weeks back and my lower back is not yet quite what it is supposed to be. Aaw, is this three year old Jason? What a cutie, I know we will get along great.
FFH: Hi, I am here for the home-educator interview. My name is Fresh-From-High school. I am new to babysitting and therefore unavailable on Tuesday and Friday mornings, as I do my Early Childhood Education training on those mornings. But other than that I am available five days a week and I am really looking forward to caring for your son. Is this three year old Jason? What a cutie, I am sure we will get along just great.
Me: Hi, I am here for the home-educator interview. My name is Gracefully Insane. I have four years of part-time as well as full-time babysitting experience with under 5's. I am available five days a week, although on Tuesdays and Fridays I am not available until after 10AM. Why, you ask? I see a private psychotherapist twice a week for an hour. Oh, you would like to have a think about this? Of course, shall I ring you tomorrow to have a chat? Ok, of course I can wait until your call. Thanks for taking the time to meet with me.
Of these three fictional characters, I am the one least likely to get this job, which always poses a moral dilemma for me. Do I tell them why I am unavailable? Do I lie? Do I say "physiotherapy" and later on, when they have been able to see how great a nanny I am, I tell them I see a psychotherapist and that they must have misunderstood me to think I am seeing a physiotherapist. Am I deliberately vague and say I see a health practitioner those mornings but I would prefer not to go into detail?
Apparently you can be a great nanny or babysitter while also being diabetic, or having only one arm, or speaking close to no English at all. Yet having any form of mental health concerns almost always excludes me from the game. The parents whose kids I have looked after will tell you I was great. They will recount stories of me taking their kids to the beach, to the park, doing arts projects with them, as well as practicing manners and self-sufficiency. They will tell you how much their kids loved me and how sad our goodbyes were. They would be able to show you numerous drawings and paintings bearing testament to me once having been an important part of these kids' lives. But to get these jobs I have always had to talk my way around my mental health issues. I have had to cover up my arms with long sleeves for at least the first six weeks of any new nanny job and I have had to make up stories or be deliberately vague about the hours spent at Jay's office every week.
Because no matter how politically correct we think we are and no matter how accepting we are of those with mental health issues, we would still rather they stick to their own kind, especially when it concerns our children. I am not debating the fact we should be careful about who we allow to be in charge of our kids, but it seems that seeing a shrink or having scars on my arms that are quite clearly the result of self-inflicted cuts automatically makes me an unfit babysitter. After people find out I am in therapy, it suddenly does not matter anymore that I have great teaching skills, or that I am caring, loving and consistent, or that I just have a real affinity for kids. Nor does my experience as a babysitter and after-school care nanny matter. After all, a person so deranged she injures herself deliberately (and clearly she has not been cured yet, seeing as she is still in treatment with a shrink, twice a week even!) cannot ever be a good caregiver or make sound judgments when it comes to providing quality care for babies and toddlers.
I had an interview last week with a family who is looking for care for their three year old son, five afternoons a week. So there were no issues about whether I can or cannot provide care during the morning hours when I see Jay. I was careful to wear a long-sleeved shirt and put on my happiest smile. Hopefully they will give me a chance to prove myself and if, along the way, they find out I see Jay, or their son comes home telling them about GI's "stripes" on her arm, they will by then have judged me to be a competent babysitter and it will not be as important. Because really, there is so much more to me than just being a borderliner, if only I am given half a chance.
Thank you for reading.
Yours truly,
GI
FFH: Hi, I am here for the home-educator interview. My name is Fresh-From-High school. I am new to babysitting and therefore unavailable on Tuesday and Friday mornings, as I do my Early Childhood Education training on those mornings. But other than that I am available five days a week and I am really looking forward to caring for your son. Is this three year old Jason? What a cutie, I am sure we will get along just great.
Me: Hi, I am here for the home-educator interview. My name is Gracefully Insane. I have four years of part-time as well as full-time babysitting experience with under 5's. I am available five days a week, although on Tuesdays and Fridays I am not available until after 10AM. Why, you ask? I see a private psychotherapist twice a week for an hour. Oh, you would like to have a think about this? Of course, shall I ring you tomorrow to have a chat? Ok, of course I can wait until your call. Thanks for taking the time to meet with me.
Of these three fictional characters, I am the one least likely to get this job, which always poses a moral dilemma for me. Do I tell them why I am unavailable? Do I lie? Do I say "physiotherapy" and later on, when they have been able to see how great a nanny I am, I tell them I see a psychotherapist and that they must have misunderstood me to think I am seeing a physiotherapist. Am I deliberately vague and say I see a health practitioner those mornings but I would prefer not to go into detail?
Apparently you can be a great nanny or babysitter while also being diabetic, or having only one arm, or speaking close to no English at all. Yet having any form of mental health concerns almost always excludes me from the game. The parents whose kids I have looked after will tell you I was great. They will recount stories of me taking their kids to the beach, to the park, doing arts projects with them, as well as practicing manners and self-sufficiency. They will tell you how much their kids loved me and how sad our goodbyes were. They would be able to show you numerous drawings and paintings bearing testament to me once having been an important part of these kids' lives. But to get these jobs I have always had to talk my way around my mental health issues. I have had to cover up my arms with long sleeves for at least the first six weeks of any new nanny job and I have had to make up stories or be deliberately vague about the hours spent at Jay's office every week.
Because no matter how politically correct we think we are and no matter how accepting we are of those with mental health issues, we would still rather they stick to their own kind, especially when it concerns our children. I am not debating the fact we should be careful about who we allow to be in charge of our kids, but it seems that seeing a shrink or having scars on my arms that are quite clearly the result of self-inflicted cuts automatically makes me an unfit babysitter. After people find out I am in therapy, it suddenly does not matter anymore that I have great teaching skills, or that I am caring, loving and consistent, or that I just have a real affinity for kids. Nor does my experience as a babysitter and after-school care nanny matter. After all, a person so deranged she injures herself deliberately (and clearly she has not been cured yet, seeing as she is still in treatment with a shrink, twice a week even!) cannot ever be a good caregiver or make sound judgments when it comes to providing quality care for babies and toddlers.
I had an interview last week with a family who is looking for care for their three year old son, five afternoons a week. So there were no issues about whether I can or cannot provide care during the morning hours when I see Jay. I was careful to wear a long-sleeved shirt and put on my happiest smile. Hopefully they will give me a chance to prove myself and if, along the way, they find out I see Jay, or their son comes home telling them about GI's "stripes" on her arm, they will by then have judged me to be a competent babysitter and it will not be as important. Because really, there is so much more to me than just being a borderliner, if only I am given half a chance.
Thank you for reading.
Yours truly,
GI
