[blparent] Babysitting at other people's houses

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi all,
A recent experience prompted this question. For Christmas we stayed at
my in-laws' new house and were helping look after our 2-year-old niece
while the rest of the family was engaged in Christmas preparations.
The house is very open with high ceilings and I found it difficult to
keep track of where she was. She made plenty of noise but the
acoustics were such that I would think she had gone to one side but
she was on the other. We wanted to supervise her closely because being
Grandma's house, things weren't toddler-proofed and parts of the house
are unfinished. I  found it hard to supervise her without my husband
being there to keep visual track of where she was. I feel like
watching her in my own home or even my parents' home would have been
fine, but it was difficult in this particular house that I still
wasn't entirely familiar with. There were also times when she would
become silent and didn't answer when I called her name. It occurs to
me that she has never needed to be taught to come when called as her
parents can easily find her visually. I  only see her once a year and
she doesn't know yet that I  can't see her. For those of you with more
babysitting experience, what tricks do you use to help you supervise
other people's children in another person's home? My sister is
planning to start a family to and I really want to be able to care for
and playwith her children in her own home which is also quite large.
It made me feel sad and discouraged not to be able to keep up with my
niece without sighted assistance. Thanks for any help!
Arielle