[blparent] Babysitting at other people's houses

[Star Gazer]

Hi. 
We just moved into a house that's very open and has high celings. 
It was tricky at first. I got used to it. 
One thing that may help is to have mats on the floor so you know when you're
going from one room to another. I didn't need to do this, I got used to the
house before I got the mats. 
You may also want to have some kind of sound beacon, a radio a tv, or
something to help orient you. 
Since you know your sister has an open house, get to know her house. Also,
spend time with the baby so you get to know that person. You'll learn the
normal sounds v. the not normal sounds. You also need to keep your ears
pealed, a baby or toddler won't stay silent forever. They also want your
attention so if they seem to not want you around, they are up to no good. 
Finally, you will need to remind your sister what you not being able to see
means. For example, she may think "I'll see it if Johnny goes for the ming
vase" and you don't even know they have a ming vase, so you'll need to ask
them what is around that they don't want their kid to have. Ask about stuff
like perfume, medicines, her prized beer can collection, that sort of thing.
Parents get to know their kids, and so we'll think "Johnny has never ever
shown any interest in my china dog collection, it's ok that it's out". 
I think you can do this, you'll just need to decide if it's what you want to
do. 

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle
Silverman via blparent
Sent: Thursday, January 1, 2015 4:21 PM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blparent] Babysitting at other people's houses

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

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