What to do When Your Charge Tells You a Secret

When you are babysitting, especially for long periods of time, you are bound to learn a lot of things about your charges and their family. But what happens when you learn something bad? Or the child wants to tell you a secret that could possibly be something that you know isn't right? These are tough situations to face, and here are some tips to make these situations less confusing. As always, use your judgement before acting. These are just suggestions.

Above all else, when a child asks if they can tell you a secret, never promise that you won't tell. Tell the child that if you think you need to, you might have to tell an adult. But if you don't feel like you need to do that, then you will keep their secret. Often their secrets are crushes, the birthday present they brought for their father, etc. but sometimes their secret can be of abuse, drug use, or things of that nature about themselves or others.

This is when what to do becomes the big question. Do you lose the child's trust by telling someone? How do you know that it is even true? Do you want to get the family mad at you? Who do you tell, anyhow? When you hear a secret that you aren't sure about, ask yourself these questions:

Is the child, or anybody else in danger? If so, then you absolutely need to tell a responsible adult. If it is the child doing something his parents don't know about, then the parents might be a good place to start. If you don't feel comfortable talking to the parents, then have an adult you trust do it. It is a good idea to bring an adult along, even if you do the talking. If an adult is doing something they shouldn't to a child, this gets trickier. Especially if this is a parent or a relative. If the adult is not related, then the parents might be a good place to start, once again. But always bring an adult with you. Use your judgement on how the parents might react, and respond accordingly. If you think the parents won't believe you, talk to an adult and let them igure out what should be done. If it is the parents doing things to the child they shouldn't, then you need to go directly to an adult. DO NOT confront the parents. Or in any case, DO NOT confront the person at fault here. That could turn into a dangerous situation that you don't want to be in. An adult can figure out what needs to be done in this situation.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic