This job will require changing diapers. How comfortable are you with that?
In the back of my mind, I always knew that dealing with diapers would probably be part of the job. But is weird for me to not be comfortable with it? It’s not my kid, and I guess it just makes me feel uncomfortable dealing with other people's kids when they need a diaper change. But also, how are they comfortable with it? Even if the parents are okay with it, I feel like the kids wouldn’t be. I guess a baby wouldn’t care, but a toddler would. I really don’t know how to deal with this because it is involved in so many 'Childcare: Babysitters' jobs and I feel that I’m missing a lot of them because of this. But I don’t want to force myself to do something that I’m now comfortable with. Is changing diapers not a big deal to anyone else? Is this really just a me thing?
2 answers
It's not just you, a colleague of mine who is a babysitter had this same feeling and I think it is normal. In my personal opinion, I don't think anyone is fully comfortable with diaper changing even the most caring parents. I am not comfortable with it however it is part of the job and career I have chosen for myself so I just try to do it when the need arises. Do I sometimes wear nose mask to make the task tolerable? Yes, I guess I found a way to make diaper changing easier and more comfortable for myself. I would advise that you try to find ways to make the task easier and more comfortable for you. If you have tried all avenues and you still can't do it.You might want to look into specializing with children who are potty trained.
I think that, to an extent, it’s just going to be something that you have to deal with. Even most new parents don’t want to deal with diaper changes, and even experienced parents with older kids don’t like dealing with any bodily fluids. You really just have to push through the grossness of it, especially with kids in diapers, because you don’t want them to get a rash. And the more you do it the easier it will become, in theory at least. You can say that you only watch kids who are potty trained. This would mean you didn’t have to deal with diapers at all. But kids do have accidents sometimes and you would need to clean it up if you were watching them. It really just comes with the job.
