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Anyone who works with children can testify that children really do say the darnedest things, and they sometimes seem to ask things at the moment most likely to shock the adult. Babysitters need to be able to think fast in some of these instances, being careful to answer in a way that does two things at once; maintain anything a parent may have said to the child, and keep within the babysitter's comfort zone of their own beliefs.
Some of the more common questions presented to our babysitters have been "Is Santa real?", "Is the Tooth-fairy real?", and "Where do babies come from?". There are many others that may come up, however, so in addition to having some neutral answers for these, it is a good idea to have some backup methods of answering the child.
One alternative for babysitters is to turn the question around on the child. This can be utilized in nearly every scenario involving a question. For instance, if the question is asked "Are monsters real?", you could ask the child what they believe, and upon getting an answer from them, ask how it makes them feel. After the child tells of their thoughts on the subject, if the babysitter feels the child is troubled, they can steer the conversation to a safer topic and inform the parent at a later time.
Of course going into more important beliefs, the important thing to remember is each family may have different beliefs, and those beliefs should be treated with soft hands. Children are extremely perceptive, and can often pick up on the slightest hesitation of the person they are asking information of.
