Well then

won't the kid mention how weird the babysitter was....? scrubbing their mouth out with toothpaste and all?

Why the hell didn't you just give the child water? Tap water is pretty good at quenching thirst. Depending on how much they drank, you could have killed that child by doing what you did. I wish I could report you. I swear if that child became a patient of mine, I would do everything in my power to make you pay for that mistake, because it easily could have proven fatal. You're a moron!

tap water isn't always safe to drink, where I live you can only drink tap water if you have a special filter, we don't have one we just buy mineral water from the store because it's cheaper that way

ur right and I agree it could've been fatal but he didn't kno... I think he should've at least told someone tho...

You're not someone?

We all make mistakes. But what bothered me was the fact she tried to cover it up. Yes. It would be absolutely horrifying to have to tell the parents...but even worse if the child became sick and THEN the parents were informed. Lack of responsibility for someone who should be caring for a child.

This is a ridiculous mistake though. She found "some kind of Mexican fruit drink," and didn't even bother to taste or simply smell it?? She seems too naive to be taking care of children.

Agreed

if you would of done that to my son, I would of beat the **** out of you, you could of at least smelled the fucken drink. geez lady I don't give a shit if it was a mistake, you ****** up because you didn't at least smell it or read the damn label. that kid could of gotten sick!! you should come clean about that, it will come out eventually.. that kids old enough to talk

if you read where Op is from it says united states , im pretty sure most states there have safe enough tap water to drink.

Although what happened was bad it, wouldn't be right for the parents to beat op . we have laws for a reason ! if the parents are that upset then they should report op and go from there .

@140, would have* would have* could have* could have* Your writing is atrocious for other reasons also, but this grammatically error in general irks me.

There are towns in the US that have to have water shipped in because the tap is dangerous to drink. The town of Big Springs in Texas is an example of that because the town is an oil refinery for the most part.

#158 *grammatical error

Well in OP's defense the parents left it accessible to anyone who found it. I think you shouldn't straight up report her, but instead give her a warning and dock her pay for the next few times. Locking the liquor and alcohol up would work too.

#171 You're my hero for the day.

158. what are you the fucken spelling police?? ahaha ohh woww, lmao, does it look like I give any **** ? No, so shut the **** up.

152, I dont literally mean im going to **** them up dude, you know how it is, people say shit all the time, but I actually do have a son btw and if anybody would ever do anything like that, of course I would do something about it, like report it duh.. maybe I'll cut her a little, aha

@171, Thanks! Didn't catch that.

@187 HAHAHA, high five! Dang, it's always horrible to make a mistake when you correcting someone. Anyway, I think op panicked so she tried to cover it up, cause no one wants to get in trouble, but it was really op's fault for not checking the drink, if she didn't know what it was...could have killed the kid man! op, you gotta be more careful when it comes to stuff like that! you don't feed people stuff if you don't know what the stuff is! So, it WAS kinda your fault, op.

What if it was some expired stuff or some sort of poison. That child would have die on the spot. When you r taking care of a child you should be very careful. Unless you shouldnt take the responsibility.

and Camp LeJeune, North Carolina

How is this lady a mother?

Several upstate NY towns run the same problem, due to different types of manufacturing. The lake by my house used to be the most polluted lake in America because of the metal works factory here. Couldn't swim in it, couldn't eat the fish, and in the summer it smelled awful.

Yeah.. You'd need a liver transplant by now..

That kid conned her. What 9 year old a.) can't get their own drink and b.) can drink hard liquor and not know about it?

A lot of flavored liqueur has a rather low alcohol content so the fruit could over power the alcohol flavor. To the child the drink could just of tasted kind of funny. As for a nine year old who can't get their own drink who knows. When I was nine my parents didn't hire a babysitter.

Maybe they were out of juice and they couldn't access the tap to get water, or the parents don't allow her to have juice because of the high amount of sugar in most fruit juices, she could be lactose intolerant and can't drink milk. OP said she asked for a drink but OP didn't say that the girl pointed out the drink and ask for it. If the girl isn't allowed to have juice she would drink it even if it tastes funny, because they think that's how it is supposed to taste.

I would assume that by OP saying it was "some sort of Mexican fruit drink" it was in Spanish and OP can't read Spanish. Not that I condone giving children liquor, but I'm sure she noticed when the first sip burned and one ACCIDENTAL sip of liquor will NOT kill the child. I'm sure you've never made a mistake at your job!

Not like that. I've accidentally opened a bottle of alcohol and I could tell by the smell.. If it was one sip it was still a risk. She's also 9 so her bodies small would affect her more than a 9 year old

even though the label would have been in spanish, wouldn't it say something% on the label somewhere?

Who says it was labelled or that it wasn't some sort of homemade mix? Plus sometimes the smell won't be that noticeable if there is a big ratio of nonalcoholic liquid to alcoholic liquid or if the non alcohol is particularly fragrant.

She should have not given the child the liquor if she didn't know what the liquor is. Even if she made the mistake of giving a child liquid with unknown contents inside,trying to cover it up instead of facing with the consequences of making the mistake is enough of a reason to be fired from your job.

Also if the liqueur is blended well it is extremely hard to notice. I've had fruit drinks that I couldn't tell at all. At least op did put the child to sleep. I would tell the parents though.

If the girl feel asleep that easily, and had to have her mouth scrubbed with toothpaste, she probably had more than one sip.

If OP was unsure what the drink was, the 9 year old could have told her whether or not it's something her parents allow her to drink. OP could have also maybe smelled the drink or took a drink herself to find out if it was appropriate for a child to consume.

It's true that everyone makes mistakes (some with more consequences than others) but what I found most disturbing was the username "cantprovenothing" and how OP tried to cover the whole thing up. If they are more worried about getting fired than they are about the kid's safety, they are a terrible babysitter.

The mistake was not tasting it herself before giving it to the child. Especially as she did know what it was.

OP stated it was some sort of Mexican fruit drink, if it was not labelled, I'm sure they would have just said a jug of juice. The bottle would have had an alcohol percentage on it somewhere, indicating it was alcohol. I would also like to know why the kid couldn't get their own drink. My nephew is 5, my niece is 2. They both get their own drinks when they are thirsty (my niece gets water from the tap or cooler), and unless their parents state otherwise, a babysitter should be giving the child water or milk, for a lot of kids, juice is a treat as it is sugary and can end up being a bad thing if drunk too much. I'll make one more note as this is getting long, OP should never be allowed to babysit again. It's one thing to make a mistake in life, it's another thing to try to cover it up, especially when it could potentially affect a child's health. A sip is not a risk but should still be acknowledged, but if OP had to scrub the smell out of the kids mouth and out them put them to bed, I'm sure OP had to find out it was alcohol because the child was drunk. YDI OP because you are an idiot and very selfish. Please don't babysit anymore!

It may be somewhat OP's fault but it is also the parents fault aswell. The parents should keep their alcohol in a locked cabinet or something, especially with a 9 year old around.

Just saying this is like a dream come true. Id like to thank my mom for letting me get an FML and all my fans out there

I completely agree with you...also, OP says "all I could find...", should there maybe be some concern about the condition of the home?! Really, no milk, juice, KoolAid... & OP, you should NOT be caring for others with your lack of judgment, about the drink or how to handle the "mess up"

For all we know the kid isn't allowed to have sugar laden juice because of health reasons or that her parents don't want her drinking sugary drinks and she could be lactose intolerant. I have too say that most neglectful parents won't hire a babysitter, they'll just leave the kid home alone.

Is no one concerned with the fact that OP gave the girl something that was in a different language that she could not identify? If I was in her position I would NEVER have given the child anything I didn't know the content of. It honestly could have been anything.

I have no idea what alcohol smells like or tastes like. I would probably just assume it was normal because I would think it was just some exotic drink. I also won't drink from tap water in my own house, I refuse to drink any water unless I had seen it come through my filter. I would have held their house to the same respect. There's a lot of mistakes you can make while scared. I probably would have scrubbed out their mouth to make sure there was no residue for safety of the child and then put them to bed so that they couldn't hurt themselves. I would of course tell the parents after. We don't know the entire story.

Dude the kid wouldn't know she had a hangover

I think a 9 year old knows what a hangover is.

I think the parents will put two and two together when she wakes up, says that she doesn't feel good and throws up everywhere. She'll also tell them that OP let her drink mommy and daddy's adult juice.

I would hope not, #12. That would reflect bad parenting skills on the child's parents.

Not every parent can afford to send there kids to a private school! Stop blaming LEARNING on parents. She had to learn at some point.

Why is everyone down voting number #12? The child is 9, so it might know what a hangover is. I know I knew what a hangover was when I was 9, also, just because a kid knows the definition of a word doesn't mean they have bad parents.

I was getting hangovers at 9 so I definitely knew what one was... (Scottish grandparents)

I agree with #79. At 9 I have not experienced a hangover but I knew that "drunken people feel bad the next day".

I didn't know what a hangover was until a few years ago. I'm 18 now so I was probably around 15 when I found out. I've never experienced one myself and I don't think I've ever been around someone who has either. Some people just don't learn things like that early on.

I mean, as long as the kid didn't know it was alcohol, the potential hangover symptoms could be attributed to regular sickness, right? I don't think the parents would suspect that their 9 year old had been drinking if he/she wakes up with a headache..

Well, Op did say she didn't find anything so I'm guessing water was one of those things and I dont think she got water from the tap because in some places the tap water isnt healthy to drink.

Honestly, I've never known parents who don't keep drinks and juice boxes stocked, especially when they plan to have a babysitter.

I never had juice in the house, cheap juice was just liquid sugar and real juice.... well when you have four kids, keeping stocked up on real fruit juice is expensive as ****. Juice in general is expensive, at least where I am...

I know so many people who don't even think about giving their kids water and go straight to squash...half the kids who come into nursery nowadays say they don't like water and milk because they're so used to sugary alternatives! When I was a kid and thirsty, 90% of the time I'd just have water. I really hope OP had a decent excuse such as the tap water not being safe but considering they can't be bothered to test a drink or tell a parent when they drug up their kid I'm less than hopeful.

It was a Mexican drink do the label was most likely written in Spanish.

Thank you! But I agree. It could only show OP is willing to cover up any mistake that'd make them look bad. First alcohol, what's next?