Babysitting is one of the most common first jobs for teens to pick up. It’s an easy way to make some extra cash, help out a relative or neighbor, and if the evening goes smoothly, it might actually be fun! But as with any job, there’s no telling what kind of issues will arise once you’re actually on the clock.
Babysitters on Reddit have been recalling the worst and most awkward situations they’ve ever been put in while taking care of kids, so we’ve gathered their wildest stories below. From encounters with drunk parents to witnessing bizarre behavior from children, it’s safe to say that babysitting is not for the faint of heart. So enjoy reading through these stories, and be sure to upvote the ones that make you want to tip your sitters a lot more!
#1
My sister and I always babysat together and that made it easier to babysit for families that had a lot of kids. This particular family had three girls which doesn’t seem like much, but these children were the spawn of Satan.
One Saturday afternoon my sister and I are in the basement (the basement was a game room/movie theater) with the little monsters and the older monster says she wants to go upstairs to get a juice box. It sounded innocent enough at the time, a 9 year old should be trusted to get a juice box or so we thought. Two minutes go by and she isn’t back.
We go upstairs to the glass door which led to the rest of the house to find the girl with her face plastered against the glass and doing what can be described as an evil cackle because she had locked us in the basement. We beg and plead for her to let us in, the two younger girls start crying and my sister have no idea what to do.
The older girl then proceeds to start destroying the house right before our eyes. She’s throwing water on the floor, smearing I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Butter on the glass door, eating cookies (which she wasn’t allowed to have) and just laughing her crazy head off.
Two hours go by and the parents come home to the house turned upside down and their 9 year old covered in food, make up and other random objects. Their babysitters and their two younger daughters are all sitting on the basement steps leaning against the glass door watching in horror as the 9 year old went on her rampage of destruction.
The parents let us out and we try to explain the situation of how we were foiled by an evil 9 year old. Awkward.
Image source: ifdaryldiesiquit, mehaniq/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#2
So i’m a female and i babysit two brothers (9 and 12). One day it was me, the brothers, and their dad in the car. The 12-year-old then randomly said “hey dad, don’t sleep with this babysitter hahahaha”. Worst car ride ever.
Edit: for those of you asking about the dad’s reaction… he stopped the car and yelled at his son and told him to apologize to me for making me feel uncomfortable. later, the dad explained that the son was making a reference to the movie “the babysitters. still not sure…
Image source: paris0la, wirestock/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#3
I have rather hairy legs and I was wearing shorts. This four year old boy just gets on the floor and starts petting my legs like I’m a dog.
Image source: dlynch066, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#4
I was babysitting for this girl whose mother owned a store/gas station in a small rural town in Tennessee. They lived in some rooms behind the store, and used the kitchen of the store (they also had a restaurant) to cook our dinner. We also were able to take anything we wanted off the shelves to eat.
Anyway, we go to get some food and K decides she wants some mac & cheese. She grabs it and goes to start making it while I’m still looking for what I want to eat. I grab something and head back towards the kitchen when I see smoke POURING out of the microwave which is on the other side of the wall from where K is standing at the stove cooking her mac & cheese. I scream and run over and open the microwave, inside is a plate full of money, which is on fire! It turned out that because her mother was away for the evening, they weren’t able to put the day’s takings in the safe so she had told them to hide it in the microwave. K didn’t know that you’re not supposed to turn on the microwave with nothing in it, and was using it as a timer for her mac. Several thousand dollars were burnt up.
TL;DR Kid burnt up several thousand dollars in the microwave.
Image source: AnandaUK, poyoky/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#5
First and last time I babysat this particular child. He was about 5 and had recently gotten a gerbil. I was specifically told not to let the kid have the gerbil. I agreed but asked that I was told why when they returned. The whole night the kid wanted to hold the gerbil and I obediently told him no. This made him fussy and impossible to put down for bed. Eventually his parents came home I got paid and left. 5 or 10 minutes later I get a call from the mother. Our conversation followed this loosely.
“Hello Mrs.B what can I do for you?”
“I called to tell you why my son couldn’t hold the gerbil. After you left he took it out of the cage and super glued it to his chest, while his father and I got changed. When we came out we where appalled and asked him why. His exact words where “I wanted to have chest hair like daddy”. I felt obligated to tell you and not leave you wondering why he couldn’t hold the gerbil.”
She sighed, told me she would tell me what happened in the next few hours and we said our goodbyes. The next morning she called and told me what happened. They took the boy to the ER to see what they could do seeing as the boy was now crying because the super glue tightened when it dried. The ER told them the had to go to a vet and get the gerbil shaved off then they where to come back. They went to the bet where the gerbil was painstakingly shaved off of the boys chest. The gerbil was put under 48 hour observation and the kid was taken back to the ER to have the glue and remaining gerbil hair removed from his chest.
TL;DR Boy I was babysitting super glued a gerbil to his chest.
Image source: youknowmenotmystory, passimage/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#6
I had to babysit a 16 year old. I’m 18. He wanted to sleep with me.
Image source: CatMode, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#7
I babysat two girls maybe 8 and 6. Their mom said she was planning on being home around supper time. Well, supper time comes and goes and mom doesn’t show. A few more hours and I recieve a drunk phone call from mommy dearest. I asked her when she expected to be home and she said she didn’t know. She asked to talk to her oldest and I put the little girl on the phone. Kid gets upset and runs to the kitchen, grabs a large knife and runs out into the night. I panic but manage to find her. She was hiding in the yard, didn’t get too far. Anyway, long story short, it’s now the next day and I call a friend of mine to take over since I was exhausted. Mom shows up 3 days later and gives my friend $20 to give to me. Im furious and vow to never sit for anyone again. A few weeks go by an her boyfriend shows up and apologizes for her actions and hands me $150. That family moved soon after that.
Image source: Carsons_mom, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#8
I was babysitting once for 3 little girls, one four and two 2-yr-old twins. We were playing when suddenly they all [undress], sit on the kitchen floor, and the two twins start to “nurse” from the 4-year old, who was pretending to be their mother. Needless to say, it was extremely awkward…
Image source: iwishihadabeard, Andres/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#9
While I was in college, a girl I hadn’t spoken to in over two years called me out of the blue and asked me to babysit for a child that she had babysat before. She just gave me an address and told me to go there. I couldn’t believe it–I was not really the babysitting type and the girl had quit hanging out with my friend and I because we partied way too much. I told her I would do it–even though I had to be there in ten minutes. I get there, and the lady is waiting on the front porch. She is all impatient and the like and tells me the baby is asleep and probably won’t wake up–then she takes off.
I was kind of shocked–I didn’t even know her name or the kid’s name or even if the kid was a boy or girl or how old it was. I went in the house and found the kid’s room. The infant (couldn’t have been more than 3-4 months old) was asleep in the crib, so I checked on it and went downstairs and watched some tv.
She said she would be back in about an hour, but three hours later, she still hadn’t shown up or called and the baby finally woke up, and I assumed was hungry. I changed his diaper (this was when I found out he was a boy) and took him downstairs to find something to feed him. I wasn’t sure what to give him and there were no instructions. I couldn’t get a hold of the girl, so I called my mom. She told me to just give him some formula. I wanted to, but there were three different kinds, so I picked the one for sensitive stomachs, made it and fed him. He calmed down, and I held him on the couch playing with him for another 2 hours, until the parents finally showed up.
The mom walked in handed me a $20 and told me I could go, so I did. I never did learn anyones name and found it really weird that they would entrust their infant with some random chick, but I guess that time they got lucky.
Image source: anon, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#10
I had a parent who favored one of his daughters immensely, and treated the other as if she was barely human. He’d be like, “Amy is just the smartest 2 year old I’ve ever seen….Anna, though…she will never amount to anything. At 4 years old, she’s just not up to par. It’s sad, but it’s true.
Amy was 2. Anna was 4. Absolutely rediculous.
(Obviously, those weren’t actually their names.).
Image source: anon, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#11
An 8-year-old boy I was babysitting came out in high heels, his mother’s best dress and his best attempt of smeared lipstick and mascara and asked me if he was beautiful.
I’ve also been paid in bananas.
Image source: anon, gpointstudio/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#12
One of my good friends in high school (and one of my older sister’s best friends) had two brothers, one 4 years older than her, the other 6 years younger than her. Her older brother had a severe form of autism. I don’t remember the exact form of it, but he was 20 years old and could barely talk. When he could, his speech was messed up and it was very hard to understand him. Most of the time he just made noises. Being 16, this girl had to babysit her 20 year old brother and her 10 year old brother a lot.
One day, I’m sitting on the front porch with two of my sisters, doing homework with them. It was in the early fall, when it was still pretty warm, and we loved to sit outside most of the time. One of my sisters, who was the girl’s best friend, gets a text. “SOS, bring your dad and some tools like a saw or something.”
We knew she was babysitting her brothers, and we ran inside and got our dad. We ran down the street, me, my dad, and 2 of my sisters, to their house.
The front door was open, and we went inside. In the front room where the stairs were, the two brothers had their heads stuck in opposite sides of the railing. Then we saw her.
She was trying to get the younger brother’s head out first. She was covering his head in butter and trying to push it back out. My dad immediately stopped her, and we called 911 to get them out instead.
In her defense, she was freaking out and hadn’t thought to do that. Her older brother has gotten himself into dangerous situations before, but their family couldn’t afford to hire a professional caretaker for him until a few months following this incident.
As bad as it is, the funniest mental image I will EVER have is of the younger brother with his head covered in butter, screaming at the sister, the older brother laughing hysterically, screaming “BUDDER FACE, *brother’s name* ISA BUDDER FACE!” and my friend trying to push his head through the bars of the railing.
As to HOW they got like that, we still have no idea. She was making their dinner when she heard the older one squealing loudly, and she found them with their heads stuck in the railing. The younger one forever insisted that it was his brother’s idea. Maybe it was, but we don’t know.
Over the holidays, I saw the younger brother (now in high school) with his girlfriend while I was visiting family. I couldn’t resist telling the story of the “Butter Face” ten year old.
His sister texted me the other day telling me that his girlfriend now refers to him as Butter Face. I felt so accomplished.
Image source: ellathedrummer, cookie_studio/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#13
Babysitting two boys, ages 2 and 4. While changing the 2 year old’s diaper, the 4 year old keeps wanting to show me his “toy helicopter”. When I’m finished, I finally look at what he’s spinning around on a string.
It’s a tampon.
Thank GOD it was unused.
Image source: motorcityvicki, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#14
I reached into the freezer to grab some Popsicles for the kids I was watching and found a frozen bobcat carcass.
Image source: blue_llama_earrings, kyrmaevairina/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#15
I was babysitting my boss’ daughter, who was four years old and constipated.
The kiddo went to the bathroom, and remained there for like fifteen minutes, so I went in to find her after she did not come out. She was on the toilet, straining, of course. And I was about to leave her in privacy when she went and flailed her little arms and said the phrase that will live in my memory forever.
“You can’t leave! You have to SQUISH me!”
I had quite the WTH expression, I’m sure. So I went, “What?”
And she says, “When I can’t [do it], mommy and daddy always squish my tummy, so you have to squish me!” And she places one hand on her stomach, and one hand on her back, and demonstrates how to squish her.
So I accept her demands and gingerly put a bit of pressure on her stomach.
But, oh, no. “Harder! You have to squish me harder!”
So, I’m literally squishing a small child for a few minutes until finally she breathes a sigh of relief and tells me she’s done. She hops up off the toilet and there, in the bowl, is this tiny corn-kernel-sized thing. I squished a baby for almost nothing.
TL;DR: I am a baby-squisher.
Image source: heartbreakcity, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#16
I was once babysitting a 7 year old who was mad because I didn’t allow him to go to his friend’s house when his parents specifically said not to let him. He the proceeded to take a large knife and make small cuts on his arm and face and told me that he was going to tell his parents that I did it to him.
So I started secretly recording him in case the parents didn’t believe me.
When his parents returned I had to explain the situation and of course they believed their precious son because he had (minor) cuts all over him and was crying hysterically. After being threatened, I showed them the video and they tried apologizing. At that point I was so fed up and annoyed and I left.
Needless to say, I never babysat for them again.
Image source: kittyrobot, Rawpixel/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#17
I was once babysitting a family of three kids who had recently gotten a pet hamster.
Well, they all wanted to bring it out and play with it, but, of course, when I went to get it from their room it was gone. I told them it was sleeping and put it in their parent’s room so they wouldn’t be able to find it the rest of the night.
When the parents got home I told them what had happened right away, the father quickly responded “Oh thank god, it was impossible to handle that thing without it biting someone”.
Image source: littlelazerbean, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#18
I was babysitting my cousins (3 boys) and we and some neighborhood kids were playing kick the can in the front yard. After a while I noticed the youngest (about 9 years old) was no where to be found. For some reason, I instinctively ran to the back yard to check the pool. To my horror, there he was – submerged in the water. I still don’t know how I did this, but I reached into the water with one arm and pulled him out by his leg. Once he was out on the ground, I performed CPR, he spat up a lot of water and a partially eaten hotdog, and came to. I never told my aunt & uncle. He is a healthy 25 year old today.
Image source: booshan22, pyoky/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#19
I baby-sitted a 7 year old girl and her 5 year old brother, and the girl started pulling down the boys pants and kissing him. Needless to say, I put a stop to that and have since declined babysitting for them again.
Image source: minty4794, prostooleh/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#20
When I was 14 I was babysitting for my cousin’s two small daughters. My cousin was only 21 or so, but had married a guy in his mid-40s. So they go out and once the girls are in bed I laid down on the couch to watch some TV.
I fell asleep and woke up with my cousin’s husband’s hands up my shirt. I was freaked out, dude was huge and if he was feeling me up I figured that meant his wife wasn’t there (she wasn’t, she’d stayed at her sister’s afterward). I had no idea what to do, so I just played [deceased]. That’s ridiculous, I know, but I was young and scared so that was the strategy I went with.
He proceeded to undo his pants and placed my hand on his junk, and the whole time he was doing this running whisper — “there it is, yes please, on the couch, here it is …” So I kind of grunted and flipped over like I was coming awake and he backed off. I had to call my dad for a ride home, and the whole time he’s just sitting there leering at me like we share some splendid little secret.
I never did tell on him because I was so embarrassed, but I was thrilled when my cousin divorced him just a year or two later.
Image source: delphine1041, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#21
Kid refused to go to bed (was a REAL pill…) girl about 4-5. Finally out of exasperation I said something to the extent of “You know I can just carry you and hold you in bed right?”
She responded by holding up up three fingers and saying “Read between the lines”.
After a second of shock I asked where she learned that she said “That’s what Mommy says to Daddy”.
(Parents divorced and they moved a couple months later…Looking back I feel bad for the kid. Sounds like her parents were so preoccupied with fighting she was getting ignored…).
Image source: CatchingTheWorm, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#22
When I was like 14 I was babysitting my neighbor who was around 10, plus his younger brother and sister, but they’re not important to this story. Somehow the 10 year old found an exacto knife and was running around waving it.
I tried to grab it (yeah, probably not the best idea) but he pulled his hand away so it cut my hand. So I went to the bathroom to wash the blood off and make sure it wasn’t too bad of a cut. A minute later the kid comes in, holding his finger. He had cut the tip of his finger with the knife and it was bleeding. A lot.
I had to call his parents to come back home, they took him to the hospital to get stitches, I stayed home with the younger siblings.
A few years later my brother told me that the kid had cut his finger on purpose because he didn’t believe that the knife could have cut me so easily.
Image source: wotcher_harry, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#23
In high school I babysat for my mom’s married friends. They has a 1 year old, a 2 year old and a 4 year old who was autistic. The 4 year old was a sweat heart and never caused any problems. The 2 year old was jealous of the “new” baby so would always take his things and make him cry. So the weird part is, I was like 15 or 16 at the time which makes my brother 16 or 17, I was watching the kids pretty late so I planned on staying the night like I had before. I didn’t think anything of it because they were friends with my mom, the mother worked with my mom.
Anyway, the dad came home by himself saying his wife got called into work. I figured it was already late and I had school so I was just going to go to bed and whatever. He said he wanted to talk before I went to bed so I figured he wanted to make sure the 2 year old didn’t [harm] the 1 year old. He then starts telling me how he caught his wife [sleeping] with my brother and figured he could get back at her with me……OH HELL NO!!!! Not only was that illegal he was also a fat guy who was in no way attractive. I got my [stuff] and walked home and never babysat for them again without my brother with me.
Found out 2 year later that after they had another baby that the previously mentioned 1 year old burned their house down because him and the previously mentioned 2 year old didn’t like the new baby and the mother was still sleeping with my brother and the new baby was his but the husband didn’t know this.
TL;DR wife had affair with my brother so husband thought he could get back at her with me.
Image source: mrscolquhoun, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#24
When I was 10 I went to a family party filled with distant relatives I had only met once or twice. My third (I think) cousin was around 3 at the time. We are both females. We were in the game room coloring and watching tv when all of a sudden she starts making out with my face. Full on kissing my mouth while staring at me. I kept trying to get away but she would jump on top of me and continue. At the time of course I knew that she was just a toddler but I was so weirded out by it that it still creeps me out every time I think about it. Needless to say she is a teen now and I don’t associate with her >.
Image source: lalalyla, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#25
Something awkward that happened to me was I brought over some movies to share with this family’s 3 kids. I figured we’d have a movie night or something. I’d babysat them many times before and the parents asked to look at the movies. I handed them over and they immediately told me that they would not allow me to show The Ice Age to their kids. When I asked why, the dad replied, “as a Christian family, we don’t believe in the ice age.”.
Image source: mopedgirl, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#26
I’m a daycare provider. The weirdest thing that I have ever seen is one day I went in to work to find all the kids watching a scene from Futurama on loop. The dad looped the hypnotoad to see if it would work, and it did for about 20 minutes.
Image source: tag_youre_pregnant, dekazigzag/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#27
I was a nanny to two of the most emotionally disturbed kids I’d ever seen. Kids of divorce, lived with their Fundie-christian mom. They were 7 and 9.
The dad was only interested in speaking to the 7 yr old (girl). She would hide in her bedroom and talk to her dad on the phone for hours,always whispering. She was also a little too…I don’t know how else to say it, sexualized for a 7 year old. The dad wouldn’t even bother talking to the boy. He was desperate for attention from his dad but this man would hang up the phone if the girl gave the phone to her brother. This resulted in a LOT of acting out violently from the boy.
So obviously you know what I thought was going on. I shared my concerns with the mom, to no avail. She dismissed it time after time.
Anyways, I was informed to never let the dad in the house or let him take the kids. (custody battle) The problem was, any time I said no to this little girl, she’d run to her room and call daddy on me. He’d show up threatening to hurt me for not indulging his little girls every whim.
One incident ended up with me trying to call the cops on him, and the girl taking my phone and smashing it on a tile floor, then her grabbing the home phone and running to the room to call the cops on ME for not allowing her daddy to take her away because I was hurting her (I told her that her brother got to pick the movie today because she picked one yesterday.)
Cops show up and while they’re interviewing the dad and daughter, the mom comes home. She defends me and the cops end up telling the dad not to violate the court mandated custody agreement. The girl locks herself in the room and the mom looks at me, sighs, and says,
“You know what it is….I forgot to pray today.”
I quit.
Image source: superior_mediocrity, wavebreakmedia_micro/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#28
New Year’s eve. Parents come home midway through the evening to drop off one of their super drunk friends. He went to sleep in the three year old’s bed and the kid kept going up to check on him like a little nurse. One of the kids reached for a glass of what I thought was water on the coffee table but I quick gave it a sniff and it was vodka that the parents left out when they went to the bars. Parents were so drunk they each tipped me a ton of money and told me not to tell the other party. I made $90 that night which was amazing money in 1993.
Image source: _jeth, EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)
#29
I used to babysit for a family who had a child with cancer. The siblings, being very young, at points could not understand the urgency of certain situations.
Once we were at the community pool and I received a phone call saying that we needed to leave immediately to see the sick child in the hospital(which is obviously worrisome) and several of the kids refused to get out of the pool. Even when I pointed out that we needed to go see their sister(which usually they get very excited about) they started freaking out.
When I finally got down to one kid who would not listen he glued himself to the ground screaming that she should just ]perish] already so he could continue swimming. The other siblings frantically tried to get him off the ground and people were now staring. Being a community pool, everyone knew the family and knew there wasn’t much I could do. He was just so hurt. It was a scene.
It was heartbreaking to say the least. The kids were not very well behaved but there is so much love for this little girl in the family. It takes such a toll on them to deal with her illness.
Image source: saveschrodingerscat, Freepik (not the actual photo)
#30
I used to babysit this boy, we’ll call him Damien. Pretty sure he’s the antichrist. And not because he was bad, pitching fits or anything like that, kid was just seriously creepy. He was four years old and the most serious child I have ever met. If you tried to tease, or joke or tickle him he would get indignant and chastise, “What are you doing? Stop that right away.” He very rarely laughed or smiled, except when he was tormenting one of the family dogs. One day, out of the blue, he turned to me and said, “Do you know that my heart is broken?” I was completely taken aback and was like “No, Damien, why do you say that?” He says “The noises in my head, they go out my ears, then down my throat and they hurt my heart.” Needless to say, as soon as that kid was tall enough to reach the kitchen knives I was done.
EDIT: Come on guys, calling him Damien was a joke, it is not his actual name. This was about four years ago, I got a new job and moved out of the city so I have no idea what became of this delightful child. His parents were quite well off and doted on him, their only other child was much older. I did mention a few instances that concerned me, but they always laughed it off. The kicker was that the mother worked for the state as a Children’s Behavioral Psychologist! To the person who mentioned Autism, this occurred to me as well. In retrospect I realized he was showing textbook signs of Aspergers Syndrome. Lack of empathy and social skills, exclusively obsessed with one particular activity (everything had to do with trains).. I hope he got the help he needed but I think his parents, especially his mother, were in severe denial. They had the perfect home, in the perfect neighborhood and the perfect children.
*On my phone so I apologize for any errors*
EDIT 2: Oh and on another day, once again out of the blue (and nowhere near Christmas) he turns to me and says, very matter-of-fact, “Did you know that if you shoot Santa in the heart with an arrow, you don’t get any presents?” No, demon spawn, I was not aware of that fact but thank you.
Image source: Biznefay, EyeEm/Feepik (not the actual photo)
#31
When I was in highschool, I babysat an 8-year-old boy and his 5-year-old little sister. As soon as their parents left the house, they thought it was hilarious to [undress] and jump on the couch, no matter how much I begged them to stop and get dressed.
I never told the parents because I didn’t know how to bring it up.
Image source: NotAnAverageTaunTaun
#32
It’s a toss up between:
*My filthy rich neighbors only paying me $20 for about 5+ hours of babysitting ($4/hr; I was in high school). While another neighbor was paying me $10/hr
* Had a man (father/husband) of the family drive me home and things got kind of creepy and I got out of the car as quick as possible
* Also had a [dad/husband] tell me it was okay to drink and drive as long as I used cruise control.
Image source: anon
#33
I’ve babysat for two separate families where the older brother absolutely hated the younger brother. The first family I watched while I was just 14 and I couldn’t physically pull apart two boys from a fight. The younger one almost fell down the stairs once.
The other family just about broke my heart. It hurt to hear a two year old say to me, “Brian doesn’t love me.” with complete awareness that his older brother disliked him so much.
Image source: zzyzx1990
#34
I had a mom who insisted her kids eat vegetables and she made me the bad guy about it.
Told a four year old YOU PUT THAT BROCCOLI IN YOUR MOUTH RIGHT NOW MISTER and he did. Kept it in there for FOURTY FIVE MINUTES without swallowing.
So, yea, choose your words carefully with kids.
Image source: YummyKeyLimePie
#35
I babysat three boys one summer, ages 2, 4, and 8. While I was breaking up a fight between the older two in the living room, the 2-year old hobbles in brandishing a large butcher knife. How he busted through a child lock on a drawer that should have been out of his reach still puzzles me. I should have been paid more.
Image source: hakasehakasehakase
#36
Okay, so this one time I was babysitting for a (I want to say) one-year-old and a puppy. The baby was sitting on the floor, happily playing with some toys, so I got up and went to the kitchen to get some water. To my surprise, there was a giant puddle next to fridge. I assumed the puppy had had an accident, so I checked to make sure the baby was distracted and safe, then I grabbed some paper towels and got to work in the kitchen.
After cleaning and disinfecting everything, I went back out to the baby. He (as well as the entire couch) was covered in blood. Somehow, he had crawled over to the table, reached up, found a cup, broken it, cut his hand, and then crawled onto the couch and rolled around. He was perfectly happy; he didn’t even notice he was bleeding. I had to chase this laughing baby all over the room so I could clean up his hand, and then I had to try and get the blood off the couch and rug. When the mom came home, she was obviously unhappy and she never called me again after that. The thing is, the baby never stopped smiling the entire night so at least he wasn’t seriously hurt. It was just a weird cut.
Anyways, turns out the family’s refrigerator was leaking and the entire situation could have been avoided.
Image source: stephanoosk
#37
Guy here.
An ex girlfriend of mine and I used to babysit this adorable 3 year old girl during the day to help her mom out. One day her mom picks the ‘lil girl up, and the girl begins telling her mom all about my ex and myself in the shower together, with me trying to steal a kiss but ex wouldn’t kiss me.
Only thing worse than being ratted out by a 3 year old is *when she’s making the whole thing up!* The shower scene never happened. We were in the living room the whole time. But her story was *so believable*, especially coming from a 3 year old, and especially the part about me being rejected :P
I don’t recall her mother trusting us to watch her after that.
Image source: mini-you
#38
6 year old boy asked what colour underwear I was wearing, then lifted up my shirt…
Image source: Awkwardsam
#39
When I was 12 years old a woman down the street from my house left me with her 4 year old and her 14 month old. She said she was going to the next town over to cash her check, grab some groceries, and she would be back within 3 hours. I got to the woman’s house after school, so about 3pm, I had told my mom I would be home by 7. I’m pretty sure I had an 8pm bedtime at this point. Anyway at 7pm the woman has not shown- no cell phones at this time. I call my mom on the house phone and tell her the mom isn’t home and I will be home as soon as she gets back. At 10pm my mom called and said to come home, I still had the 2 kids, so I just put on their jackets and we walked the 2 blocks to my house. My mom put us all in bed and said she would figure it out in the morning.
Morning comes- still no mom. So my mom calls the police, who bring the social services people. Since we were friends of the kids they stayed with us while SS attempted to find mom and/or relatives. after 3 days of babysitting, the cops find the mom in the next town over. She had sores all over her skin and was holed up in a small motel with some random dude. Turns out she had cashed her check and then smoked as much m**h as she could get her hands on. When SS check the house she and the kids lived in, they found 1 can of tuna and 6 keystone lights. They determined the kids were underweight, and had not seen a doctor in years. So the kids went to their aunt- who lived down the street and smoked/grew pot. Mom lost custody and went to jail.
Update of about 15 years since my parents till live in the town. Little 4 year old girl (19 now) has 2 kids of her own, who have been removed by CPS. 14 month old boy, went to live with his dad in Arizona, haven’t heard much since. Mom got out of jail, went right back to [illegal substances]. Eventually got into cooking and blew up her house. Back to jail she went. Aunt still grows pot and smokes it in the same house, with the same people. My mom got into foster parenting, adopted my 5 brothers and lives in the same small town. Of her 9 kids, 3 are in college, the rest are in high, middle, elementary, and headstart. She still takes in kids whose parents are on binges for days at a time, even when the police/SS aren’t involved.
Small towns have some crazy stories.
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#40
Mom and dad came home drunk, and fighting. The dad went out to walk the dog, and the mom locked the door with me inside. She kept saying “shh-shh,” while the dad screamed from the outside.
She started saying things like, “He wants to [end his life] instead of be with me – who says that?”
I reached for the lock to get out, and she pulled my hand back saying, “No, leave him for a while.”
I waited as long as I could, then busted out of there.
Image source: skintightmonopoly
#41
When I was a preschool teacher, we would do lunch time followed by nap time. The room was quiet and I was cleaning up. I was at the sink washing my hands when I looked over at one of the boys. He was sleeping on his back. He had vomited and was basically suffocating on his own puke. I don’t know how long he had been like that, but not too long thank goodness. I rolled him over and started cleaning puke out of his mouth and nose. He coughed and started breathing. I started bawling. I got him cleaned up and held him until his dad got there.
Unfortunately, I have too many gross stories about kids. I was also a nanny to 5 kids. They are disgusting creatures.
Image source: fluffbomb
#42
A little girl I was watching didn’t speak too much yet. Her mom made her bacon before leaving her in my care. As the girl was eating, she takes a piece of bacon and puts it on her head and very matter of factly says “HAT!”
Image source: MissGnomer
#43
So I nannied for 4 brats in high school, but I grew attached to them as their parents were going through a nasty divorce. About 3 months into nannying, the parents decided to try and make it work, so I started watching them at their mother’s house as well.
I can see why they were apart. She didn’t know how to clean up after her two great danes, one pomeranian, and god knows how many hamsters.
While I was there, two very interesting things happened. One, she left their divorce papers in the bathroom, so not only her children could read it, but I just couldn’t help it. That’s when I found out that the father was a raging alcoholic and that she had cheated on him.
The second thing was the most interesting. I took the kids out to see Monsters vs. Aliens at the theater. The daughter was in 7th grade, and when we came out of the theater she said, “Don’t freak out when we get home, but mom texted me and said she forgot her keys, so she broke a window to get into the house.” I thought that was kind of strange, but I shrugged it off. When we got there, the woman had **punched in a double paned sliding glass door.** I can’t even remember what she needed from the house, I just remember telling the children that they couldn’t go in the dining room and then trying to clean up all the glass.
I only worked with them for about another month, in which time they never fixed the door. I found out a few months after that that the father had been stealing pills from the pharmacy he co-owned, and that he had been sent to rehab for his alcoholism.
**TL;DR mom punches through sliding glass door.**.
Image source: byrdma
#44
When I was younger, I helped a girl friend of mine babysit these three kids. Two boys, one girl.
We were out at a park, playing with them and I was given charge of the two little boys, maybe four and five.
We’re walking around and they start saying how they need to go to the bathroom. We’re *way* out, and far from any bathroom. Obviously, I don’t want them to pee their pants, so I tell my friend to stay with the little girl while I take them to the edge of the park where there’s some trees to do their business.
I tell the two boys to spread out and do their thing. While I’m waiting, I realize I might as well go, too. I start going when suddenly I hear two little streams right *next* to me. I quickly realize they didn’t quite ‘spread out’ like I had hoped. I felt like I was going to get arrested on the spot.
Later that day, we are putting them to bed. My friend puts the little girl in the crib and I go put the boys in their beds. They ask me if they can play their favorite game before they go to bed. Sure, I say, what is it?
They point to a basketball.
**HIT US IN THE FACE**
What? I stand there with the basketball, as these two little boys go absolutely insane, demanding I hit them in the face. I give them the *lightest* bop on their foreheads possible. They go wild. They want me to hit them harder.
Soon, I am pretty much bashing their little faces in with a basketball while they go hysterical with laughter, loving it. My friend walks in.
I stand there frozen and realize that these kids are going to get me arrested.
She laughed.
Image source: Unidan
#45
When I was a teenager I babysat for a neighbour who was a single mother of 4 kids and 2 of them had ADD (the oldest and the youngest). The oldest child was wild and influenced (or bullied) his siblings into doing whatever he wanted. He decided one day that he wanted to change bedrooms with one of his brothers so he starts lugging everything out into the hallway including his bed and large wooden bed frame. He is sliding the bed frame along the hallway and he gets it stuck up against the wooden railing on the stairs.
Instead of giving up he gets mad and starts ramming the bed frame into the railing cos it’s in the way. I hear the BANG, BANG, BANG so I come running just in time to see the top of the railing pop off and every rung on the stairs start falling down like dominoes. He didn’t [care] and thought it was hilarious. I tried to fix it but there was nothing I could do. They went a good 3 weeks without a railing on the stairs.
So many other things happened with that kid over the summer and here are some of them (from what I remember): He decided it would be fun to stand on the landing of the stairs and use his hockey stick to slap shot marbles at the glass front door. He filled a mason jar with ketchup and starting whacking at it with a golf club in his brothers room. There was ketchup and glass everywhere. He peed on his brothers bed from across the room just to see if he could do it. He had a ‘friend’ sleepover and he chopped off half the kids hair while he was sleeping. I got to the house in the morning and the mother was just like ‘ Ya, you’re gonna have to clean that up’.
Before you ask ‘Where were you when this was happening?’ Keep in mind that this kid was fairly close in age to me and I was told to focus on the three younger children and the oldest could come and go as he pleased. In retrospect I should have been keeping tabs on him but he was so insane most of the time that I left him alone.
Image source: DistortedEyes
#46
I had just started a shift with a new family . There was a 7 year old and a 6 year old. The 7 year old wanted a story and came to sit in my knee, at first I thought I was imagining it but then I realized the boy was subtly trying to feel my [chest]. This kept happening and I felt so awkward. I kept moving my hands away and he kept trying to find ways to feel them. Eventually he just squeezed my [chest]. I have made it clear now that it is not acceptable but sometimes he will just come to talk to me and try and stroke my [chest], it’s pretty weird.
Image source: bawbag01
#47
I was babysitting a 7-8 year old who I swear asked me to touch her. I was giving her a bath (her mom asked me to) and she kept asking me to wash her private area. She also kept saying it didn’t matter because we had the same “parts”. If it matters I was probably 13-14. I never babysat there again.
Image source: beckymegan
#48
I was asked to baby sit my goddaughter while her parents went to meet-the-teacher night for her older brother’s kindergarten class. She was about a year old at the time, it was the first time I babysat, and she screamed *the entire time.* As soon as the door closed, she started freaking out.
Since then I’ve declined requests to babysit.
Image source: Chefbexter
#49
My folks were going out to dinner/movie with some friends. One couple had a 10 year old autistic boy that they surprise! dropped off for me to babysit. I was 16. I’m a guy and I had 3 older sisters, who were regular babysitters, and unfortunately were out. So I got stuck with it, even though I already had plans to go out with friends. But due to an accident of chronology I was the only kid still home.
My parents and their friends leave, and 5 minutes later the kid just starts attacking me. Punching, kicking, trying to bite me, the works. Will. Not. Stop.
They had given me no instructions on how to handle this kid, and I had no clue. This was in the early 80s, so no google. Wouldn’t have helped if there was. He never stopped. I begged him just to relax for a minute, but as soon as I let him go he would just come at me.
I spent 7 hours with this kid in variations of headlocks, full nelsons, anything I could do just to hold him.
Eventually they came back to find us locked together, me bleeding and bruised, he all reeking to high heaven
His parents were furious at me, and didn’t believe for a second that he would get violent with anyone.
My parents were like WTH? They saw me with the blood running down my face and I was practically crying from exhaustion.
I told them I’d never watch him again, and that pissed them off even more.
Image source: parting_shot
#50
I’m 17 at the time (2005), and this family down the street asks me if I could babysit their 10-year-old because his regular babysitter was not available. They said he’s a typical 10-year-old boy: loves sports and video games, has lots of energy, etc. No big deal, I babysat a 10-year-old all the time and he was loads of fun. They do mention that he has ADD–but who doesn’t…right?
Turns out this kid was the poster child for ADD. He couldn’t keep his attention on ANYTHING for longer than 45-60 seconds. He started off the evening by telling me he wanted to play video games: not a minute into a game of Madden, he shut it off because he was bored. Then he ran outside because he wanted to throw a football. After throwing me the ball once, he decided it was time for basketball. Needless to say, basketball didn’t last very long (one layup). Neither did the second, or third, or fourth rounds of Madden.
This went on for four hours. When I would attempt to continue an activity he was bored with, he would scream and run away. At the end of the night, his parents paid me $20. I never babysat for him again.
Image source: jmverlin
#51
I was watching my brother’s kids once and my 5-year-old niece kept eating cookies that her mom had made before leaving. After I caught her nabbing what was probably her 8th cookie, I told her that that was enough, no more cookies. She calmly walked over to her play kitchen set and grabbed a plastic knife. She looked me in the eye and said, “I’ll cut you.” I looked at her right back and said, “I’m sure you will.” She kept eating cookies, and I didn’t get cut.
Image source: thatguynamedniok
#52
When I was 16 I babysat for the first time for this Spanish lady. The boy was around 7-8 years and seemed like a pretty normal boy. He was put to bed right after I arrived so I didn´t talk that much to him. Later, while I was watching TV, I heard a terrifying scream from his bedroom and rushed in to check it out. He was hunched up in the corner of his bed, hyperventilating and crying. I asked him what was the matter, but unfortunately he didn´t talk much Norwegian. But he was constantly looking towards the wardrobe, and then started pointing at it. I took this as a normal child`s nightmare, and walked over to the wardrobe closet to open it and show him it was empty. But when got up to check, he screamed the most terrified scream I´ve ever heard. I had to carry him out of the room as he was hyperventilating so much he almost passed out. Meanwhile their dog slipped into the room and went crazy, i went into his room again to look in the closet, but when I tried, it was locked. Never found out. One of my creepiest experiences ever!
Image source: Athenee
#53
Oh ho! I do have a story. It was my first time babysitting my neighbors 4 kids; ages 12, 10, 6, and 3.
The eldest was busy playing PlayStation in his room and the 10 year old was in hers playing Barbies; so, I was playing hide and seek with the two youngest ones and hiding in the closet. Suddenly, I smell smoke. Make a dash for the kitchen.
Smoke is pouring out of the microwave and it smells god-awful. I opened it to find that the 10 year old girl had put all (and I mean all) of her underwear into the microwave and set it on 10 minutes. The smoke was awful from the elastic burning, so of course the two little kids start crying from fear. I end up grabbing a pair of tongs to remove the underwear to soak it in the sink, while screaming at the 10 year old wondering what possessed her to do this, while trying to calm the other kids down (meanwhile the 12 year old is nowhere in sight).
Of course the mother chooses that exact moment to walk in. She had the check in her hand, I put the tings down, grabbed it, and booked it.
Never babysat for that family again.
Image source: CherubsAreEvil
#54
Probably when I babysat my next door neighbors kid. That was the first and last time. I was there for about 2 hours. There were 2 kids, one was 9 the other was 4. The youngest was crazy, he took off his diaper and ran around the house naked making his brother and I chase home down. He would scream and cry till his face was red. I seriously wasn’t expecting to be that much of a hassle. The older one informed me that when he gets like this his parents make him a cookie marshmallow sandwich. I was against it, cuz, you know, toddlers and sugar don’t mix. Well, after about 30 mins of this kid nonstop crying and nothing else I was trying was not working, I broke down and give him hus sugar sandwich. It chilled him out…for about 45 minutes, then he started jumping on the couch throwing his toys all over the living room. I almost felt sorry for him, and the 9 year old seemed really frustrated with him also. After this event, it made me wonder if I would want kids, just those 2 hours were exhausting. I dont know how parents put up with that.
Image source: sausagepancakess
#55
Parents who come home drunk are the worst. I had a couple come home wasted, like falling down drink, and then they forgot to pay me. I was only like 14 at the time and wouldn’t speak up about it so I had my mom call them the next day to get my money.
Image source: knee-caps
#56
When I was 12, I began babysitting a three year old in a small town where no one locked doors. I had gone into the kitchen to get the child a snack when I came back a woman with obvious mental disabilities was walking out the front door with the child hand in hand. The girl knew the woman (called her by name) and seemed happy. I had no clue what to do.
I said, “No, (girls name) get back inside.” She didn’t listen and the woman said “Fine, friend.” and kept walking. I didn’t want it to escalate and seriously had no clue what to do. So they left.
I called the Mom and she was like “Yep, it’s fine. They like to go on walks together.”
I felt so incredibly bad that I basically allowed the girl to seemingly get kidnapped as I had no clue that it was permissible.
Image source: daddysgirl68
#57
I was babysitting my usual family with two young boys. I put them to bed and was watching tv and all of a sudden the youngest starts screaming. So I run into the bedroom that both boys shared, and he was just lying there, eyes closed, body stiff, screaming at the top of his lungs. His older brother jumped off from the top bunk and started to shake him awake. It took him a full minute of screaming for him to stop and wake up and when he did, he had no idea what just had happened. I was freaked out. I told the parents when they came home, and they said they had never experienced that before. I’m pretty sure that it was a night terror, but still, scary as hell.
Image source: chiqadeee
#58
Forgot I put stickers all over my face. When the dad gave me a ride home I kept trying to talk to him and he just kept giving me strange looks.
Image source: awoller
#59
I was babysitting 2 year old and a 1 year old for the night and the parents has spaghetti delivered to the house because they hadn’t gone grocery shopping. The 1 year old was really grumpy and wouldn’t let me put him down at all, and the 2 year old was jealous and threw a tantrum because I wasn’t holding him. So the pizza gets to the house and I had never used their front door before. Apparently you have to use some kind of black magic to open the glass door. The pizza guy is standing there waiting, while I, holding a crying child try to open the door and fail. We stood there for three minutes until I pulled to stupid handle up instead of down. Pizza guy was not amused and laughed at my stupidity. The spaghetti was good though!
Image source: anon
#60
I was in Catholic school at the time and I was the only teen in the neighborhood available to watch these two kids for the weird hours their parents needed (5am-8am, after mom had to leave for work and before dad got home). I was running late one day and I brought my kilt there with me and asked the mom if I could borrow her iron to iron my kilt while the kids were still asleep. She said “sure” and got it out for me.
I started ironing afew minutes after the mom left, and I felt a little pinch in my hand. I looked at it and thought maybe I was being pinched by the seam in the iron. Then it happened again and I was getting annoyed… **Then it exploded**.
The iron blew into several pieces. I was shocked through my hand. What was left of it was on fire and luckily most of the charge went through my kilt into the ironing board and to the ground, leaving a small melted hole in my kilt :( I knew to unplug an electrical fire instead of trying to put water on it and it went out on it’s own in a few seconds. In my panic I forgot where the dad’s work phone number was, so I ran and woke the little girl up and asked her to show me where her dad’s work number was so I could call him to come home early. (This was in the 90s before everyone had cell phones, I knew I couldn’t get the mom to come back even though she was close)
The dad offered to take me to the hospital but I asked him to just take me home. My parents were EMTs and I wanted them to know what had happened and take care of me. No permanent damage to my hand, just a gnarly burn on both sides.
Image source: OrangeKuchen
#61
I used to baby-sit for a family whose son was special needs. They were my favourite family to baby-sit for, even if their son was a bit more of a handful at times. Anyway, I was putting his younger sister to bed to come upstairs… only to find that the son had accidentally knocked his mom’s purse in to a sink in the laundry room. Not so bad, right? Except the sink was full of water, and her brand new dSLR was in her purse. I spent two and a half hours blow drying her purse and its possessions before they came home.
Image source: xo-eden
#62
My favorite child that I babysit got mad at me and locked me out of the house with the meanest look on his face (his mother calls it angry baby face). Good thing dad was doing work from home that day while I watched the kids. Since then, I’ve always kept a spare house key in my pocket while I’m there.
Image source: ilikethebluesky
#63
I was watching my teacher’s 8 year old autistic son. He went outside to wrestle with the neighbor’s 9 year old daughter. His “little friend” got excited. He came running in laughing and asking “Wot’s it doing??”. I didn’t know how to handle it.
Image source: anon
#64
My sister is 3 years younger than me, and during our teen years we fought like insane harpies. I was scheduled to babysit her best friend on a Friday, and Thursday, we got into a little tiff during which my sister ripped my glasses off my face and snapped them in half. So my mom had the brilliant idea of sending her with me the next day because I couldn’t see more than three feet away from me. My sister was still mad and she convinced her friend to lock me out of the house. After an hour of angry threats, desperate pleading, and back to angry threats, I had to walk across the street to find a public phone to call my mom to rescue me. I didn’t get called to babysit for that family again.
Image source: AgentArtichoke
#65
Agreed to babysit my husband’s cousin’s friend’s son overnight. I knew the chick and had known her for a while so no big deal.
His clothes in the diaper bag had somehow gotten soaked, so he had no extra outfit (I have a daughter, nothing he can wear). He drooled so much I had to put my daughter’s bibs on him because he was soaking his shirt and his mother didn’t send any bibs or anything. Had to use her socks as well. He went home with the socks and bibs, I haven’t seen them since.
She didn’t send any baby food, so I had to use ours, but I don’t mind that.
The next day he was completely cranky, didn’t want to play or smile because he wanted his mom. Learned he’d never spent any time ever away from her. I’m a stay at home mom and my daughter gets babysat sometimes by friends or my MIL takes her over the weekend. How is your child constantly with you?
He was a terror. Every time anyone even looked at him he started crying which eventually started making my daughter upset (he’s two months younger than she is, this was Black Friday so she was 11 months old). He wouldn’t nap, didn’t want to play with any toys, didn’t want to be held but didn’t want to be put down, etc.
Not exactly a horror story of babysitting, but definitely the most stressful I’ve had. I was also 3 months pregnant at the time so that probably contributed.
Image source: anon
#66
Baby’s screaming in it’s cot, so I pick him up and give him a consoling jiggle. Vomit. Everywhere. Spend the evening bathing a screaming baby and trying to find cleaning products in a house I’ve never been in.
Parents (who had their phones off the whole night) come back- ‘Oooh *Pretentious Baby Name* NEVER throws up! How odd!’
Double pay, not so bad!
Babysit same baby again. Screaming. Vomit. Parents: ‘Hmm..Maybe he’s allergic to you! Hah…’.
Double pay, but never called by those people again.
To this day my mother still thinks I did something to the kid to get that extra cash!
Image source: Murmatron
#67
I was babysitting Jewish kids during like the third day of Hannaukah and they tried try to walk me through their customs and then asked me to give them their gifts. They were age 4 and 7 I want to say. It was pretty awkward seeing as I was given no heads up from the parents and I didn’t want to mess things up or do something I wasn’t supposed to.
I just sent them to bed early. That always fixes everything when babysitting.
Image source: junioroverlord
#68
I have watched this kid for a couple years now. A ritual he has to have before he goes to sleep is just to have someone lay next to him. Comfort thing I guess.
Any who, it had been a few months since I last watched him until late night when he had to go to sleep, so I wasn’t sure if he was still in that ritual.(He is around 8 at this time.) I asked and he was. I lay next to him and look at random things on my phone on silent mode. Next thing I notice is that the bed is rocking a little. I look over at him and he is laying face down and grinding his hips on the bed. I ask what he is doing and he says he doesn’t know, but it feels REALLY good.
I got out of that room and downstairs soon after that.
Image source: HalloweenChick
#69
Babysitting my 3-4 year old cousin. My uncle was supposed to be back at 9 PM… he didn’t get back until 4 AM, and was bruised and bleeding.
I got a lot of money for that, but I did not get the full story.
Image source: anon
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