10 Babysitting Stories That Went From “No Problem” to “What Just Happened?”

Babysitting isn’t as simple as it seems. Kids can surprise you with their wild ideas, and sometimes the parents can be just as unpredictable. A few babysitters decided to share their unlucky experiences, these stories remind us that patience is key when working with families.

• I was babysitting my nephew while my brother and SIL went to an event. Then I saw a notification on my nephew’s tablet: “New message from Dad.” But it wasn’t my brother’s number, so I clicked it. What I found broke my heart.
  It was from his biological father, a man I hadn’t seen in years. My SIL had been married before, but she always said he wasn’t involved. He wrote things like, “I wish I could see you,” and, “Don’t tell your mom I wrote.”

• I worked at a preschool and had two twins who were AWFUL. One time one pinched the other. I made a bad judgment call and told her to pinch her back. I felt so bad.
  © middleearthmadam / Reddit

• I once babysat my neighbor who thought playing with the phone was a good idea. She ended up calling 911 and locking the phone so I couldn’t answer back. They called back and were not amused. © nothooli / Reddit

• I took a day off of work at my well-paying job to watch my friend’s kid for free, so she could go to a tattoo appointment. I even cleaned the house for her. This morning, she asked me not to clean again because looking for her kid’s shoe (which I didn’t even move) caused her so much anxiety that she needed medication. © Unknown author / Reddit

• When I was about 16, I was hanging out with a friend while he was babysitting a kid from down the street. Somehow, the kid manged to coax us into the garage, then locked us in there.
  He spent the whole time running back and fourth outside the door, screaming, and laughing, and hitting the door with a hockey stick. We were stuck for around an hour before we could convince him to let us out. I can’t believe I was outsmarted by that child. © hotcars / Reddit

• One of the kids had a pet reptile that ate alive crickets. They went to feed their pet and dropped a full container of grasshoppers inside their bedroom. The crickets ended up everywhere and I was not impressed. Neither were the parents when they got home. © LuminousCheetos / Reddit

• I dropped a baby. Just... lost my grip on him. He was fine. He cried for like fourteen seconds. I cried for like two hours. © MyBobaFe***h / Reddit

• We were playing tag and the kid tripped and knocked out his (unknown to me) fake front teeth. I called his mom crying because I had let a four year-old knock out his teeth; she calmly told me to just snap them back in. © QuailMail / Reddit

• A 3-year-old smeared the entire jar of Vaseline all over an 8-month-old and a crib. It took a long time to clean up! © Unknown author / Reddit

• I babysat a kid who’s mother neglected to inform me that her son had night terrors sometimes. I didn’t know what a night terror was. You can imagine my horror when the kid had a night terror.
  © snooogans / Reddit

Family babysitting arrangements can get complicated fast. One reader told us about a shocking situation where her mother-in-law refused to babysit, but then secretly enrolled her child in daycare instead. What happened next completely changed their relationship.