10 Nannies Who Found Themselves in the Middle of a Family Drama

Taking care of kids as a nanny means juggling a lot—whether you’re doing it as part of your job or just helping loved ones. You’re keeping them safe, teaching them, and often being a big part of their daily routine. But every now and then, you might find yourself caught in the middle of some unexpected family tension.

• I was a nanny for a 5-year-old girl. We were at the park when a woman I didn’t recognize sprinted up to us. She was crying, yelling, “That’s my daughter! Give her back to me!” I immediately called the parents.
  Turns out this woman was the real mom, but she had lost custody to her sister, my employer. Later that week, I gave my notice. It just didn’t sit right with me that they hadn’t told me something that serious.
  A year later, I got a message from the mom on Facebook—she found me somehow. She wanted to thank me for keeping her daughter safe, even when I didn’t know the full story. She and her sister were slowly rebuilding their relationship, and after a long process, she had finally been allowed supervised visits.

• The kids I was babysitting looked at me with big eyes and begged, “Can we please order pizza? Mom lets us sometimes.” I gave in. But when their mom learned about it, her face turned bright red.
  She yelled, “They’re not allowed to eat pizza because we’re vegan. No dairy, no animal products. We’ve been raising them that way since birth!”
  I felt awful. I apologized over and over, but she wasn’t having it.
  The worst part? Her husband called me the next day and apologized—for her behavior. He admitted they’ve had this disagreement before. He wasn’t as strict about dietary rules, and the kids had eaten pepperoni at his office once. I stayed out of it after that.

• The dad of the kids I watched liked me on Tinder. When I told his wife, she didn’t believe me, and he convinced her that “his Facebook was hacked.” The kids were almost always wonderful. © marymoon77 / Reddit

• I nannied for a wealthy couple (she was a surgeon, he was an architect), and the husband had a study in the house that the wife joked about never being allowed in. I was curious about why you wouldn’t let someone in a study, especially since it looked like a fairly normal room: big desk, walls covered in bookshelves, books about architecture everywhere.
  One day, I just roamed around in there. I didn’t really find anything, and I was kinda disappointed, but then I grabbed a book from one of the shelves. The thing had money pressed between its pages — about $500, if I had to guess. Picked up another book, found the same thing.
  I think I checked like ten different books, and every single one had money hidden in it. I’m still not sure if he was just paranoid about banks, or if he was intentionally hiding money from his wife. © Unknown author / Reddit

• I babysat for this one family only a couple of times when I was 16. But on the first night, they just casually talked about how I needed to call the police if the kids’ bio-dad turned up at the house. I was then told I would need to barricade us all in their master bathroom and I should call them and their lawyer. Custody battles suck. © louise1jc / Reddit

• The mom was amazing. Her sister, however, lived with them temporarily and made comments like, “Must be nice to have help for everything.” I tried to stay out of it.
  Then one day, she told the child, “Back in my day, we didn’t need strangers to raise us.” So I told the mom—because I thought she’d want to know. She did, but it didn’t go well. The sister moved out soon after.

• The 8-year-old I nannied got her first period earlier than anyone expected. I helped her clean up, calmed her down, and gently explained what was happening. She asked me not to say anything. But I knew her mom needed to know. So I told her later that day.
  She nodded. Then said, “She told you before me?” I said it wasn’t about who she trusted—it was about who was there in the moment. She didn’t speak to me for a week.

• I was watching two kids part-time while the mom returned to school. She told me it was a certification program—something to help get back into the workforce.
  One day, during pickup, her mother-in-law arrived. While chatting, I casually said, “She must be busy with her new job.” The woman looked confused. “Job? She told us she was home with the kids full-time.”
  That night, the mom called me in tears, “I didn’t want them to judge me. They think working moms are selfish.” I hadn’t meant to betray anything. After that, she stopped bringing up school. Or anything personal.

• The mom had just had a second baby. Her husband went back to work two days later. I was there every day helping with the toddler. She started snapping at me—for things like forgetting a pacifier or wiping the counter “wrong.”
  I brushed it off at first. But one afternoon, she yelled, “Do you even know what you’re doing?” I froze. She immediately covered her face and burst into tears. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know how to ask for help without feeling weak.”
  That night, I called her husband. He sighed and said, “She’s just being dramatic. She always is after giving birth.” That was the moment that made up my mind.
  The next morning, I gave notice. I understood—but I wasn’t going to be someone else’s emotional punching bag.

• Their daughter was five and struggled with boundaries. One day she made another child at the park cry. I sat her down, spoke calmly, and followed up with the parents.
  The mom said, “We’re not paying you to parent her. Just keep her safe and happy.” The dad immediately pushed back, saying, “She’s helping her grow.”
  They started arguing right in front of me. That was my last month with them.

If you’re in the mood for more truly unforgettable childcare moments, don’t miss 17 Nannies Whose Adventures Could Fill a Best-Selling Novel. These stories show how much patience and heart this job really takes.