12 Nannies Share Their Wildest Stories From the Job

Being a nanny is no ordinary job—along with the joy of caring for children, nannies often find themselves in the middle of some pretty wild situations. From unexpected adventures to downright bizarre encounters, these caregivers have seen it all.

• “I worked for this family with 3 young boys. The little one always wanted to get piggyback rides or sit on my shoulders. LOVED IT! So one day we’re just hanging out in front of his older brother’s elementary school playground just a few minutes after school lets out. Hundreds of kids, parents & teachers just chat and play.
  The baby was clinging onto my back and kept yelling, ’Up! Up!’ meaning he wanted me to lift him up on my shoulders. Little did I know that the Velcro of his shoes was hooked on my dress and as I lifted him up on my shoulders, my entire dress came up with him. My whole entire butt was out for the world to see. Mind you, I was wearing underwear, but they weren’t exactly full coverage.
  So I just start panicking and spin in a circle like a mad woman, trying to grab my dress without letting go of the baby. Finally, after what seemed like at least two eternities, another mom came running over and helped me get my dress down. Once my dress was back covering my oversized butt, I realized that the dad got home from work and witnessed me mooning his son’s entire elementary school.” ieattoomuchnutella / Reddit
• “My first day on the job, I accidentally melted the breast pump parts. (They wanted me to sanitize them in boiling water on the stove, this was back in the 80s.) I put the parts in the boiling water and forgot all about it, took the baby out for a walk.
  Luckily, the mother was working in their office, a converted barn on the property, and the fire alarm alerted them. They came over and dealt with it. When I got back, the whole house smelled like melted plastic, and I thought for sure I would get fired. Ended up staying with the family for 12 years, and eventually we laughed about this incident.” -doulalife- / Reddit

• "Once I was babysitting and the kids had a toy room at the end of the hall. The light was out in the room, and it was nighttime, so suuuuuper dark. I asked 4yo to put something away in the room, and he started crying hysterically, saying there was a witch in the room. So being an adult (I was actually a teenager at the time) I casually walked down the hall to put the toy away.
  The room was super creepy…as I was exiting the room the kid was looking over my head looking terrified and started screaming 'The witch is behind you! The witch is going to get you!' I’ve never run so fast in my life." This_Conversation943 / Reddit
• "A very wealthy family with 2 girls looking for a nanny for approx 30hr/wk, Mon-Fri, $50k/year, main duties are driving to pick up, extracurricular activities, making homemade dinner, supervise homework completion and tutoring in chess. During the interview, I asked them about the previous nanny, to which they said that she was with them for 3 years and left after graduating from law school. Sounds good, right?
  Until they told me that 2 weeks out of every month they would need me to stay overnight and drop off the girls at school as both parents travel for work...but not to worry, they have a very comfortable couch... Yeah, our interview went very fast afterward, and I sent them an email of regret as soon as I got home." lindasek / Reddit
• "I was nannying for a 3.5 kid who took naps in the afternoon or wore pull-ups in case of accidents. One afternoon, he slept later than usual, so I went in to check on him and walked into chaos. Apparently, he had popped in his pull-up at some point and had tried to change himself. There were poo hand prints and wipes EVERYWHERE.
  He eventually tired himself out and got in bed covered in poop. I don’t know how he did it all so quietly because I did not hear a peep from his room. I got him up and in the bath, and then let him watch a movie while I stripped his entire room and cleaned the walls. The mother was so embarrassed and apologized for weeks." missuspeanutbrittle / Reddit

• “Babysitting story — got convinced to babysit for neighbor’s two kids. Now their yard was a bit of a mess but didn’t think much of it. I’d never been in their house before.
  Well, it was a full-on hoarder house. Like paths through stuff piled to the ceiling. I finally found and cleared off a dining chair. Dug out about a 4-foot area and found a couple of toys. I literally sat in that chair for 4 hours while the two kids played in that open space.
  I was really young and didn’t even mention it to my parents (it was the early 80s, I doubt anything would have been done anyway). They moved not too long later. Hope those kids did ok.” 00Lisa00 / Reddit
• “The first family I worked for was a single mom. She was getting hip surgery and had been limping around. Her 3-year-old was imitating her and groaning about his leg. I knew he wasn’t actually hurt, so we were laughing about what an old man he is. Didn’t think anything of it and went about my day.
  His dad picked him up that night and I guess he continued to do the limp. The mom called me to ask if I’d seen him get injured, which I hadn’t. I mentioned that he had been pretending (in imitation of her!) and she flipped out, ’I expect you to tell me about things like this!’ Uhhh, I have to tell you every time your three-year-old is playing pretend?” vanessa8172 / Reddit
• “Every single time I babysit, I hear footsteps upstairs and doors closing and knocking noises. Sometimes toys will go off too. I wouldn’t think much of it, but the dog always perks up and gets excited whenever these things happen.
  I finally decided to ask the parents (I held off for a while because I didn’t want to sound weird lol) and the dad CASUALLY LIKE I JUST ASKED HOW THEIR NIGHT WAS OR SOMETHING goes ’Oh, that’s just Earl. He’s friendly. If you ask him to stop, though, he will.’” kittenforest / Reddit

• “A neighbor asked me to do a last-minute job, single mom, three BOYS, I told her I could, but it was the last evening before I had a project due, and I was gonna need to work on it. The oldest was probably 11 and the youngest maybe 6 so should be able to occupy themselves for a couple hours before bed.
  Well, I was there for a little while. Had interacted with the kids some, but really needed to finish what I was doing. I can’t remember the details, but I was putting something together for a lesson plan. Well at some point a kid asked for something and while I was getting it another kid took everything I was working on and threw it into their basement. When I went down to grab my stuff, they then LOCKED ME IN THE BASEMENT.
  The youngest eventually caved and let me out, but OMG, what punks. Y’all I don’t think this was even the last time I worked for them. This story has another twist too and without going into the horrible and gory details of it let’s just say those kids are a ring away from being my stepbrothers now. I pray it never actually happens. Haven’t seen them or my father in ten years.” Smurphy115 / Reddit
• “I went to change a baby’s diaper and had the 5-year-old son with autism in his room for just that minute with the door closed (rooms were next to each other). Went in to get him with the baby to discover poop all over the walls, all over the floor, all over the bed...him running and jumping in it.
  I quickly put the baby back in the crib and started frantically cleaning it up, cleaning him up...all while the baby screamed in the crib.
  Did not help that the family had a fear of germs... It was overwhelming. Learned my lesson to not leave him alone for a second.” Kbctreatz444 / Reddit

• "One time about 4–5 years ago I was working at the home daycare, my boss was out of town and her husband had gone out to do something, so I was the only adult in the house. I had the monitor on and all the littles were asleep, so I was just watching and doing quiet work. All of a sudden, I hear a man’s voice come from inside the main nap room. The one for all the toddlers.
  There was no way anyone could have gotten there because it is on the second floor in a room with no windows. And I was also upstairs. So I’m listening, and I can’t make out what he’s saying, but I can tell it’s a man. So I called my boss’s husband in a panic explaining what I was hearing, and he just laughed at me, saying that sometimes the monitor picks up police radars." Mother_Being_4376 / Reddit
• "I once had to dust-bust my previous nanny kids. They were watching a movie in the theater room - I went downstairs to get a snack... I couldn’t have been gone for more than 30 seconds, and when I came back they had busted one of those microbead pillows, and all three of them were COVERED head to toe in these very static microbeads. It took me two hours to clean the couch/floor." Dearestbrittany / Reddit

After hearing these incredible stories, it’s clear that being a nanny is far from predictable. From dealing with unexpected emergencies to navigating strange and surprising moments, these caregivers handle it all with patience, resilience, and a good sense of humor.