The bad babysitter files
Filed under: Big Kids, Health & Safety: Babies
My husband and I don't go out on 'dates' very often, so babysitters are not really much of a concern for us. Mostly Ellie goes with us wherever we go, and we like it that way. But there are times when we avail ourselves of a babysitter and that's nice, too.
Ironically, the worst babysitter I can recall was my mother. She happened to be in town on my wedding anniversary and stayed home with Ellie while my husband and I went out to dinner. When we returned home about midnight, we found mom sound asleep in the upstairs guest room. Ellie was alone downstairs, watching Access Hollywood and eating peanut butter from the jar. Ellie thought it was great, but I was not amused.
Then there is the one who called my cell phone during the middle of dinner to ask me when I planned to be home. When I left, she had no plans for the evening other than giving Ellie her undivided attention. But at some point, her boyfriend called and now she is anxious to get out of there. Not cool.
I know some people have had much worse luck with babysitters and have the stories to prove it. What's the worse babysitter you ever had?
Ironically, the worst babysitter I can recall was my mother. She happened to be in town on my wedding anniversary and stayed home with Ellie while my husband and I went out to dinner. When we returned home about midnight, we found mom sound asleep in the upstairs guest room. Ellie was alone downstairs, watching Access Hollywood and eating peanut butter from the jar. Ellie thought it was great, but I was not amused.
Then there is the one who called my cell phone during the middle of dinner to ask me when I planned to be home. When I left, she had no plans for the evening other than giving Ellie her undivided attention. But at some point, her boyfriend called and now she is anxious to get out of there. Not cool.
I know some people have had much worse luck with babysitters and have the stories to prove it. What's the worse babysitter you ever had?











ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
7-23-2007 @ 5:32PM
Heather said...again it was the parents. they forgot to feed my son when I had to work late. I got at 8pm and they hadn't fed him. Another time I got home at 6:30 and they were eating dinner and he was sitting on the sofa watching tv. I had asked if he ate and they said no.
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7-23-2007 @ 6:09PM
Misty said...My M-i-L, although bless her heart, she didn't intend to be terrible. My husband and I were going out of town to a conference, and she agreed to keep our 8 year old son for the weekend. It was October, and the fair was in town. My son was so excited - they were going to spend the day at the fair!
And they did. But she refused to let him ride anything, play any games or even buy any junk food (for which we had left plenty of money.) Instead, she dragged him through all the displays of giant vegetables and prize hogs, then took him home to her house for a sandwich. The rest of the day was spent in front of the television. He was the saddest little boy when we returned to collect him! He told us what was wrong, so I asked why she didn't let him do anything fun. She said he needed to learn to value more important things than rides.
We never left him with her again. He's 14 now, and she complains he never wants to do anything with her. Gee, I wonder why that is?
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7-23-2007 @ 6:50PM
M4Mommy said...the one time we left our daughter with a sitter was years ago. She was still in diapers and not talking much. I had a class and my husband wouldnt be home in time. So I called a friend and used her sitter.
When I got home my daughter had a soaking wet diaper down around her knees. She was crying because she was uncomfortable and the diapers were RIGHT THERE on the changing table in the living room. (I was doing in home daycare at the time) Needless to say we didnt give the sitter a tip never mind ever call her again.
We leave her with my mom, or if in a pinch my MIL. We dont take her to movies we want to see or to grown up resturants. She is behaved, but it is our adult time. We appreciate it when other parents either get a sitter or leave the kid with the grand parents as well. We know it isnt easy, but there is nothing worse than having your once a month(or longer) child free night ruined by other parents that arent as considerate
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7-23-2007 @ 8:10PM
Dee said...I found this sitter through a reputable agency.I was at work,and my friend calls me to tell me she had stopped by to pick up something she'd left at my house the day before.When she opened the door the babysitter was hitting my child,and my friend went to other room to call me,and took my son,who was 2 at the time with her.I left work immediately,and the sitter was gone,but my friend had stayed with my son.I called the police,who said it was my word against hers,even though my friend witnessed it.The lady claimed my friend was lying,even though my son had red marks.I called CPS,who said the lady was under investigation by other people for the same thing.The lady had given me a false name,and I never heard from her again.After that,I did background checks on anyone who watched my kids.My son is 12 now.
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7-23-2007 @ 9:16PM
rebecca Biernesser said...My worse sitter is my niece. She doesn't pay attention to where the boys are (ages5&1) and spends her time either on the phone or trying to figure out my passowrd for the computer. She lets the 5 yr old run all over her and it doesn't matter how often I remind her, she won't change a diaper. We have had to use her as a last result a few times (I had to go to the hospital with pregnancy). My mom finally came home to help in case anything esle goes wrong and my bf's little sister is a HUGE help.
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7-23-2007 @ 11:15PM
SKL said...Where to start? It depends what you mean by "worst."
When my kid sister was age 2 - 3, her babysitter was a friend of the family who really needed the money. She had lots of issues but the biggest one was that she discussed EVERYTHING with my baby sister. They watched soaps together and discussed what was happening. They had heart-to-heart discussions about the babysitter's latest frustration with her boyfriend, parents, etc. She used to clean too, but after she was done cleaning, no toys were allowed back out of the toybox - only TV was allowed. Plus she used to think it was her duty and right to police the relationships of my adult siblings. My mom put up with it as long as she could out of compassion, but eventually fired her.
My sometimes babysitter was also a family friend. She used to let her oldest son run wild while forcing everyone else to toe the line. She would beat my 6-year-old sister for doing the same thing her 10-year-old son wouldn't stop doing. She also constantly told my sister how fat and slobby she was. And when my 6-month-old brother started crawling, she would put electrical cords in his way and then slap his hands (hard) for touching them as he crawled across the floor. (I guess it's poetic justice that her rotten kids have completely embarrassed her as they grew up.)
My aunt once babysat when my brothers were potty training. She locked them in their bedroom all evening WITHOUT the potty chair. Needless to say she wasn't called to that duty again.
My brother had a babysitter who gave him his first lessons in sexual arousal. (My parents never knew this.)
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7-24-2007 @ 1:48PM
Jennifer said...My parents left us for the weekend and when they got home, the sitter left. An hour later, the sitters parents called my parents to say not to give her any money. She and her boyfriend had gotten heavily into drugs, had run away and were headed to my parents to ask for money. Turns out, she had dropped me off foe the day at my great grandmother's house (I was 8 or 9) and took my little sister to a different town and left her alone in a park for several hours (she was 2 or 3 anf to this day remebers being alone and parents asking her all day where her mommy was) to deal drugs and plan the running away.
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7-29-2007 @ 3:20PM
Lotte said...I had a regular sitter for my kids while I was working and I thought she was great. That was until I got a call from the police to let me know that they had found my 4 year old a mile from the sitters house on a tricycle. I was furious, she had the nerve to ask me after went and got my daughter and my son what time I was going to be dropping the kids off the next day! How do you not notice a child missing, let alone for the amount of time it takes for one to get a mile on trike!
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7-27-2007 @ 10:16PM
Sue said...I would never allow my childred to get a babysitter ever again, I would watch them any time, my youngest twin daughters youngest daughter (4 days b-4 her 1st birthday)was with a babysitter and the babysitter hurt my granddaughter where she had to be stiched and glued together because this babysitter wanted someone to believe that the father was molesting his children, this babysitter spent one night in jail. My daughter & I have been going to all court dates, and we're hoping that she will do her time. Our granddughter is turning 2 in August.
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7-27-2007 @ 10:42PM
jewelrybox21 said...The worst baby-sitter we ever had was when I was about 9 and my sister was 3. All my parents wanted to do was go to dinner and the two hours they were eating was the worst two hours I can remember. The baby sitter spilled red koolaid ALL OVER the middle of the living room carpet because she was dancing around with the pitcher yelling "Barney sucks!!" at the top of her lungs!(Barney happened to be what my sister was TRYING to watch at that point.) Then, she informed me that she would be blaming the stain on me because my parents "would never believe it was her, she was responsible." Then, she locked herself in the bathroom with our cordless phone and called her boyfriend while I made my sister dinner and cleaned up the koolaid. I went on to start my own babysitting business that I had from the time I was 11 to the time I finished college and I modeled what I did after the exact opposite of what SHE did. At least it taught me a lesson!
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7-28-2007 @ 3:15AM
Cynthia said...I remember one babysitter I had, I was about 9 or 10. And she would come over every day and was always bored out of her mind, then she decided not to show up one day, and called my Mom to tell her that I had bit her on the hand the day before, and that she wants nothing to do with me. So my Mom yelled at me, but I never in my life have bitten anybody, and I remember being that age like it was just yesterday, and I KNOW I didn't bite her. But my Mom still thinks I did, and has never let me live it down.
When I babysit kids, its like the kids are pushing the extra mile with their parents not being there, but I've always gotten good reports, even had a few people I babysat for recommend me to their neighbors. There was this one I babysat for quite often, and then they had just had their 3rd child. All 3 of them were boys. One was 4, the other 2, and the youngest was 2 months.
That day, the 4 year old was acting crazier than he usually did, and would wash his hands and then lick the soap on his hands, and I had to keep forcing him to drink water. The 2 year old was flushing mega-legos in the toilet while I had a Diaper explosion with the newborn.
I was bouncing him on my knee and then he just exploded, and I had to run up the stairs with my arms stretched out in front of me, wth baby in tow, and race him to the changing table, and it just got EVERYWHERE!
Then the oldest one came running up to tell me what Lego-Flusher was doing. I wish there were 3 of me that day. Haha.
Luckily the parents came home an hour after they left. I told them about what happened, and I apologized about the legos in the toilet, and by this time the oldest one was rubbing his soapy little hands in his eyes, so the parents saw that too.
I thought that was the last time I was ever going to see them.
I was shocked when they handed me $40 and called me up a week later to babysit for them again. They said they even called a plumber to fix everything too.
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8-15-2007 @ 4:37AM
Suzanne said...I'm nominating my Own Husband! We are grandparents to a four-month old we've agreed to watch on Mondays while the parents are working. I emailed my husband from my office asking "How are things going?" He replied, "The baby cried all morning...he finally fell asleep after I took him for a walk. Right now he's out in the garage, sleeping in the stroller. I don't want to bring him in - It might wake him." (!!) He's being monitored very closely now - the baby AND the grandfather !
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10-19-2007 @ 4:05PM
Lisa said...I have one that is pretty outrageous - we have a nanny - 4 days a week, while I am work. I have three little kids - 4, 2 and 12mos. I got a call from the local police that they had found my two older children wandering around the dowtown area of my town, barefoot, unattended. They had brought our dog with them, who had a dog tag on hiscollar with ourname and address. The police brought the kids home, and the sitter said she didnt even know they had left the house - she thought they were playing hide and seek in the house. They had been gone for almost an hour when the cops found them - thank goodness nothing worse happened!
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